University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Heads To Charlottesville For ACC Tournament
April 19, 2012 | Men's Lacrosse
April 19, 2012
Watch UNC-UVa on ESPN3 | Download UNC Game Notes For ACC Tournament (pdf) 
| Bitter Named Cascade National Rookie of The Week | Read Inside Lacrosse Preview of ACC Tournament
CAROLINA HEADS TO CHARLOTTESVILLE FOR 2012 ACC TOURNAMENT: North Carolina's 2012 men's lacrosse team, ranked ninth in both national polls this week, heads to Charlottesville, Va., on Friday to compete in the 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. Coach Joe Breschi's team carries a 9-4 overall record and a 1-2 mark in the league into this year's tournament. UNC will be seeking its first conference championship since 1996. Action begins at Klockner Stadium on the campus of the University of Virginia on Friday with top-seeded Duke meeting fourth-seeded Maryland at 5 p.m. Second-seeded Virginia will play third-seeded North Carolina in the second semifinal game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The two semifinal winners will meet for the championship on Sunday at 3 p.m. Both semifinal games and the championship game will be televised nationally on ESPNU. Duke and Virginia both finished 2-1 in the league but the Blue Devils earned the No. 1 seed based on their 13-5 victory over Virginia last Friday. Carolina and Maryland were both 1-2 in the league this year but the Tar Heels earned the No. 3 seed over the Terps based on a head-to-head win over Maryland 11-10 on March 24. Maryland is the defending ACC Tournament champion.
TAR HEELS LOOK TO CONTINUE SUCCESSFUL 2012 SEASON: The North Carolina Tar Heels continue their successful 2012 season this Friday night when ninth-ranked North Carolina takes on the fourth-ranked Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC Tournament semifinals at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. Official opening face-off is at 7:30 p.m. The game will be nationally televised by ESPNU. Eamon McAnaney will handle the play-by-play while Quint Kessenich will be the analyst for the telecast. Coach Joe Breschi's North Carolina squad is ranked ninth this week in both the USILA coaches poll and the Nike Inside Lacrosse media poll. UNC is 9-4 overall. The Tar Heels are coming off a 12-9 victory over Hofstra last Saturday in the ESPNU Warrior Classic in Charlotte, N.C. The Virginia Cavaliers, coached by Dom Starsia, are 10-2 overall. The Cavaliers are ranked fourth this week in the USILA coaches poll and sixth in the Nike Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. The Wahoos will be looking to bounce back from a 13-5 loss to Duke last Friday. The two teams have three common opponents so far this season. Virginia is 1-2 against those commong opponents and Carolina is 1-2. Both teams beat Maryland. Both teams lost to Duke. UNC beat Johns Hopkins while the Cavaliers fell to the Blue Jays. More importantly, in the head-to-head meeting on April 7, Virginia defeated North Carolina 15-10 at Fetzer field in Chapel Hill, N.C.
LOOKING FOR DOUBLE DIGIT IN WINS: North Carolina will be seeking its 10th win of the season when it matches up against Virginia on Friday night in the ACC Tournament semifinals. If attained, Coach Joe Breschi will be only the second coach in UNC history to win 10 games in each of his first four seasons as head coach. Dave Klarmann also accomplished the feat from 1991-94. Over the past three seasons, UNC, under Breschi's leadership, has gone 12-6 in 2009, 13-3 in 2010 and 10-6 in 2011. The last time Carolina patched together four successive seasons with 10 or more wins was 1989-94 when the Tar Heels had at least double digits in win six years in a row. Contrast the current success with the fact over a 12-year span from 1997-2008, Carolina got to the 10-win plateau only twice, going 10-5 in 2004 and 10-6 in 2007.
UNC IN THE 2012 RPI: The NCAA released the first RPI rankings of the 2012 campaign this week and the Tar Heels are No. 10 in the rankings which go a long way to determining NCAA bids and seedings. UNC is the only team in the Top 10 of the RPI with four losses. UNC owns three wins over Top 11 teams in the RPI and six wins over Top 29 teams in the RPI.
GOING FOR ACC TITLE #12: North Carolina has won 11 Atlantic Coast Conference titles in its history. The Tar Heels will be looking to make it an even dozen ACC titles this weekend. Carolina's previous ACC championships have come in 1981, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996.
UNC IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT: The numbers don't lie. North Carolina has been streaky in the history of the ACC Tournament. Since the inaugural event in 1989, the Tar Heels have won seven of the titles. But their overall record is only 16-16. Of the first 16 games UNC played in ACC Tournament play the Tar Heels went 15-1 from 1989-96. In the 16 games since then UNC is 1-15. When Joe Breschi led the Tar Heels to a 16-10 win over Maryland in the 2009 ACC Tournament semifinals in Chapel Hill, it not only broke a 12-game losing streak in ACC Tournament semifinal games, it also broke a 21-game losing streak that the Tar Heels had endured against ACC foes dating back to 2004.
HOLMAN NAMED TO ALL-ACC TEAM: Six 2012 Tewaaraton Trophy nominees, including North Carolina junior attackman Marcus Holman, highlighted this year's All-ACC Men's Lacrosse Team as announced Wednesday by the league office. The team is determined by a vote of the league's four head coaches. Holman, who ranks second in the conference with 3.77 points per game, was named to the All-ACC Team for the first time this year. The 2010 ACC Freshman of the Year has tallied 23 goals and 26 assists in 13 games played this season.
CAROLINA PLAYS BACK-TO-BACK GAMES AGAINST #1 TEAMS: Games on April 1 and 7 this seaon had the Tar Heels matched up against No. 1-ranked teams in back-to-back games. That has to be a lacrosse rarity that is truly hard to quantify. After defeating a #1-ranked Johns Hopkins team 13-9 on April 1 in East Rutherford, N.J., North Carolina met a different #1 team, Virginia, on April 7. The Tar Heels fell to the Cavaliers 15-10 at Fetzer Field. This was the first time in UNC lacrosse history the Tar Heels had played back-to-back games against top-ranked teams in the same season. The Tar Heels had played successive games against No. 1 teams previously, but not in the same season. UNC ended its 1983 season with a 12-9 loss to Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Tournament semifinals on May 21, 1983 in Baltimore, Md. North Carolina then opened the following season by losing to a #1-ranked Syracuse team 10-9 on March 10, 1984 in a game played at a neutral site in Baltimore, Md. The 1984 season also marked the last time that Carolina had played two games against No. 1-ranked teams in the same season prior to 2012. In addition to playing a No. 1-ranked Syracuse team to open that season, UNC also played Johns Hopkins when it was ranked No. 1, losing to the Blue Jays 14-9 in NCAA Tournament semifinals in Baltimore on May 20, 1984.
10 PLAYERS IN DOUBLE FIGURES IN POINTS: The 2012 Tar Heels feature one of their most balanced offensive corps in many years. Ten players have already reached the 10-point plateau this season and starting midfielder Ryan Creighton is just two points away from the standard with eight points heading into the Virginia game Friday. The last time the Tar Heels had as many as 10 players with 10 or more points in the same season was 2009 but it took 18 games for that Tar Heel team to achieve the feat. The last time Carolina had 11 players reach double figures in points was 1994.
MARCUS' 2012 NUMBERS: Junior attackman Marcus Holman enters the Virginia game with 49 points this season. With one more point he will become the 29th player in UNC history to record 50 or more points in a season. With 26 assists, he has become one of only 16 Tar Heels to record that many helpers in a single season. Only seven Tar Heels have recorded as many as 30 assists in a season.
KEENAN CONTINUES STELLAR PLAY: Sophomoer midfielder R.G. Keenan was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2012 Konica Minolta Big City Classic April 1. Keenan won 18 of 25 faceoffs in UNC's win over #1 Johns Hopkins. It marked the 10th time in his career that Keenan has won 15 or more face-offs in a game. Keenan has won 15 or more face-offs four times this season and has won 18 or more three times this season. He had a career high 19 face-off wins against Penn State on February 11.
TAR HEELS AND CAVALIERS MEET FOR THE 68TH TIME FRIDAY: North Carolina and Virginia will be meeting for the 68th time on the lacrosse field when they meet up Friday night at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The Cavaliers lead the all-time series 47-20. The series dates back to a May 19, 1949 meeting when the Cavaliers defeated the Tar Heels 12-1 in Chapel Hill. There is a slight discrepancy in the two teams' series records as Virginia had a varsity program before the Tar Heels started theirs. Virginia was 2-4 against Carolina club teams prior to 1949 so the Cavaliers list the series record as 49-24 in the Wahoos' favor. The Cavaliers have won nine games in a row against Carolina and they have gone 18-2 against the Tar Heels since 1997. The only Tar Heel wins in the past 15 years came 7-5 at Charlottesville in 2001 and 11-9 at Chapel Hill in 2004.
CAROLINA VERSUS THE NATION'S BEST: Prior to beating top-ranked Johns Hopkins 13-9 on April 1, North Carolina had lost its previous 11 meetings against teams ranked No. 1 in the nation. Prior to April 1, UNC's last win over a team ranked No. 1 came on April 6, 1996 when the Tar Heels defeated Virginia 19-18 in the second highest-scoring game in the school's history. That win came at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. After a 15-10 loss against Virginia on April 7, Carolina is 6-23 all-time in games against teams ranked #1 in the nation.
UNC VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS UNDER COACH BRESCHI: North Carolina has played ranked opponents 38 times in Joe Breschi's four-year coaching tenure. UNC is 22-16 in those games. Conversely, the Tar Heels are 22-3 against unranked opponents in those four seasons. Breschi is 44-19 overall at Carolina in his four seasons as head coach. During Breschi's tenure, UNC's only losses to unranked teams came to Ohio State in 2011 and to Lehigh and Pennsylvania in 2012.
KEENAN STANDS TALL ON NCAA CAREER CHARTS IN GBS: In 29 career games, R.G. Keenan has scooped up 185 ground balls. That is an average of 6.38 ground balls per game, which ranks him second in the category amongst all NCAA Division I players. Only Stephen Robarge of VMI ranks higher at 7.28 ground balls per game. Keenan's 185 career ground balls are 13th amongst all active NCAA Division I players. He is the only non-senior or junior to rank in the Top 30 nationally in career ground balls.
KEENAN'S NCAA CAREER NUMBERS AT THE X: Sophomore R.G. Keenan currently ranks seventh amongst all NCAA Division I players in career face-off winning percentage at .604. Just a sophomore, Keenan ranks 11th amongst all active players in career face-offs won at 350. Keenan is one of only three non-juniors or seniors on the career face-offs won chart and he has won 127 more face-offs than the next closest sophomore on the list. His 579 face-off attempts are the 14th most among active DI players.
CAROLINA IN ONE-GOAL DECISIONS: Prior to Joe Breschi taking over as head coach in 2009, UNC went 1-7 in games decided by one goal from midway through the 2004 season through the end of the 2008 campaign. Carolina has improved tremendously in one-goal games since Breschi arrived for the 2009 season. UNC is 10-7 in games decided by one goal over the past four years, including a 3-1 record in 2012. The Tar Heels have won their past two games decided by a single goal, beating Princeton 9-8 and Maryland 11-10 on March 10 and March 24, respectively.
CAROLINA GETS A BIG WIN AGAINST AN ACC FOE: Carolina's 11-10 win over Maryland on March 24 was a key victory for both the 2012 edition of the Tar Heels and for Carolina's recent efforts against their fellow teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Since suffering an 11-9 loss to Virginia on April 23, 2004, UNC is 5-31 against ACC opponents. The Tar Heels lost 21 straight games against ACC teams from 2004-09. UNC had back-to-back 2-1 ACC regular-seasons in 2003 and 2004 but the 21-match ACC losing streak began in the 2004 camapign in ACC Tournament semifinal play against Virginia. Under current head coach Joe Breschi, the Tar Heels have begun to enjoy success against ACC opponents as UNC has won five times against league foes since April 24, 2009, including four wins over Maryland and one victory over Duke. Next up for the Tar Heels in ACC action is the ACC Tournament semifinals against Virginia on Friday, April 20 in Charlottesville, Va. UNC will be seeking its first league tournament title since 1996 and its first victory over the Cavaliers in Charlottesville since 2001.
THE OFFENSE PICKS IT UP: Statistics have proven over recent years that when Carolina scores 10 or more goals in a game the Tar Heels have had great success. The old adage that first team to 10 goals win often holds true when it comes Tar Heel squads. In the opening three games of this season, UNC scored 14, 20 and 18 goals respectively and scored easy victories. Carolina then went on a four-match streak in which it was held to single digits in goals by their opponents. During that streak UNC was still able to win two low-scoring games, beating Navy 9-8 on February 25 and Princeton 9-8 on March 10. The Tar Heels' offense has gotten back into gear in the past six games, scoring in double figures against Duke (11), Dartmouth (13), Maryland (11), Johns Hopkins (13), Virginia (10) and Hofstra (12). The Tar Heels have gone 4-2 in that stretch of games with the only two losses against Top 10-ranked ACC teams.
VERSUS THE NATION'S TOP 25 DEFENSES: Carolina's recent offensive success will be put to the test Friday night when it faces a Virginia team that is ranked 15th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 8.50 goals per game.
For the most part this season, Carolina has does well offensively against team's who are currently ranked in the Top 25 nationally in scoring defense. Here are some examples of UNC's offensive success this year against the nation's top ranked defenses, even in what turned out to be losing efforts.
Rank #2. Lehigh (6.08); UNC scored 8
Tied Rank #4. Johns Hopkins (6.82); UNC scored 13
Tied Rank #4. Princeton (6.82); UNC scored 9
Rank #7. Maryland (7.60); UNC scored 11
Rank #9. Penn State (7.67); UNC scored 14
Rank #13. Hofstra (8.33); UNC scored 12
Rank #15. Virginia (8.50); UNC scored 10
Rank #17. Duke (8.93); UNC scored 11
THE LAST TIME OUT FOR THE TAR HEELS: Marcus Holman and Jimmy Bitter both tallied career highs for goals and points as they led eighth-ranked North Carolina to a 12-9 come-from-behind victory over Hofstra on April 14 in the ESPNU Warrior Classic at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. A crowd of 6,230 fans was on hand as the Tar Heels improved to 9-4 on the season while Hofstra fell to 6-6. Holman had career highs for points, goals and ground balls in a game and Bitter recorded career highs for points, goals, assists and ground balls in a game. Between the two of them, they accounted for nine of UNC's 12 goals and five of the Tar Heels' seven assists. It was a needed comeback win for the Tar Heels who for the second time this season rallied from a halftime deficit to gut out a win. When the Tar Heels did that on February 25 against Navy, it was the first time they had rallied from a halftime deficit to win since the next-to-last game of the 2009 season. They've now down it twice in 2011. Holman finished with five goals and two assists for seven points for UNC while Bitter had four goals and three assists for seven points. Davey Emala had a goal and an assist for the Tar Heels while Chad Tutton and Jimmy Dunster also scored for the Heels.
BIGGEST HOME CROWD IN 21 YEARS: The North Carolina men's lacrosse team drew its largest home crowd at Fetzer Field in 21 years and one day when the Tar Heels hosted Virginia on April 7. The game drew a near sellout crowd of 5,138 fans to Fetzer Field, which has a listed capacity of 5,700. It was the largest home crowd for the Heels at Fetzer Field since April 6, 1991 when a No. 1-ranked North Carolina team defeated Johns Hopkins 11-6 before a crowd of 5,700 fans.
TAKING BETTER CARE OF THE BALL: One of the keys to UNC's wins the month over Dartmouth, Maryland, Johns Hopkins and Hofstra was the simple fact the Tar Heels took better care of the ball. UNC committed a season-low seven turnovers against Dartmouth, had just 13 each against Maryland and Johns Hopkins and just 11 against Hofstra. In each of those four victories, UNC had turnover totals well below its season average of 15.38 turnovers per game. So it is no surprise that Carolina is 4-1 in its last five games. Even in the loss to Virginia the Tar Heels had 14 turnovers, below their season average. Prior to the Dartmouth game, the previous low for turnovers was 13 against Mercer on February 12. With only seven turnovers against Darmouth, the Tar Heels took a season-high 58 shots against the Big Green, topping the 56 shots they had against Mercer on February 12. Against the Big Green, UNC had 28 shots on goal compared to 7 turnovers. That broke a streak of four straight matches in which UNC had committed more turnovers than it had shots on goal (Lehigh 19 turnovers/16 shots on goal), Pennsylvania (17 turnovers/10 shots on goal), Princeton (19 turnovers/11 shots on goal) and Duke (20 turnovers/18 shots on goal). Unsurprisingly UNC went 1-3 during that stretch. Against Marylad on March 24, UNC had 21 shots on goal and only 13 turnovers. On April 1, Carolina had 25 shots on goal against Johns Hopkins and committed only 13 turnovers. Despite the fact the Tar Heels fell to Virginia on April 7, Carolina continued to take better care of the ball, recording 22 shots on goal as opposed to only 14 turnovers. Against Hofstra, the trend of valuing the ball continued as UNC had 26 shots on goal and a mere 11 turnovers.
THE NEWCOMERS STEP UP: Newcomers to the Tar Heel team in 2012 have played a big role in UNC's success so far this season. Of Carolina's top eight scorers, three are freshmen and two are transfers. Freshmen Jimmy Bitter, Joey Sankey and Chad Tutton rank second, third and fifth on the team, respectively, in points with 32, 30 and 19. Junior transfer Davey Emala (Georgetown) is fourth on the team in points with 20. Graduate student Jack McBride, another newcomer to the Tar Heel team, is tied for seventh on the team in points with 12.
A YOUTHFUL STARTING LINEUP: After coming out of the gates slow in an eventual 13-11 loss at Duke, UNC head coach Joe Breschi shook up the starting lineup and went young against Dartmouth five days later. UNC started three freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors and one senior against the Big Green. That lineup has now started four of the past five games. Currently Carolina starts junior Marcus Holman and freshmen Joey Sankey and Jimmy Bitter on attack, sophomores Ryan Creighton and Duncan Hutchins and freshman Chad Tutton in the first midfield unit, senior Charlie McComas, junior Kieran McDonald and sophomoer Jordan Smith on close defense and junior Steven Rastivo in the goal. The second midfield it a more veteran unit with graduate student Jack McBride, junior transfer Davey Emala and sophomore Pat Foster. UNC's top long-stick mids are senior Mark Staines and freshman Ryan Kilpatrick. Two sophomores hold down the top spots on in the face-off circle (R.G. Keenan and Frankie Kelly). Redhsirt junior Tyler Morton and redhsirt sophomore Greg McBride along with junior William Scroggs lead the short stick defensive midfield.
HOLMAN'S ASSIST NUMBERS: Marcus Holman has 49 points already through just 13 games this season. That is already more points than he had in the entirety of his first two seasons as a Tar Heel. During the 2011 season, Holman had 28 points in 14 games after recording 31 points in 16 games as a freshman in 2010. Holman has 26 assists this season, which is almost double the total he had in his first two seasons combined (14) when he had nine assists in 2010 and five assists in 2011. Holman's 26 assists this season equal the 14th most in a season in Carolina history. It also marks only the 36th time a Carolina player has recorded 20 or more assists in a season in Tar Heel lore.
WOODY JOINS THE CENTURY CLUB: Thomas Wood continues to move up UNC's all-time charts for goals scored and total points in a career. In fact against Johns Hopkins on April 1, the senior attackman from Dallas, Texas became only the 35th Tar Heel in history to reach 100 career points. Heading into the Virginia game, Wood has 101 career points and he now ranks in a tie for 33rd in career points with four other Tar Heel greats -- Bryant Will (2002-05), Brent Voelkel (1981-84), Dan Cox (1972-75) and Marcus Holman (2010-12). Wood is now chasing 32nd place on the list which is held by Kevin Griswold (1979-82) who had 107 career points. Wood has scored 64 goals in his career and is now in 33rd place in that category by himself. Next on the UNC list is Ben Hunt (2006-09) who ranks 32nd with 65 career goals.
HOLMAN JOINS T. WOOD IN CENTURY CLUB: Junior attackman Marcus Holman recorded three points against Virginia on April 7 to join attack teammate Thomas Wood and become the 36th Carolina player to join the Century Club with 100 or more career points. After recording seven points in the win over Hofstra, Holman has jetted into a tie for 30th place place on the career points list with 108 points, sharing that spot with David Wingate (1980-83). Holman has scored 68 goals in his Tar Heel career. That is the 28th highest goal total in Tar Heel history. Joey Seivold (1983-87) ranks 27th with 70 career goals.
UNC's CURRENT CAREER ASSIST LEADERS: Four current members of the UNC lacrosse team have at least 30 career assists. Junior Marcus Holman has 40 career assists, senior Thomas Wood has 37 career assists, sophomore Nicky Galasso had 34 career assists, and senior Jimmy Dunster has 32 career assists.
KEENAN'S UPDATED FACEOFF NUMBERS: R.G. Keenan has now won 350 face-offs in his career heading into the game against Virginia. That is the fourth most face-off wins in UNC history. Jude Collins (1993-96) ranks third in all-time face-off wins with 429. Since the start of this season, Keenan has passed eight Tar Heels (Craig Hasslinger, Michael J. Burns, Mac Hammer, Steve Stenersen, Ted Brown, Steve Gilhuley, Jason Sanders and Ryan Damon) on UNC's career list. His 19 face-off wins against Penn State were a career high and equaled the sixth most in a game in UNC history. Against Navy he won 18 face-offs, marking the ninth time in his career he has won at least 15 and the fifth time he has won 18 or more face-offs in a game. His 11 ground balls against the Midshipmen on February 25 were one short of his career high set against both Navy and UMBC in 2011. Keenan again won 18 face-offs when the Tar Heels defeated Johns Hopkins April 1. He now has six career games with 18 or more face-off wins.
BITTER, SANKEY & TUTTON AMONGST NATION'S TOP FRESHMAN SCORERS: North Carolina freshmen attackmen Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey and freshman midfielder Chad Tutton are amongst the top freshman scorers in the nation in 2012. itter is the fourth highest goal scorer in NCAA Division I amongst freshmen with his 21 goals, trailing only Ryan Walsh of Colgate, Mike Rooney of Stony Brook and Ari Waffle of Jacksonville. Bitter's 21 goals are the most by a UNC freshman since Nicky Galasso had 24 last year. The school record for a freshman is 23 by Robin Beran in 1973. Joey Sankey's 18 goals are tied for sixth in the nation amongst freshmen and Chad Tutton's 13 goals are tied for 19th on the national list among first-year players.
IRON MEN McCOMAS & DUNSTER: North Carolina senior close defenseman Charlie McComas has made 56 career starts in his time at UNC. That's the most starts of any current Tar Heel. McComas has played in 60 games in his career. Midfielder Jimmy Dunster has played in 59 games, just one behind McComas' total for games played, and he has 51 career starts.
McBRIDE ON THE CAREER NCAA CHARTS: Graduate student Jack McBride is amongst the Top 25 NCAA career leaders in both points and goals. The Madison, N.J. attackman is ranked 25th in career points amongst all NCAA Division I players with 127. He is ranked 12th in career goals amongst all NCAA Division I players with 98.
RASTIVO ON THE CAREER NCAA CHART: Junior goalkeeper Steven Rastivo currently ranks 21st amongst all NCAA Division I goalkeepers in career goals against average. The South Setauket, N.Y. native has allowed 9.07 goals per game in his career.
STAINES ON LONG POLE SCORING LIST: North Carolina senior Mark Staines is one of only 10 players currently in NCAA Division I who have compiled at least 10 career points while playing a close defense or long stick midfield position. Staines has 12 points in his career on 11 goals and one assist.
HAT TRICKS BY WOOD AND HOLMAN: North Carolina attackmen Thomas Wood and Marcus Holman are among just 46 players in NCAA Division I who have recorded at least seven hat tricks in their careers. Holman has nine career hat tricks and is tied for 34th on the current list. Wood has eight career hat tricks and is tied for 40th on the current list of Division I players.
A RARE HOME LOSS TO AN UNRANKED TEAM: Carolina's 9-8 loss to Lehigh on March 6, 2012, was UNC's first loss at Fetzer Field to an unranked opponent since March 5, 2004 when Navy defeated North Carolina 9-8 in overtime. Three days later, UNC lost to an unranked Penn team 10-6 in Philadelphia. That marked the first time since 1976 that the Tar Heels had dropped back-to-back matches to unranked foes.
UNC AMONG NATIONAL ATTENDANCE LEADERS: North Carolina ranks third nationally in average attendance per game in 2012 at 5,465 fans per contest. More fans have watched the Tar Heels play this year (71,047) than every other Division I team with the exception of Johns Hopkins (73,215) and Syracuse (71,692). Of the top 15 crowds in NCAA Division I in 2012, Carolina has been involved in five of those games. The Tar Heels and Johns Hopkins played before 25,934 fans at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on April 1, the largest crowd in NCAA Division I this season. The Tar Heels met Princeton at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. on March 15 before 17,138, which is tied for the second largest crowd this season. Carolina also drew the sixth largest crowd of the season against Penn State on February 11, 2012 as 6,913 fans saw the two teams play in Kennesaw, Ga. The ninth largest crowd of the 2012 season, a total of 6,230 watched UNC play Hofstra on April 14 in Charlotte, N.C. The game between UNC and Virginia on April 7 drew a crowd of 5,138 fans to Fetzer Field, the 15th largest crowd in NCAA Division I in 2012.
CAROLINA'S STELLAR MARK IN NON-CONFERENCE GAMES: UNC's record in non-conference games continues to be one of the best in the nation over the past seven seasons. The Tar Heels have won 59 of their past 67 games against non-conference teams dating back to April 15, 2006. In Joe Breschi's four seasons as head coach, the Tar Heels are 39-5 against non-conference teams. The only losses were to Notre Dame in 2009, to Ohio State and Johns Hopkins in 2011 and to Lehigh and Pennsylvania in 2012.
CAROLINA'S DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING GAMES: In Coach Joe Breschi's four years as head lacrosse coach at UNC, Carolina's success has often been tied to hitting the 10-goal plateau in a game. In fact UNC's 15-10 loss to Virginia on April 7, marked only the sixth time in Breschi's coaching tenure that the Tar Heels have lost when they have reached the 10-goal plateau. UNC has scored at least 10 goals in a game in 43 of 63 games under Coach Breschi's direction dating back to the opening game of the 2009 season. Carolina is 37-6 in those 43 games, losing only 11-10 to Virginia on April 4, 2009, 15-13 to Duke on April 26, 2009, 12-11 to Duke on May 17, 2009, to 11-10 to Virginia on April 9, 2011, to Duke 13-11 on March 16, 2012 and to Virginia 15-10 on April 7, 2012. Ironically, Carolina has never lost to a non-conference team during Breschi's coaching tenure when the Heels have scored 10 or more goals. The 15 goals surrendered by the Tar Heels against Virginia on April 7 were the most they have given up in a 29-game span dating back to a 17-9 loss to Duke on May 22, 2010 in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals in Princeton, N.J. In the 20 games under Coach Breschi's tutelage in which the Tar Heels have not reached the 10-goal mark, UNC has not fared nearly as well as when scoring in double figures. In fact their record in those 20 games is just 7-13 but the Tar Heels did win their most recent game when it failed to reach double digits, beating Princeton 9-8 on March 10.
NEAR DOMINANCE AT FETZER FIELD UNDER BRESCHI: Despite a 15-10 loss to Virginia on April 7, UNC is still 25-6 in home games in Coach Joe Breschi's four years at the helm of the Tar Heels. That's a winning percentage of 80.6 percent. The Tar Heels had a 17-game Fetzer Field winning streak from 2009-11 under Breschi's tenure. UNC's only home losses during Breschi's four-year tenure include regular-season and ACC Tournament games to Duke in 2009, a regular-season loss to Duke and an NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland in 2011 and regular-season losses to Lehigh and Virginia in 2012. Carolina has only one non-conference home loss during Breschi's tenure. The Tar Heels' next home game is against Michigan on May 5.
TAR HEELS GO 2-0 IN CURRENT NFL STADIUMS IN 2012: Carolina performed admirably on the big stage this season, going 2-0 in current NFL stadiums with wins over Princeton and Johns Hopkins, respectively, at the Konica Minolta Face-Off and Big City Classics, respetively. With the 13-9 victory over Johns Hopkins on April 1 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Carolina improved to 2-5 in NFL stadiums since the 2005 season. On March 10, the North Carolina lacrosse team earned its first-ever win in a current NFL stadium when it defeated Princeton 9-8 at the Konica Minolta Face-off Classic in Baltimore, Md., on March 10. The Tar Heels are now 5-7 all-time in NFL stadiums both past and present, including a 1-2 mark at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, an 0-1 record in Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., a 1-2 record in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., and a 3-2 record in Franklin Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958-70.
UNC STAGES BIGGEST COMEBACK IN 16 YEARS IN WIN AT NAVY: North Carolina came back from its largest fourth quarter deficit in 16 years when it won 9-8 at Navy on February 25. The last time UNC trailed by as many as three goals in the fourth quarter of a game and came back to win was April 13, 1996. In that game, UNC trailed Notre Dame 10-7 before Carolina started its rally with a goal with 11:01 to play. Merrill Turnbull's goal with 33 seconds left in regulation eventually lifted UNC to victory in that game 11-10. Against Navy on February 25, 2012, UNC trailed the Midshipmen 8-5 in the fourth quarter before a goal by Davey Emala with 12:12 left began UNC's comeback. Goals by Thomas Wood and Marcus Holman would tie the game. The Tar Heels capped the rally with a game-winning goal by Thomas Wood with 1:16 to play in the fourth quarter.
UNC AND HALFTIME DEFICITS: The Tar Heels rallied from a halftime deficit for the first time in nearly three years to beat Navy 9-8 on February 25. Navy led the Tar Heels 6-3 at halftime. The last time UNC had trailed at halftime and come back to win was May 9, 2009 when UMBC led the Tar Heels 8-6 at halftime. Carolina rallied to win that game 15-13. Since that time UNC had lost eight games in a row in which it had trailed at halftime before rallying to beat the Midshipmen. Carolina also trailed 5-4 at halftime against Hofstra on April 14 before the Tar Heels rallied for a 12-9 win. So after going two full seasons without staging a second half rally, the tar Heels have now done twice in the matter of 49 days. UNC is 7-0 in games this year when leading at halftime, 2-3 when trailing at the half and 0-1 when tied at intermission.
THE GROUND BALLS TELL THE STORY: Winning the blue collar battle has been a key to Tar Heel success this year. Carolina is 8-0 this season when winning the ground battle and 1-4 when losing it.
OVERCOMING LARGEST DEFICIT IN TWO YEARS: North Carolina trailed Navy by as many as four goals on three separate occasions in the 9-8 Tar Heel victory over the Midshipmen on February 25. The last time UNC had trailed by as many as four goals and come back to win a game was May 8, 2010 when the Tar Heels were down 8-4 to Ohio State with 9:58 left in the second quarter before rallying to win 19-13 at Fetzer Field.
COLOR THE TAR HEELS YOUNG: North Carolina has one of the youngest rosters in the nation. Of the 46 players on the roster, 28 are sophomores and freshmen, including 15 in the sophomore class and 13 in the freshman class. Conversely, the Tar Heel are short on the graybeard side of the roster breakdown. The UNC roster includes one graduate student (Jack McBride) and six seniors in their final years of eligibility (Milton Lyles, Mark Staines, Thomas Wood, Jimmy Dunster, Charlie McComas, Matt Holman). The Tar Heel junior class includes 11 players (including redshirts). Tyler Morton, Logan Corey and Gray Smith are all seniors academically and juniors in athletic eligibility.
HEAD COACH Joe Breschi: Joe Breschi is now in his fourth season as the head coach at his alma mater. His Tar Heel teams have a cumulative record of 44-19 for a winning percentage of 69.8 percent. He is in his 15th year overall as a collegiate head coach, including 11 seasons at Ohio State prior to coming to Chapel Hill. His career coaching record is 136-82 and his career winning percentage is 62.4 percent.
THREE TAR HEELS NAMED TO TEWAARATON TROPHY WATCH LIST: North Carolina attackmen Jack McBride, Nicky Galasso and Marcus Holman were named to the 2012 Tewaaraton Award Watch List. Galasso and McBride were named to the initial Watch List on February 15. Holman was on March 20 to an updated Watch List. The list includes the top players across all three divisions of collegiate lacrosse and highlights the top contenders for the 2012 Tewaaraton Award. McBride is a graduate student attackman from Madison, N.J., Galasso is a sophomore attackman from West Islip, N.Y., and Holman is a junior attackman from Baltimore, Md. The Tewaaraton Award was formally established in August of 2000 and is the preeminent lacrosse award honoring the nation's top collegiate lacrosse player for his extraordinary achievements on the field. In late April, the list will be narrowed to 25 and these men will earn the distinction of Tewaaraton Nominees. In mid-May, the five finalists will be announced. These finalists will be invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, which will take place on May 31st, at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.
KEENAN WINS ACC POW FOR FOURTH TIME ON APRIL 1: North Carolina sophomore midfielder R.G. Keenan was named the ACC Men's Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week on April 1. It was the fourth weekly award this season for Keenan during his banner sophomore campaign. Keenan was named the Most Valuable Player of the Konica Minolta Big City Classic game between North Carolina and No. 1 Johns Hopkins. The Perry Hall, Md., native won 18-of-25 faceoffs and scooped up a game-high nine ground balls in the match. He won 11-of-14 faceoffs in the first half as the Tar Heels built an 8-4 halftime advantage, and scored his second goal of the season in the second quarter. The nine ground balls were his second highest total this season, and his work on faceoffs helped the Tar Heels control possession en route to their first win over a top-ranked team since April 6, 1996.
HOLMAN & KEENAN SWEEP ACC AWARDS ON MARCH 27: North Carolina junior attackman Marcus Holman and sophomore midfielder R.G. Keenan were named the ACC Men's Lacrosse Players of the Week on March 27. It was the third weekly award this season for Keenan and the first for Holman. Holman led North Carolina to a pair of home wins with 10 points - two goals and eight assists - in victories over Dartmouth and No. 6 Maryland. Against Dartmouth, he had a goal and a career-high five assists while matching his career high of six points. The Baltimore, Md., native assisted on all four goals scored in the second half. Three days later, Holman led the Tar Heel offense with a goal and three assists for a team-high four points and assisted on the game-tying goal by Nicky Galasso with 10:37 to play. After having to leave the game in the first quarter against Dartmouth because of injury, Keenan came back and helped key an 11-10 conference win over Maryland. The Perry Hall, Md., native won 14-of-22 faceoffs in the game, including 6-of-8 in the fourth quarter as the Tar Heels outscored the Terrapins 5-3 to rally for the win. Keenan also had a game-high seven ground balls in the victory.
RASTIVO WINS ACC DEFENSIVE POW HONORS MARCH 13: North Carolina junior goaltender Steven Rastivo was named the Defensive Player of the Week in the Atlantic Coast Conference on March 13. Rastivo was named the Most Valuable Player of North Carolina's game against No. 14 Princeton in the Konica Minolta Face-off Classic. The South Setauket, N.Y., native was the dominant player on the field against the Tigers as he made 16 saves and allowed only eight goals in the nationally-televised win. Rastivo's .667 save percentage in the game was the best of his career in any game in which he had at least 15 saves. Princeton outshot the Tar Heels 43-22 in the game, and Rastivo had seven saves in the fourth quarter alone to secure the victory. Rastivo was just two saves shy of his career high of 18 which came against Penn State on February 11.
KEENAN WINS ACC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS FOR SECOND TIME: North Carolina junior R. G. Keenan was named the Men's Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week by the ACC on Monday, Feb. 27. It was the second time this year that he had won the award. Keenan sparked a comeback win at Navy February 25 as the Tar Heels scored four unanswered goals to grab the victory, the largest fourth quarter rally since April 13, 1996 for a North Carolina squad. The midfielder scooped up 11 ground balls and won 18 of 20 faceoffs, including all five draws in the fourth quarter. The 18 wins were the second-most in his career, and the winning percentage was a single-game best at 90 percent. It was the second weekly award of the season for the native of Perry Hall, Md. He had won earlier in the season after Carolina's season-opening wins over Penn State and Mercer.
EMALA & KEENAN SWEEP FIRST ACC PLAYER OF WEEK AWARDS: North Carolina junior midfielder Davey Emala and sophomore midfielder R.G. Keenan were named Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for the week ending on Monday, Feb. 13. Emala, a transfer from Georgetown, started his Tar Heel career with six goals, including two game-winning goals, and added an assist while starting his first two games with the team. The Baltimore, Md., native also had six ground balls combined in the wins over No. 17 Penn State and Mercer. He had four goals and an assist in the win over the Nittany Lions and added two goals against Mercer in limited playing time. He scored his six goals on only 10 shots. Keenan won 74.4 percent of his faceoffs in the first two games of the season to help North Carolina dominate possession time in the two wins over the weekend. Keenan won a career-high 19 faceoffs in 27 attempts against the Nittany Lions and had seven ground balls. A day later, the Perry Hall, Md., native won 13 of 16 faceoffs against Mercer and scooped up six ground balls. Keenan's 19 wins versus Penn State exceeded his previous career high of 18, set in three games in 2011. At the time his 81.2 percentage against Mercer was the second highest of his career in a game, exceeded only by the 85.7 winning percentage he had as a freshman last season against Dartmouth. He improved on that percentage by winning 90 percent of his draws against Navy on February 25.
TAR HEELS OPEN WITH WIN IN SOUTHERN SHOWDOWN: Steven Rastivo made a career-high 18 saves and R.G. Keenan won a career-high 19 face-offs to power sixth-ranked North Carolina to a 14-10 victory over 17th-ranked Penn State Saturday before a crowd of 6,913 in the fourth annual Southern Showdown played at Kennesaw State University's Soccer Stadium on February 11. The game marked the 2012 men's lacrosse opener for both teams. Several newcomers were involved in UNC's 14-goal outburst as junior transfer Davey Emala (from Georgetown) led the Heels with four goals and an assist while freshman Jimmy Bitter and junior tri-captain Marcus Holman each had three goals with Holman also adding a helper. Graduate student transfer Jack McBride (from Princeton) also scored twice for the Tar Heels. Sophomores Pat Foster and Duncan Hutchins had three and two assists, respectively, as Carolina registered assists on 10 of 14 goals. It was a career high assist total for Foster, who started on attack with Holman and freshman Joey Sankey. Hutchins matched his career high for assists. He also had two against UMBC last year. Rastivo, who transferred to UNC from Penn State in January 2010, was brilliant in goal for the Tar Heels as he made a career high 18 saves and he had a career high eight ground balls as well. He had 12 of his saves in the second half as Carolina protected an 8-5 halftime lead against an onslaught of 22 second half shots by the Nittany Lions. Rastivo's previous career high for saves was 13, which he achieved twice last season, against Maryland on March 26, 2011 and against Notre Dame on May 6, 2011. His previous career high for ground balls was four set against Ohio State as a freshman and Maryland as a sophomore. R.G. Keenan was equally instrumental in the victory as he won 19 of his 27 face-off attempts in the match while snaring seven ground balls. Keenan's previous high for face-offs won was 18, which he accomplished three times last season -- against Navy, Duke and Dartmouth. Keenan was only four face-off wins shy of the school record of 23 established by Shane Walterhoefer against Ohio State on April 21, 2008.
TAR HEELS EXPLODE FOR 20-GOAL OUTPUT IN WIN OVER MERCER: North Carolina got goals from 12 different players and assists from nine different players and played virtually its entire roster as the sixth-ranked Tar Heels defeated the Mercer Bears 20-7 at the Lovett School in Atlanta February 12. UNC freshmen scored 12 goals and had seven assists in the match. The 12 goals were a school record total for freshmen in a game. Freshmen Joey Sankey and Chad Tutton each scored three goals to lead the way for the Tar Heels while freshmen Jimmy Bitter and Walker Chafee and juniors Davey Emala and Stephen Burns had two goals each. The two goals were a career high for Burns. Sankey, Tutton, Chafee, Drew Hays, T.J. Kemp and Derek Henson all had their first goals in UNC uniforms. Sankey finished with six points overall as he added three assists while Bitter finished with four points overall as he pitched in with two helpers. Burns, Chafee, Jimmy Dunster, Foster, Frankie Kelly, Kemp and Tutton also added assists. The assist was the first career point for Kelly. Sankey had nine ground balls for the Tar Heels, the most by a Tar Heel attackman since Billy Bitter had nine against Maryland on March 21, 2009.
KEENAN, BALANCED OFFENSE LEAD TAR HEELS PAST TITANS: R.G. Keenan won 16 of 18 face-offs, helping sixth-ranked North Carolina dominate possession en route to an 18-8 men's lacrosse victory over Detroit in the Tar Heels' home opener at Fetzer Field on February 18. Jimmy Dunster scored three goals for Coach Joe Breschi's team and Marcus Holman and Chad Tutton each had four-point games for Carolina, which got points from 13 different players. UNC broke open a close game by scoring four goals in a span of two minutes in the first half and then went on a 12-2 scoring run from 10:43 in the second quarter to 5:05 in the fourth quarter to gain its biggest lead at 18-5. Carolina outshot the Titans 44-26 and won the ground ball battle 51-32. UNC dominated the face-off X, thanks in large part to Keenan, 19-8. It was a sloppy game ball handling wise on both sides of the field as Detroit committed 25 turnovers and UNC had a season-high 24. Dunster led the way with three goals for UNC while Holman and Tutton each had two goals and two assists. Joey Sankey and Pat Foster each had two goals and an assist and Davey Emala had a goal and two assists for Carolina. Ryan Creighton and Jimmy Bitter each scored twice for UNC and sophomore middie Will Campbell had a career-high two assists. Other goals came from Jack McBride and T.J. Kemp while freshmen Walker Chafee and Matt Shannon each had their first career assists.
CAROLINA SURGES PAST MIDSHIPMEN IN CLASSIC MATCHUP: Fourth-ranked North Carolina scored four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter, including the game winner by Thomas Wood with 1:16 to play, as it rallied past Navy 9-8 in men's lacrosse action before 1,801 fans at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on February 25. The game marked the biggest fourth quarter comeback for UNC in the sport in 16 years. Wood, a senior attackman from Dallas, Texas, saw his first action of the year after suffering a broken thumb in preseason practice, and scored three times. Team captain Marcus Holman, a junior attackman from Baltimore, had two goals and four assists. It was UNC's second successive win over Navy in Annapolis and its fourth in a row over Navy overall. UNC now leads the overall series 15-12. The last time UNC rallied from as much as a three-goal, fourth quarter deficit to win was April 13, 1996 when the Tar Heels won at Notre Dame 11-10. The Fighting Irish led 10-7 in that match before UNC ran off four goals in a row. The eventual game-winner in that contest was scored by Merrill Turnbull with 33 seconds to play. Carolina trailed by four goals on three occasions and rallied to overcome its biggest deficit in a game since May 8, 2010 when the Tar Heels were down to Ohio State by four goals in the first half of a game in Chapel Hill before eventually winning 19-13. The win was also the first time Carolina has trailed at halftime of a game and come back to prevail since May 9, 2009 when the Heels were down to UMBC 8-6 at halftime of an NCAA Tournament first round game. Carolina rallied in the second half of that game to triumph by a 15-13 count. Wood and Holman led the way for UNC with nine combined points and Davey Emala had a goal and an assist. R.G. Keenan was huge again for Carolina in the face-off circle as he won 18 of 20 draws. That was one win shy of his personal high of 19 in a game set against Penn State on February 11, 2012. Keenan's 90 percent tally at the X was the best percentage of his career in a game, besting the .889 percent performance he had the previous game against Detroit. Keenan also had 11 ground balls in the game, the third highest total of his career.
HEELS FALL VICTIM TO LEHIGH UPSET BID: Lehigh outscored North Carolina 5-0 over a span of 25:11 from the second through fourth quarters and went on to beat the fourth-ranked Tar Heels 9-8 at Fetzer Field on March 3. The loss was the first for the Tar Heels against an unranked team at Fetzer Field since March 5, 2004 when Navy downed Carolina 9-8 in overtime. The Mountain Hawks recorded their first win over Carolina since April 4, 1951 when Lehigh defeated the Tar Heels 6-3 in Chapel Hill. Lehigh won the game by capitalizing in three statistical areas, winning the ground balls 31-23, dominating the X 13-7 and scoring three extra-man goals on four opportunities while holding the Tar Heels scoreless on three extra-man chances. Lehigh man-down defense was so good that it did not allow the Tar Heels to take a shot on any of their three opportunities. The Mountain Hawks also harried the Tar Heels into committing 19 turnovers, including 11 in the second half.
CAROLINA FALLS AT PENN FOR FIRST TIME IN HISTORY: Eighth-ranked North Carolina's first visit to Franklin Field to play Pennsylvania since May 11, 1991 proved to be an unpleasant one as the unranked Quakers earned their first victory of the season, downing the Tar Heels 10-6 on March 6. Dan Savage led the Quakers with three goals and an assist while John Conneely had two goals and two assists and Ryan Parietti and Tim Schawlje each had a goal and an assist. Anthony Adler had a goal and two assists for the Quakers who got 17 of their 18 points from five players. It was the first ever win for the Quakers over Carolina at Franklin Field. Carolina is 8-5 all-time versus Penn but it had won its three previous visits for Franklin Field.
CAROLINA GRABS MUCH NEEDED WIN AGAINST PRINCETON: Steven Rastivo made 16 saves to earn Most Valuable Player honors of the 2012 Konica Minolta Face-off Classic as eighth-ranked North Carolina defeated 14th-ranked Princeton 9-8 at M&T Bank Stadium on March 10. Princeton outshot the Tar Heels 43-22 in the game but Rastivo proved to be a stone wall in the cage to keep the Tigers at bay, including a seven-save performance in the fourth quarter alone. The Tar Heels featured a balanced offensive attack with Duncan Hutchins scoring twice, including the game-winner with 6:09 to play after Princeton had rallied to tie the game at 8-8. Graduate student Jack McBride, who played at Princeton from 2008-11, had two goals for Carolina while Marcus Holman, Jimmy Dunster, Nicky Galasso, Davey Emala and Ryan Creighton each scored once. R.G. Keenan led UNC with two assists, while Pat Foster, Holman, Hutchins and Greg McBride each had a single assist.
CAROLINA'S RALLY FALL SHOTS AT DUKE: Fourteenth-ranked Duke bolted to a 10-3 lead and held on against a spirited second-half rally by 12th-ranked North Carolina to win 13-11 in men's lacrosse action before a crowd of 3,174 at Koskinen Stadium on March 16. Three different Blue Devils recorded hat tricks in the match while Joey Sankey matched his career high for points in a game with six for the Tar Heels. Sankey had three goals and three assists, matching his career highs for goals, assists and points in a game. Fellow freshman Billy Bitter came up big with a pair of scores while sophomore Ryan Creighton scored twice. Marcus Holman had a goal and an assist for the Tar Heels.
UNC GETS BOUNCE BACK WIN AGAINST DARTMOUTH: Marcus Holman and Thomas Wood combined for 11 points on March 21 to lead the 15th-ranked North Carolina men's lacrosse team to a 13-10 victory over Dartmouth before 1,116 fans at Fetzer Field. Holman had a career-high five assists and matched his career high with six points while Wood scored four goals, the most he has scored in a game in almost two years. Three Tar Heels had multiple goals in the game as Wood scored four times, to go along with an assist, and Joey Sankey and Davey Emala had two tallies each. Sankey also added an assist. Holman had a goal and five assists for UNC while Jimmy Bitter had a goal and two helpers. Chad Tutton had a goal and an assist as well. UNC outshot the Big Green 58-32 overall, including a 22-8 edge in the second quarter when the Tar Heels outscored Dartmouth 8-4. Steven Rastivo made 15 saves and allowed 10 goals for UNC. One of the keys to the victory for Carolina was the fact it committed a season-low seven turnovers Sophomore Frankie Kelly did most of the work at the X for UNC, winning 12 of 21 faceoffs and leading the Tar Heels with seven ground balls. Kelly's previous high for ground balls was four against Presbyterian on April 14, 2011. Kelly's 12 faceoff wins were the most in his career. His previous high was eight versus Presbyterian on April 14, 2011. The four goals by Wood were the most he had scored in a game since he had five goals against Ohio State on May 8, 2010. Wood had five ground balls in the game, matching his career high initially set against Lehigh on February 20, 2010. Holman's five assists were a career high, exceeding by one the total of four assists he had against Navy on February 25 of this season. Holman also had six points in that game against the Midshipmen and he matched that total against the Big Green on March 21.
CAROLINA GRABS ACC WIN VERSUS THE TERPS: It was Atlantic Coast Conference men's lacrosse at its best as #15 North Carolina edged #6 Maryland 11-10 March 24 at Fetzer Field in a game that featured five ties and four lead changes. The Tar Heels trailed by two early in the fourth quarter before scoring five of the next six goals and then staving off a Maryland flurry in the final minute. The Tar Heels improved to 7-3 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC and they have now beaten the Terps in three straight regular-season meetings. Joey Sankey led the Tar Heels with his fourth hat trick of the season while sophomore midfielder Will Campbell scored two unassisted goals, including the score that put Carolina up for good with 6:42 to play. Thomas Wood added a pair of goals for Carolina, Marcus Holman had a goal and three assists and Jimmy Bitter had two assists as the attack unit came through for the Tar Heels in a big way.
CAROLINA TOPPLES TOP-RANKED BLUE JAYS: R.G. Keenan won 18 face-offs and Jimmy Bitter and Marcus Holman led a balanced offensive effort as 11th-ranked North Carolina upset top-ranked Johns Hopkins 13-9 April 1 before 25,934 fans in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic at MetLife Stadium. Carolina, which improved to 8-3 on the season, had lost its last 11 games to No. 1-ranked teams, including two in the Big City Classic in the previous three years. But the Tar Heels persevered to score their first win over a top-ranked unit since beating Virginia on April 6, 1996 by a 19-18 score at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. Carolina improved to 6-22 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams and 3-7 against Blue Jay teams ranked No. 1 in the nation. R.G. Keenan was named the Konica Minolta Big City Classic MVP as he won 18 of 25 face-offs, the sixth time in his career and the third time this campaign he has won at least 18 draws in a game. He led both teams with nine ground balls. That was Keenan's second highest ground ball total of the season, exceeded only by the 11 he had at Navy on February 25.
UNC SCORES MOST GOALS IN THREE YEARS IN WIN OVER MERCER: North Carolina's 20-goal outburst against Mercer on February 12 was the most goals it has scored in a game since it beat Denver 20-7 on February 14, 2009 at Fetzer Field.
UNC IN THE POLLS: The North Carolina men's lacrosse team headed into the 2012 campaign ranked sixth in both major preseason national polls. Carolina was ranked sixth in the January 30, 2012 coaches' poll conducted by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. UNC received 204 points from the poll's 14 voters. UNC was also ranked sixth in the Nike Division I media poll of January 30, 2012, receiving 342 points from 22 voters. The most recent regular-season polls of the season were issued on April 9, 2012. The Tar Heels were ranked ninth in the Nike Division I media poll with 262 points. In the most recent USILA coaches poll, Carolina is ranked ninth with 121 points.
CAROLINA SNARES 250TH ALL-TIME WIN AT FETZER FIELD: Carolina's 11-10 win over Maryland on March 24 marked the 250th all-time win for the Tar Heels at Fetzer Field. North Carolina will head into its next home game against Michigan on May 5 with an all-time record of 250-117-2 at Fetzer Field. UNC has a 68.0 winning percentage all-time in history at Fetzer Field.
ANOTHER SEASON OPENING WIN: Carolina's 14-10 win over Penn State in the 2012 season opener was the 14th victory in a row in a season opener for the Tar Heels. The last time UNC lost a season opener was February 22, 1998 when the Tar Heels fell 13-12 to Butler at Fezter Field.
THE ALL-TIME RECORD: North Carolina has an all-time record of 429-267-2 in the sport of men's lacrosse. That is a winning percentage of .616.
TWO TAR HEELS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-ACC: Sophomore attackman Nicky Galasso and senior defenseman Charlie McComas were named preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference by Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse Magazine for the 2012 season. IL made the announcement on their website on December 12, 2011. Galasso, a native of West Islip, N.Y., started all 16 games for the Tar Heels in 2011 and led the team in scoring with 56 points. He scored 24 goals, one behind team leader Billy Bitter, and his 32 assists led the Heels, 18 more than Bitter's second place total. McComas is a three-year starter in the close defense for Carolina, starting 15 games as a junior in 2011. He had 30 ground balls and nine caused turnovers last season.
SIX UNC PLAYERS NAMED FACE-OFF YEARBOOK PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAS: Six members of the 2012 University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team were named to the preseason All-America Team announced by Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse Magazine on December 6, 2011. The preseason All-Americas were chosen by a vote of Division I head coaches and Yearbook and IL staff. Sophomore attackman Nicky Galasso was named a preseason first-team All-America, the only sophomore attackman on the first team. He led the Tar Heels in scoring as a freshman last year and was named the team's top freshman and the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2011. Junior midfielder Marcus Holman, one of Carolina's tri-captains, was named a preseason third-team selection. Four more Tar Heels were named to the honorable mention team, including senior midfielder Jimmy Dunster, sophomore face-off man/midfielder R.G. Keenan, long stick defensive midfielder Mark Staines and defenseman Charlie McComas.
FRESHMAN TUTTON EARNS TEAM CANADA ROSTER SPOT: University of North Carolina freshman midfielder Chad Tutton, an Ontario native, was named to represent Canada at the 2012 FIL Under-19 Men's Field World Championships being held in Turku, Finland, the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) announced on December 8, 2011. Tutton was a key addition to Coach Joe Breschi's highly touted recruiting class in 2012. Tutton is a native of Courtice, Ontario. Tutton attended The Hill Academy. He is the first Canadian to play at UNC since Dave Werry graduated in 2006.
TWO TAR HEELS EARN UNIVERSITY AWARDS: A pair of veteran Tar Heel leaders were recently awarded top honors from the University's academic and leadership divisions. Redshirt junior defenseman Logan Corey of Chapel Hill, N.C. was named the winner of the Athletic Director's Scholar-Athlete Award for 2011-12 for the UNC men's lacrosse team. Junior midfielder Marcus Holman of Baltimore, Md. was named one of 16 Tar Heel Leaders of Distinction presented by the Carolina Leadership Academy.
TAR HEELS APPEAR ON ESPN FAMILY OF NETWORKS SIX TIMES IN 2012: Six regular-season University of North Carolina men's lacrosse games are being televised in 2012 in the television schedule released by the ESPN Family of Networks and the Atlantic Coast Conference. North Carolina's three regular-season conference games are on the network, including an April 7 game against defending NCAA champion Virginia on ESPN at 1 p.m.. The Tar Heels also faced Duke on Friday, March 16 at 5 p.m. on ESPNU and Maryland on Saturday, March 24 at 12 noon on ESPNU. In addition, UNC non-conference games against Princeton on Saturday, March 10 at 11 a.m., against Johns Hopkins on Sunday, April 1 at 6:30 p.m. and against Hofstra on Saturday, April 14 at 1:30 p.m. are being televised on ESPNU. All three of those games are being played at neutral sites in Baltimore, Md., East Rutherford, N.J., and Charlotte, N.C., respectively.
FIVE UNC PLAYERS CHOSEN IN 2012 MLL DRAFT: Four seniors and one graduate student from the 2012 University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team were selected Janaury 15 in the 2012 Major Lacrosse League Collegiate Draft held in Philadelphia, Pa. Senior midfielder Jimmy Dunster of Cos Cob, Conn. was the first Tar Heel chosen in the draft being picked up by the Chesapeake Bayhawks in the third round with the 22nd overall pick. Graduate student Jack McBride, an attackman from Madison, N.J., was chosen in the third round with the 23rd pick by the Hamilton Nationals. Senior defenseman Mark Staines of Gambrills, Md. was the 32nd pick, going in the fourth round to the Boston Cannons. The last two Tar Heel picks both went to the Rochester Rattlers. Senior defenseman Charlie McComas of Parkton, Md. went in the seventh round with the 51st pick and senior forward Thomas Wood went to the Rattlers in the eighth round with the 59th pick.
CAROLINA ALUMNUS MEADE NAMED NATIONAL TEAM COACH: United States Lacrosse named Richie Meade, a 1976 University of North Carolina alumnus and former assistant coach at UNC, as the head coach of the 2014 U.S. men's national senior team. Meade will lead Team USA in its title defense at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championship, hosted by US Lacrosse and held in Denver, Colo., July 10-19, 2014. He becomes the 12th head coach in the history of the U.S. men's senior team program.
THREE TAR HEELS ELECTED TEAM CAPTAINS: Two seniors and one junior were named as tri-captains of the 2012 University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team. The three captains were chosen by a vote of their teammates. Senior defenseman Mark Staines of Gambrills, Md. and senior defenseman Charlie McComas of Parkton, Md. were chosen as two of the captains. The third captain is junior attackman Marcus Holman of Baltimore, Md. This marks the first time in Coach Joe Breschi's tenure that the Tar Heels have elected tri-captains. The 2009 team had four captains and each of the past two teams had co-captains. The last Tar Heel to serve as a captain in his junior year prior to Holman's election was Fletcher Gregory, who captained the 2007 team a junior and 2008 team as a senior.
TAR HEELS TO APPEAR THIS SPRING IN TWO INSIDE LACROSSE EVENTS: The The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team competed in a pair of events this spring sponsored by Inside Lacrosse Magazine and Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. Coach Joe Breschi's UNC Tar Heels played Princeton in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md., as the Tar Heels defeated the Tigers 9-8. Last Sunday, the Tar Heels defeated Johns Hopkins 13-9 at the Konica Minolta Big City Classic which will be played on Sunday, April 1, 2012 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. This year's appearances marked UNC's first ever appearance in the Face-Off Classic in Baltimore while Carolina will compete in the Big City Classic for the fourth straight year.
