North Carolina
Johns Hopkins (Konica Minolta Big City Classic)
Late Goal Lifts No. 5 Hopkins Past No. 4 UNC
April 3, 2011 | Men's Lacrosse
April 3, 2011
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Lee Coppersmith scored an unassisted goal for fifth-ranked Johns Hopkins with 1:52 to play in the fourth quarter and it proved to be the difference as the Blue Jays defeated fourth-ranked North Carolina 10-9 before a crowd of 25,115 at the New Meadlowlands Stadium. It was the second of three games in the annual Konica Minolta Big City Classic. St. John's defeated Rutgers 9-8 and Syracuse downed Duke 13-11 in the other two games.
Billy Bitter led the Tar Heels by recording the 14th hat trick of his career, finishing with four goals. Marcus Holman scored twice for the Tar Heels, Jimmy Dunster had a goal and two assists and Thomas Wood had a goal and an assist. John Ranagan led the Blue Jays with three goals and an assist while Kyle Wharton also had a hat trick for Hopkins.
Johns Hopkins improved to 7-2 with the victory and it halted a four-game losing streak against Carolina, beating the Tar Heels for the first time since 2006. North Carolina fell to 7-3. UNC has now played in the first three Big City Classics and each time has come away with a heartbreaking loss, falling to Virginia 11-10 in 2009, Virginia 7-5 in 2010 and now Johns Hopkins 10-9.
Carolina never led in the game but it twice rallied from large deficits to tie the game. UNC fell behind 4-0 with just 5:11 elapsed. It was a similar start to last Saturday's game at Maryland where the Tar Heels fell behind 4-0 in a little over eight minutes before rallying for an 11-6 victory over the Terps. On Sunday, UNC bounced back from the 4-0 deficit to eventually pull even with 2:28 left in the opening half at 5-5. But Hopkins scored three goals in a span of just 39 seconds to take an 8-5 lead at halftime.
UNC held the Blue Jays to just two goals in the second half and it still trailed by three goals at 9-6 when Ranagan scored his third goal of the game with 14:22 to play. Carolina did not go away, however, and goals by Thomas Wood, Billy Bitter and Duncan Hutchins pulled the Tar Heels even at 9-9 with 2:41 to play.
Johns Hopkins, which dominated the face-off X 16-6 behind the work of Matt Dolente, won the ensuing draw and Coppersmith eventually scored the game-winner on a dodge down the left alley just under the two-minute mark. Hopkins won the next face-off and was killing off the clock before UNC goalkeeper Steven Rastivo forced a turnover. The Tar Heels cleared the ball successfully and got a shot from Jimmy Dunster with 18 seconds to play that was saved by the Blue Jays' Pierce Bassett. Hopkins then killed off the remainder of the clock.
Johns Hopkins came out of the gate quickly and scored three goals in the first 4:43 of the game. Kyle Wharton scored 49 seconds in off an assist by Zach Palmer and Mark Goodrich scored 2:01 later off an assist by Marshall Burkhardt. John Ranagan then ran Hopkins' lead to 3-0 with 10:17 left in the first quarter on an unassisted goal on a 10-yard left-handed line drive. It took it 28 seconds later for Johns Hopkins to make it 4-0 as Kyle Wharton scored his second goal of the game off an assist by Marshall Burkhardt.
Billy Bitter answered with two unassisted goals for UNC. He dodged on the left side of the goal and snuck a bounce shot between Pierce Bassett and the pipe. At 6:43 he cut UNC's deficit to 4-2 as Bitter broke the double team of two Johns Hopkins defenders on the right side and scored in front on the crease. Bitter scored his third goal of the game with 1:38 left in the first quarter on another highlight reel goal, evading two defenders to score on the left side. It was the 14th hat trick of Bitter's career.
Hopkins scored off the second quarter face-off 19 seconds into the period as Wharton scored his third goal of the game and recorded his 100th career point. The Tar Heels pulled within 5-4 on a Jimmy Dunster goal with 7:53 to play in the quarter on a low bounce shot inside the left pipe. The Tar Heels tied the game 5-5 at 2:28 when Jimmy Dunster blew by his defender and fed Marcus Holman 10 yards in front for the goal.
The Blue Jays then seized control of the game over the last two and a half minutes of the half. John Ranagan scored an unassisted goal with an alley dodge on the left side to put Hopkins back up 6-5 just 20 seconds after the Tar Heels had tied the game. Zach Palmer scored another goal for Hopkins, assisted by John Ranagan, with 1:47 left in the first half and Hopkins was back up by two goals again at 7-5. Just 18 seconds after that Johns Hopkins made it 8-5 on an unassisted goal by Chris Boland after a face-off scramble.
The Tar Heels scored the first goal of the second half as Marcus Holman scored his eighth extra-man goal of the season, assisted by Thomas Wood, with 7:09 left in the third quarter. That proved to be the only goal of the third quarter as the Tar Heels trailed 8-6 at the end of the third period. Each team committed five turnovers in the third quarter after the two teams had combined for only nine in the first half.
Hopkins regained a three-goal lead with a goal by John Ranagan with 14:22 left in the fourth quarter. It was Ranagan's third goal of the match. Carolina pulled within two goals at 8:11 as Thomas Wood scored off Jimmy Dunster's second assist of the game. Billy Bitter pulled the Tar Heels within one goal with his fourth goal of the game with 6:02 to play. It finished off a nifty fast break with the assist to Chris Hunt.
The Tar Heels tied the game with 2:41 to play as Duncan Hutchins took a skip pass from Nicky Galasso and scored from 8 yards out on the left side to make it 9-9. Johns Hopkins retook the lead with 1:52 to play on the unassisted goal by Lee Coppersmith.
With the exception of the face-offs, the Tar Heels led in most statistical areas. UNC outshot the Blue Jays 31-28 and had a 21-20 edge in ground balls. UNC committed only nine turnovers and was successful on 16 of 18 clears. Hopkins made 14 turnovers and was 13 for 14 in the clearing game.
Carolina scored the only extra-man goal of the game while Hopkins went 0-3 on the EMO. Pierce Bassett finished with seven saves for Johns Hopkins while Steven Rastivo had nine for UNC. The first five shots against Rastivo went in but he carried the Tar Heels defensively in the last three quarters, making nine saves while allowing only five goals after the rough start.
The Tar Heels have a quick turnaround and will play Virginia, currently on a two-match losing streak, at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va., this coming Saturday at 12 noon. UNC will be looking for its first win over Virginia since 2004. The game will be nationally televised by ESPN.
