University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Robert Morris
Petracca's Career Day Powers UNC Past Robert Morris
April 17, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
April 17, 2010
MOON TOWNSHIP, PA. - In a matchup of the nation's top-ranked offensive and defensive teams, third-ranked North Carolina got a combined 19 points from the starting attack unit of Gavin Petracca, Billy Bitter and Marcus Holman as it defeated Robert Morris 17-14 Saturday afternoon on Senior Day for the Colonials' fourth-year players at Joe Walton Stadium. With the win, the Tar Heels improved to 11-1 on the season heading into next Friday's ACC Tournament semifinals at College Park, Md., while the Colonials fell to 8-4 on the campaign.
After scoring only five goals on 47 shots in last Saturday's 7-5 loss to top-ranked Virginia at the Konica Minolta Big City Classic in East Rutherford, N.J., Carolina's offense stepped up in a big way against the Colonials, scoring 17 goals on 36 overall shots, including 10 goals in the first half on only 15 shots. UNC scored 17 goals on only 21 shots on goal as the Colonials were only able to make four saves in the match. Senior attackman Gavin Petracca had a career-high six goals in the game and he matched his career best with eight points overall. Junior attackman Billy Bitter equaled his career high for assists in a game with four and he had six points overall, while freshman attackman Marcus Holman had career highs for assists with three and points with five as Carolina matched its season high for goals scored in a game which first came against Lehigh on February 20 in a 17-5 UNC win at Fetzer Field.
Robert Morris came into the match with the nation's top-ranked scoring offense at 15.73 goals per contest while UNC entered play with the top-ranked scoring defense at 6.36 goals per game.
As things evolved, it was the offenses on both sides that put on a show. The Tar Heels allowed a season-high 14 goals, exceeding the 11 that Princeton scored against UNC on March 16 in a 12-11 Carolina triumph. The 14 goals were the most allowed by UNC since Duke beat the Heels 15-13 in the ACC Tournament championship game last season on April 26, 2009. Even with those 14 goals, the Colonials were still 1.73 goals short of their average despite being only the ninth Tar Heel opponent in the last 31 games to score in double digits against UNC's defense. Carolina's man-down defense did a good job as the Colonials did not score in three opportunities. RMU came into the game with the nation's top-ranked EMO unit at .571. Carolina's unit came in ranked No. 3 at .559 and it scored on two of its four chances.
"I'm really proud of our guys for coming up here and getting a hard-fought road win coming off our loss to Virginia last Saturday. It was good to bounce back into the win column heading into the ACC Tournament," said UNC head coach Joe Breschi. "We knew coming in that Robert Morris was a very skilled offense and they showed why it has the No. 1-ranked scoring offense in the country. That was as good as any offense we've played this year. No matter how you try to prepare to play against it, it is hard to simulate that kind of style in practice. Their Canadian style of offense is very hard to get used to."
Gavin Petracca led the Tar Heels with six goals scored while Billy Bitter, Marcus Holman and senior midfielder Cryder DiPietro had two goals apiece. Defenseman Sean Jackson had his second career goal while midfielders Jimmy Dunster, Michael Burns, Chris Hunt and Cam Wood each scored once. Bitter led the Tar Heels with four assists while Holman had three helpers and Petracca two. Junior Ed Prevost had his first career assist in the game.
" I think our offense all around had great game for us," said Breschi. "Gavin Petracca showed out there today was a great field leader he is with six goals and two assists. Billy Bitter and Marcus Holman had big games for us as well and we got some key goals from the midfield unit."
Robert Morris' offense was led by Corbyn TaoBrambleby with five goals and an assist while Trevor Moore had three goals for the Colonials and Patrick Smith and Taylor Caparosa had two tallies apiece.
Robert Morris finished the game with a 38-36 edge in shots while UNC led in ground balls 36-35. RMU led in face-offs 19-14. Michael Burns won eight of his 22 face-offs for UNC while Mark Staines won a career-high six in his 11 chances. Carolina had 18 turnovers while RMU committed 19. UNC forced 14 of the 19 Colonial turnovers with junior defenseman Ryan Flanagan leading the way with four caused turnovers. Flanagan also led the Tar Heels with five ground balls. Chris Madalon went all 60 minutes for UNC in goal, making 11 saves. Robert Morris had four saves in the game with Dillon Pope making one save in 23:28 and Charles Ruppert three saves in 36:32. Both teams cleared the ball well with UNC going 12 for 13 and RMU 12 for 15.
The 31 combined goals were the most in a game UNC has played in since April 8, 2010 when Virginia and Carolina teamed up for 34 goals in a 21-13 win by the Cavaliers. UNC has now won 40 of their past 44 games against non-conference teams and are now 20-1 in two seasons under head coach Joe Breschi against non-league foes. The Tar Heels also scored in double figures in goals for the 17th time in their last 20 games.
Gavin Petracca's six goals marked a new career high for him, exceeding the five goals he had against Vermont on March 13, 2007. His eight points matched his career high set previously against Denver on February 14, 2009. Billy Bitter's four assists matched his career high. This is the third time he has had four in a match. He previously had four against Denver on February 14, 2009 and also against Lehigh on February 20, 2010. The junior attackman has now had at least one point in the past 29 games of his career. Marcus Holman matched his career high for points with five, equaling the total he had against Maryland three Saturdays ago. He had the first multi-assist match of his career with three.
Carolina jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the game. Bitter opened the scoring 1:49 into the contest and the Tar Heels doubled the lead 14 seconds later as Sean Jackson scored his second career goal off an assist by Bitter. Just 58 seconds later, the Heels were up 3-0 as Michael Burns scored his sixth goal of the season off the first of three assists by Marcus Holman. RMU's Kyle Buchanan was flagged for slashing at 11:59 and the Tar Heels converted on the EMO with Cryder DiPietro scoring from Bitter to give the Tar Heels a 4-0 lead just 3:57 into the contest.
Robert Morris scored the next two goals before Gavin Petracca scored the first of his six goals, assisted by Holman, with 6:58 left in the first quarter to put the Heels up 5-2. The Colonials scored the last two goals of the quarter, however, and UNC led by only one heading into the second quarter.
UNC would go on to score five more in the second quarter while taking only six shots in the period. But RMU would stay right with the Tar Heels, putting up five second quarter goals of its own. Corbyn TaoBrambleby scored three goals in a 4-2 quarter-opening run to put the Colonials ahead for the first and only time in the game at 8-7 with 7:05 left in the first half. UNC answered with a three-goal run to take the lead for good at 10-8 with 48 seconds left in the first half. Petracca scored off an assist by Bitter to tie the game at 6:42 and just 10 seconds later, Holman scored off an assist by Bitter to put Carolina up 9-8. Petracca scored off an assist by Holman 48 seconds before halftime but that goal was matched by Casey Abbott's goal for the Colonials just two seconds before the halftime horn sounded.
With UNC leading by just one goal at halftime, the Tar Heels came out and scored four of the first five goals of the second half to build a four-goal cushion at 14-10. Bitter opened the scoring in the second half with an unassisted goal at 13:35 to make it 11-9. Holman then scored off an assist by Petracca to boost the least to 12-9 at the 10:07 mark. After Trevor Moore scored for Robert Morris exactly a minute later, UNC got back-to-back goals by Cryder DiPietro at 6:04 and by Chris Hunt, off an assist by Ed Prevost, at 4:56 to give the Heels a 14-10 margin.
The Colonials bounced back to score two goals in just 30 seconds, cutting the lead to 14-12 with 3:01 left in the quarter before Petracca scored unassisted with 2:02 remaining in the third quarter.
Twice in the fourth quarter, Robert Morris scored to pull within two goals and twice the Tar Heels responded with goals to restore three-goal margins. Trevor Moore made it 15-13 at 13:02 but his goal was matched 1:59 after that by freshman midfielder Cam Wood, his second goal in a UNC uniform. TaoBrambleby scored his fifth goal of the game with 6:59 to play, making it a 16-14 game, but Petracca did TaoBrambleby one better with the sixth of his own to close out the scoring with 4:09 to play.
Four Tar Heel players in UNC's regular rotation were unable to play due to injuries. Attackman Thomas Wood and midfielder Sean DeLaney both missed their third games in a row after being injured against Maryland March 27. Defenseman Charlie McComas and midfielder Ian Braddish both sat out after sustaining injuries in UNC's game against Virginia April 10.
Carolina will return to action next Friday in the semifinals of the 2010 ACC Tournament which will be played at Byrd Stadium on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Md. Semifinal games are at 5 and 7:30 p.m. Friday and the championship game is Sunday, April 25 at 3:30 p.m.
