North Carolina
Notre Dame
Notre Dame Rallies Past Tar Heels 11-10
March 1, 2014 | Men's Lacrosse
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - For the second straight season, Notre Dame staged a furious second half rally to beat North Carolina in men's lacrosse action as the #11 Fighting Irish prevailed 11-10 over the second-ranked Tar Heels at Fetzer Field before a crowd of 2,232 fans.
Carolina twice held leads of five goals in the game at 7-2 midway through the second quarter and at 8-3 a minute into the second half. But Notre Dame responded with a run of five straight goals over a span of seven minutes to even the game at 8-8 with 14:31 left in the game.
After Jimmy Bitter put the Tar Heels back ahead with an unassisted goal at 13:09 of the fourth quarter, Notre Dame ran off the next three tallies including the eventual game-winner by Sergio Perkovic on a man-up situation with 4:14 left in the game. Notre Dame took advantage of repeated extra-man opportunities in the second half, scoring three man-up goals in the second half and four for the game.
Notre Dame improves to 2-1 on the season with the victory while North Carolina falls to 3-1 in advance of a game next Friday night at Princeton at 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
Saturday's game was eerily reminiscent of last year's Fighting Irish victory over the Tar Heels when Carolina surrendered a 9-6 fourth quarter lead and eventually lost to the Fighting Irish 10-9 in triple overtime in South Bend. The Fighting Irish won at Fetzer Field for the first time since the 2003 when they triumphed 10-8.
Notre Dame led in almost all statistical areas, outshooting the Tar Heels 39-29 and winning 17 of 25 face-offs. The Fighting Irish won the ground ball battle 34-31 and scored on 4 of 7 extra-man opportunities. Carolina went 1 for 3 on the man-up.
Both teams committed 15 turnovers. As UNC was trying to get the ball back late in the game to get a chance for a tying goal Carolina forced several turnovers in a row but its clearing game let it down as UNC failed on four clearing chances in the final quarter alone.
Matt Kavanagh led the Fighting Irish with three goals and two assists on the day while Sergio Perkovic had a pair of goals for Notre Dame. John Scioscia had a goal and an assist for the Fighting Irish.
For Carolina, Jimmy Bitter was the offensive leader with three goals and an assist. Pat Foster had a pair of goals for UNC while Chad Tutton had a goal and an assist for the Heels.
Kieran Burke made 10 saves in the goal for UNC while Shane Doss came off the bench for the Fighting Irish to make 10 saves in 51 minutes of action.
