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Johns Hopkins
Bitter's Big Day Powers UNC Past Hopkins 11-7
April 3, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
April 3, 2010
- Breschi's Post-Game Press Conference (mp3)
- Bitter Talks About UNC's Win Over Hopkins (mp3)
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BALTIMORE, MD. - Junior All-America attackman Billy Bitter returned to the starting lineup to score four goals and lead the No. 3 North Carolina men's lacrosse team to an 11-7 victory over No. 14 Johns Hopkins before a crowd of 4,012 at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Tar Heels improved to 10-0 with its fifth road victory of the season, the first time it has started a season with 10 successive wins since the 1991 team went 16-0 en route to winning the school's last national championship.
UNC's defense was stellar with Chris Madalon making nine saves while allowing only seven goals. The unit as a whole limited the Blue Jays to seven goals, the fewest Hopkins has scored against Carolina at Homewood Field since 1988 in a 6-5 Johns Hopkins win. The Tar Heels have now limited nine of the 10 teams they have played this year to seven goals or less. Princeton is the only team to score in double figures against Carolina with 11 scores on March 16.
The win was Carolina's 39th victory in its past 43 non-conference games dating back to 2006. UNC reached double figures in goals scored for the 16th time in the last 18 matches while the defense has held opponents to single digits in goals in 21 of the past 29 games.
Bitter's four goals matched his season high that he had in UNC's 13-7 win at Duke on March 10. He extended his point scoring streak to 27 games in a row with his effort. On Saturday, he led a balanced scored attack which saw seven other Tar Heels score one goal each, including the first career goals for freshmen midfielders Cam Wood and Ian Braddish. Jimmy Dunster, Gavin Petracca, Marcus Holman, Michael Burns and Chris Layne also scored goals for the Tar Heels in the win. Dunster, Petracca, Holman and defenseman Milton Lyles all had a single assist each for the Tar Heels.
The Blue Jays, who have now lost four in a row, including the last three to the nation's top three teams, to fall to 4-5, were led by a hat trick by junior attackman Kyle Wharton and two goals by midfielder Max Chautin. Tom Palasek had a pair of assists for Hopkins.
The Tar Heels were without the services of three of their top players, all of whom were injured in UNC's 9-7 win over Maryland last Saturday. The top two leading scorers, attackman Thomas Wood and midfielder Sean DeLaney, were sidelined with a hand injury and shoulder injury, respectively. Sophomore short stick defensive midfielder Tyler Morton missed the game after sustaining a head injury against the Terps.
UNC and Hopkins traded the lead back-and-forth for much of the first half before the Tar Heels took the lead for good on a goal by sophomore midfielder Chris Layne with 6:29 left in the first half. After Johns Hopkins went ahead 4-3 on Wharton's second goal with 11:50 left in the second quarter, Carolina outscored the Blue Jays 8-3 over the game's final 38:35.
With the Tar Heels leading 6-5 at halftime, UNC then scored the first two goals of the second half and ended up outscoring the Blue Jays 5-2 in the second half as the defense began clamping down on the home team. Despite getting off 20 shots in the second half, Hopkins scored only twice after intermission. As it played out, senior attackman Gavin Petracca's extra-man goal with 11:04 left in the third quarter proved to be the game-winner.
UNC outshot the Blue Jays 39-36 and the Blue Jays had a slight edge in ground balls 24-21. Madalon, who leads the nation in goals against average, played the whole 60 minutes in goal for UNC and improved to 10-0 with his nine-save performance. He also had two ground balls and a caused turnover. Freshman Pierce Bassett made his first career start for Hopkins and had six saves and 11 goals allowed.
Hopkins won 11 face-offs to 10 for UNC with Michael Burns going 10 of 20 at the X for Carolina. UNC scored the only two extra-man goals of the game while Hopkins went 0-for-4 in its extra-man chances. UNC's EMO, ranked third nationally, was two for three on the afternoon.
Both teams cleared the ball efficiently with UNC being successful 14 of 17 times and Johns Hopkins going 10 for 12. UNC had 14 turnovers while the Blue Jays committed only nine.
Kyle Wharton opened the scoring for Hopkins with a goal just after a penalty had expired against the Tar Heels. The goal came with 12:45 left in the first quarter off an assist by Zach Palmer. Billy Bitter then tied the game on an unassisted goal on the doorstep of right crease at 9:44 of the first quarter. Bitter drove goal line extended and slipped one just inside the far pipe past Bassett.
Bitter than put the Tar Heels ahead just 32 seconds later on a goal off an assist by Jimmy Dunster. Bitter took a pass from Dunster and then rolled in front of the crease for a putaway straight on from three yards away. Hopkins tied it 2-2 quickly at 7:23 on an unassisted goal by Max Chautin from the right side as he drove the alley.
Bitter then scored after a Johns Hopkins shot by John Ranagan hit the right pipe and bounded out to midfield. Bitter won the ground ball just inside the midfield stripe, scooping it up deftly with his left hand, pivoted past his defender and raced down the middle of the field, scoring from eight yards away on a bounce shot at 5:12 of the period. That proved to the last goal of the first quarter that ended with UNC ahead 3-2.
Hopkins tied the game 45 seconds into the second quarter on an unassisted goal by Steven Boyle while a delayed penalty flag was down on the field against the Tar Heels. The Blue Jays then went ahead 4-3 on a goal by Kyle Wharton assisted by Tom Palasek with 11:48 left in the second quarter shortly after the Blue Jays had taken a timeout to maintain possession.
At 8:35, UNC's Ian Braddish tied the game on his first career goal, driving toward the middle and scoring high past Johns Hopkins goalie Pierce Bassett with a left-handed shot that went into the upper right corner of the net. The Tar Heels went ahead for good on a fast break goal by Chris Layne on a bounce shot from the right side in transition with an assist by Milton Lyles at 6:29 of the quarter. After Bitter drew two fouls on the same play with just over four minutes left in the period, Carolina cashed in on its first EMO. At 3:43 of the quarter, UNC went up 6-4 on an extra-man goal with Gavin Petracca feeding Marcus Holman on the crease for the putaway. Bitter and Petracca combined on a hidden ball move at the top of the box and Petracca rifled a pass to Holman who was alone on the crease, turning a scoring past Bassett. Hopkins answered that goal less than a minute later with an unassisted goal by Max Chautin on a bounce shot. The goal came at 2:59 and was the last tally of the first half.
UNC picked up its intensity in the second half of the match, outscoring the Jays 5-2. The Tar Heels went ahead 7-5 as Jimmy Dunster drove the left alley and scored unassisted at 13:05, sending a shot inside the far pipe. The Tar Heels scored an extra-man goal at 11:04 after Bitter drew yet another penalty as Gavin Petracca took a pass on the left side from Marcus Holman and scored from 10 yards out. The goal came just 12 seconds into the EMO. Hopkins pulled back within two goals at 8-6 as Kyle Wharton got an unassisted goal after claiming a loose ball in a scrum in front of the goal mouth and flipped it behind his back into the goal. The Tar Heels scored just five seconds later as Michael Burns won the face-off on a violation. On the restart, Burns ran straight down the middle of the field and sent a high, hard shot in the upper left corner for his fourth goal of the season at 3:58. That was the last goal of the quarter as the Tar Heels led 9-6 after three quarters.
Billy Bitter scored the first goal of the fourth quarter as he rolled the crease on the right side off a restart and scored unassisted at 6:46 of the period, sending a low bounce shot past Bassett. Hopkins matched that goal less than a minute later on a goal by John Ranagan assisted by Tom Palasek with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter. Cam Wood then scored his first career goal at 1:14 of fourth quarter. Wood took possession after a UNC timeout and with the Tar Heels trying to kill the clock, he found himself double teamed. Wood used his speed to split the defenders and then scored into a net left unattended by the Blue Jays.
The Tar Heels will travel to the new Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. to take on top-ranked Virginia(10-0) next Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU. The game will mark the third time in 25 days the Tar Heels will play in a game matching undefeated teams. UNC played Princeton on March 16 and Maryland on March 27 in other unbeaten
