University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Heads To Princeton For Friday Night Matchup
March 6, 2014 | Men's Lacrosse
Tar Heels Look To Bounce Back Into Win Column With Challenging Game at Princeton
2014 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
Game 5
#6 USILA Coaches/#8 Warrior Media/#7 Lacrosse Magazine North Carolina Tar Heels (3-1) at #13 USILA Coaches/#14 Warrior Media/#12 Lacrosse Magazine Princeton Tigers (2-1)
Friday, March 7, 2014
5:30 p.m.
Class of 1952 Stadium
Princeton, N.J.
Live Stats: GoPrincetonTigers.com
Live Telecast: ESPNU
Follow The Tar Heels On Twitter: UNCTarHeelLax or UNCMensLacrosse
2014 UNC Lacrosse Media Guide: Access Media Guide Link on Lacrosse Home Page of GoHeels.com
Buy UNC Season & Individual Game Tickets: Visit GoHeels.com Ticket Center
The Coaches
North Carolina: Joe Breschi, North Carolina '90; 6th year at UNC, 62-26; 17th year overall, 154-80
Princeton: Chris Bates, Dartmouth '90; 5th year at Princeton, 37-25; 15th year overall, 107-96
Television Information
ESPNU
Play by Play: Anish Shroff
Analysis: Ryan Boyle
TAR HEELS TRAVEL TO CLASS OF 1952 STADIUM: After a disappointing loss to Notre Dam last Saturday, the #6/#8 North Carolina men's lacrosse team heads to Princeton, N.J. on Friday evening for its always challenging game against the #13/#14 Princeton Tigers.
Carolina is 3-1 heading to Class of 1952 Stadium while Princeton is 2-1 after wins over Hofstra and Manhattan and a loss to Johns Hopkins.
The games between these two old rivals are invariably close with five of the last seven meetings being one-goal decisions. A year ago, UNC pulled out a last-second win over the Tigers at Fetzer Field on a Chad Tutton goal.
The teams last met in Princeton during the 2011 season and it proved to be one of the few games between the two teams not to go down to the wire. Carolina fell behind early in that game but rallied to win 9-5 on an oustanding defensive effort in the second half.
The current seniors on the two teams were freshmen then. The squads played in Baltimore in 2012 and then the game rotation came back to Chapel Hill a year ago for the wild 16-15 affair that resulted in a UNC victory.
Carolina will be on the road for the first time since winning at Furman on February 9. The Tar Heels are coming off a three-game home stand against Manhattan, Dartmouth and Notre Dame.
LIVE COVERAGE FOR FRIDAY: For fans of Carolina lacrosse that cannot be there in person at Princeton on Friday, please follow along with live stats at GoPrincetonTigers.com.
The game between the Tar Heels and the Fighting Irish will also be telecast live on ESPNU with a simulcast on the web on ESPN3. Veteran ESPN play-by-play man Anish Shroff will be on the call for Friday's clash while Ryan Boyle, another veteran analyst for the ESPN family of networks, will be handling the color commentary.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE TAR HEELS: North Carolina suffered its opening loss of the season when it fell to Notre Dame 11-10 at Fetzer Field March 1. This marked the second straight year that the Fighting Irish have rallied late to beat the Tar Heels.
UNC led 8-3 midway through the third quarter but the Irish went on an 8-1 scoring run to take an 11-9 lead with 4:14 to play. Jimmy Bitter, who had a hat trick, got one back for the Tar Heels but Notre Dame was able to kill most of the last four minutes off the clock and hold on for the 11-10 win.
TAR HEELS EXCEL AGAINST THE BIG GREEN: North Carolina improved to 3-0 on the season with a workmanlike 18-5 victory over the Dartmouth Big Green at Fetzer Field on Saturday, February 22.
Carolina improved to 11-3 all-time against the Big Green and won its 11th game in a row in the series.
Carolina's 13-goal margin of victory was the largest for the Tar Heels against Dartmouth since March 25, 1990 when UNC downed the Big Green 23-5 at Fetzer Field.
The Tar Heels outshot the Big Green 52-20 in the match and led in ground balls 43-26 and face-offs 18-9.
Offensively, the Tar Heels got a big game from Joey Sankey with three goals and four assists as he tied his career highs for assists and points in a match. Jimmy Bitter kicked in with a hat trick for Carolina while Pat Foster, Chad Tutton, Michael Tagliaferri and Walker Chafee each recorded a pair of goals.
Senior Frankie Kelly was a positive factor for the Tar Heels at the face-off X as he won 11 of 18 draws and scooped up five ground balls. His younger brother, Stephen, a freshman was also stellar in the face-off circle with 7 of 8 face-off wins and seven ground balls.
Sophomore Kieran Burke made his 20th straight start in goal for Carolina and made eight saves while allowing only three goals in 49:04 of action. Duncan Saunders finished up in goal for the Tar Heels.
TAR HEELS TAKE CARE OF MANHATTAN: Carolina won its eighth straight home opener with a 21-5 win over Manhattan on Sunday, February 16 at the Navy Field Turf facility in the first ever meeting between the two teams.
Just as it did against Furman the previous Sunday, the Tar Heels came out as a serious bunch and built a huge first-half lead, allowing Coach Breschi to play his entire roster. Carolina led 7-1 after the first quarter and 13-3 at halftime and then outscored the Jaspers 8-2 in the second half.
Twelve different Tar Heels scored goals against the Jaspers and nine players had assists. Three Tar Heels - Joey Sankey, Chad Tutton and Shane Simpson - had hat tricks. Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey each had two assists.
Carolina had a 66-28 edge in shots and a 40-29 advantage in ground balls. Carolina was also excellent at the X, winning 18 of 30 draws despite the fact three-year face-off starter R.G. Keenan sat out the match with an injury.
CAROLINA OPENS SEASON WITH IMPRESSIVE WIN OVER FURMAN: North Carolina opened its season with a 19-3 win at first-year program Furman on Sunday, Feb. 9. One of the most noticeable things in the box score in UNC's victory was the balanced nature of the scoring. The Tar Heels had 14 different players score goals in the game. Junior attackman Joey Sankey led the Tar Heels with three goals and the other multiple goal scorers with two each were senior midfielder T.J. Kemp, sophomore attackman Spencer Parks and sophomore midfielder Brent Armstrong.
Carolina's leading scorer points wise against the Paladins was sophomore attackman Patrick Kelly who had a career-high four points. Kelly scored a goal and led the Tar Heels with three assists. Those were the first three assists of Kelly's career.
A quartet of freshmen scored their first career goals against the Paladins - attackman Luke Goldstock and midfielders Michael Tagliaferri, Shane Simpson and Peyton Klawinski.
TWO TAR HEELS ON TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: A pair of standout defensive players were named on Februrary 27 to the Tewaaraton Award watch list presented by Panama Jack. Junior attackman Joey Sankey and junior midfielder Chad Tutton were both named to the 50-man Watch List.
The list includes two players who were finalists in 2013 - Tom Schreiber of Princeton and Lyle Thompson of Albany.
UNC's Marcus Holman was a finalist for the award in 2013, only the second in UNC history. The other Tar Heel was Jed Prossner.
Additions to the list will be announced March 20 and April 10 and the field narrowed to 25 on April 24. The five men's finalists will be announced on May 8.
CREIGHTON A CANDIDATE FOR SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Senior tri-captain Ryan Creighton (West Chester, Pa.) has been named one of 20 candidates for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award. The award annually honors one men's lacrosse player who exemplifies four areas of excellence -- community, classroom, character and competition.
Creighton is seeking to become the fourth Tar Heel student-athlete in history to winner a Senior CLASS Award.
Tyler Hansbrough won for men's basketball in 2009, Ali Hawkins for women's soccer in 2010 and Kealia Ohai for women's soccer in 2013.
ANOTHER SEASON OPENING WIN: Carolina's victory over Furman on February 9 was the 16th in a row for the Tar Heels in a season opener. UNC has won every season opener since the 1999 season. Carolina's last loss in a season opener came on February 22, 1988 when the Tar Heels fell to Butler 13-12.
HAT TRICKS FOR THE HEELS: UNC junior Joey Sankey recorded hat tricks in each of the first three games of the season for the Tar Heels. That ran his career total to 11, the most of any current Tar Heel. Junior midfielder Chad Tutton notched his ninth career hat trick in the victory over Manhattan.
Also recording a hat trick versus the Jaspers was Tutton's fellow Canadian, freshman midfielder Shane Simpson.
Junior Jimmy Bitter notched his first hat trick of the season against Dartmouth and followed that up with another three-goal performance against Notre Dame, giving him 10 for his career.
CAROLINA AS A TEAM IN THE NCAA STATISTICS: Four games into the 2014 season, Carolina ranks in the Top 10 of NCAA team statistical categories in nine different areas.
Those team rankings are as follows:
Assists Per Game: 10th, 7.75
Ground Balls Per Game: 5th, 37.00
Man-Up Offense: 5th, .583
Points Per Game: 1st, 24.75
Scoring Defense: 5th, 6.00
Scoring Margin: 1st, 11.00
Scoring Offense: 1st, 17.00
Shot Percentage: 9th, .349
Turnovers Per Game: 2nd, 10.75
BURKE IN THE NCAA STATS: North Carolina sophomore goalkeeper Kieran Burke, who has started 21 straight games for UNC over the past two seasons, ranks sixth in NCAA Division I in goals against average at 6.03 and he is 11th in save percentage at .615.
KUDOS TO MARCUS: The Tar Heel lacrosse program received great news on February 5 when 2013 alumnus Marcus Holman was named to the U.S. National Team that will play this coming summer in the 2014 World Lacrosse Games in Denver, Colo. Holman is one of 30 U.S. players named to the team and one of six attackmen chosen. The U.S. National Team is being coached this year by Furman head mentor Richie Meade, a 1976 University of North Carolina graduate.
Holman is the son of UNC assistant coach Brian Holman and brother of former Tar Heel lacrosse player Matt Holman and current UNC women's lacrosse standout Sydney Holman.
THE POLLS: The three national polls were released this past Monday. After losing to Notre Dame last Saturday, Carolina fell from the Top 3 to the lower tier of the Top 10
North Carolina is ranked sixth this week in the USILA coaches' poll. Carolina is eighth in the Warrior media poll sponsored by Inside Lacrosse and the Tar Heels are ranked seventh by Lacrosse Magazine.
DEFENSE DID ITS JOB IN OPENING THREE GAMES: Carolina limited Furman to three goals in the Tar Heels' season-opening victory over the Paladins February 9 and surrendered only five against the Manhattan Jaspers and the Dartmouth Big Green in the following two matchups.
The three goals allowed against Furman were the fewest goals allowed in a game by Carolina since March 18, 2008 when the Tar Heels beat Marist 12-3 at Fetzer Field.
UNC held each of its first three opponents to five goals or less. The last time UNC accomplished that feat was the 2010 season when it limited it first four opponents of the campaign to five goals or less. The Tar Heel were on a similar pace against Notre Dame with the Fighting Irish sitting at three goals more than halfway through the third quarter. But Notre Dame went on a 8-1 scoring run over the next 18 minutes to rally for an 11-10 victory over the Heels.
BURKE EXCELS IN THE CAGE: North Carolina sophomore goalkeeper Kieran Burke started his 21st successive game for Carolina in the Tar Heels' match against Notre Dame last Saturday.
Burke has been excellent for the Tar Heels in all four games this season. In 199 minutes of action he has made 32 saves and allowed only 20 goals. He has a save percentage of .615 and a goals against average of just 6.03.
SCORING DROUGHT FOR PALADINS: The North Carolina defense held Furman scoreless for a period of 34:12 in a 19-3 victory over the Paladins on February 9. After Ben Levin scored for the Paladins with 2:49 left in the first quarter to tie the game at 2-2, the Tar Heels kept Furman off the scoreboard until 13:37 remained in the game when Kenny Meinsen scored for the Paladins.
The last time a Carolina team had held an opponent scoreless for that long a period of time was April 13, 2013 when UNC blanked Hofstra for the last 34:38 of the game in a 14-5 victory over the Pride at Hempstead, N.Y.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: North Carolina's 21-goal offensive effort versus Manhattan on February 16 marked the largest goal output for UNC in head coach Joe Breschi's six years as head coach. The Tar Heels had scored 20 goals in a game three times previously during his tenure.
The 21 goals were the most for UNC in a game since April 26, 2001 when UNC beat NCAA Division II school Pfeiffer 27-7 at Henry Stadium. The last time Carolina had scored more than 21 goals against an NCAA Division I team was April 16, 1997 in a 22-2 victory at VMI.
TUTTON'S SCORING STREAK: With a goal against Notre Dame last Saturday, junior midfielder Chad Tutton has now scored in 17 successive games dating back to March 9, 2013. That equals the sixth longest current goal scoring streak amongst NCAA Division I players. The junior midfielder has scored 31 goals in that 17-game streak.
Tutton has scored goals in 29 of the past 30 games he has played in. The only game in that streak when he did not score came at Notre Dame on March 2, 2013.
The stellar Canadian midfielder had scored in 12 successive games from March 21, 2012 through February 23, 2013 prior to having his scoring streak broken against the Fighting Irish a year ago. He began his new streak against Princeton a week later.
Just a junior, Tutton has two of the 15 longest goal-scoring streaks in Tar Heel lacrosse lore.
His current 17-game goal-scoring streak is the seventh longest in UNC history and his previous 13-game streak equaled the 14th longest by a Tar Heel.
POINTS STREAKS FOR JOEY AND JIMMY: Carolina junior attackmen Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey have two of the 14 longest point scoring streaks currently active in NCAA Division I.
Bitter has recorded points in 30 successive games dating back to March 16, 2012. That equals the 10th longest streak in the nation.
Sankey has recorded at least one point in a game in 25 consecutive contests. His scoring streak began on April 20, 2012. Sankey's streak is the 14th longest in NCAA Division I.
Sankey and Bitter were the two fastest Tar Heels in history to reach 50-goal totals in their careers. Both are moving up the career points charts as well. Sankey has 116 career points and Bitter joined the 100-point club at UNC with his four-point performance against Notre Dame, giving him 103 for his career.
Sankey has 68 career goals and Bitter has 66.
Chad Tutton has the 29th longest point-scoring streak in NCAA Division I having posted at least one point in 17 games in a row.
MORE ON JIMMY AND JOEY: Since entering the Tar Heel starting lineup on a full-time basis on March 18, 2012 versus Dartmouth, Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey have been remarkably consistent performers, especially when paired with their old line mate, Marcus Holman, 2013 Tewaraaton Trophy Finalist, during 2012 & 2013.
The duo has continued that consistent play in 2014.
In addition to his long point streak, Sankey has scored goals in 22 of the past 25 games he has played in. Bitter, who has a longer point streak than his line mate, has scored goals in 25 of the past 27 games. He also has 10 career hat tricks, a total just behind fellow junior Sankey, who has 11, and one more than junior middie Chad Tutton, who has nine.
KEENAN PASSES 600 MARK IN FACE-OFF WINS: Senior midfielder R.G. Keenan started his senior season with an outstanding performance at the X against the Furman Paladins. He won 11 of 17 face-offs. Keenan's 11 wins gave him 605 face-off victories in his career. He ranks second on the Tar Heel record board behind only Shane Walterhoefer, who won 723 face-offs from 2006-09.
Brothers Frankie and Stephen Kelly combined to win five of eight face-offs against Furman, giving the Tar Heels a solid 1-2-3 punch at draws. Keenan has missed the past three games due to injury, leaving responsibility for the face-off duties to the Brothers Kelly.
FRANKIE'S CAREER DAY: Senior midfielder Frankie Kelly, easily one of the most popular of all Tar Heel players, stepped in for R.G. Keenan in the Manhattan match and the Tar Heels did not miss a beat.
Kelly had a career high for face-off wins in a game, going 14 of 18 from the X. Kelly's previous career high was 12 wins versus Dartmouth on March 21, 2012. Kelly won 77.7 percent of his face-offs against the Jaspers, a career best percentage. He won 72.7 percent in a match against Presbyterian on April 14, 2012.
Kelly also was excellent in the face-off circle in the Tar Heels next game versus Dartmouth. He won 11 of 18 face-offs and scooped up five ground balls. The 11 face-off wins were the third most he has ever had in a match.
His younger brother, Stephen Kelly, a freshman, was also excellent against the Big Green, winning 7 of 8 face-offs to go along with seven ground balls, a game high on the stat sheet.
PLAYING ITS DEPTH: One of the plusses of posting comfortable wins over Furman, Manhattan and Dartmouth to start the season was the fact Coach Joe Breschi could play his roster in the three wins and get plenty of experience for his younger players. Thirty-eight players saw action for the Tar Heels against Furman and Manhattan and 36 played in the win over the Big Green. The Tar Heels continued to play a deep roster versus Notre Dame as 25 players saw action.
CAROLINA VERSUS PRINCETON: The series between North Carolina and Princeton is one of the most closely contested in UNC history.
The Tar Heels lead the all-time series 8-7. The series began in 1975. Princeton won seven of the first 10 games in the series but Carolina is currently on a five-game winning streak against the Tigers.
Eight of the previous 15 games in the series have been decided by a single goal. Only one game has gone to overtime, a 10-9 victory by the Tar Heels over the Tigers at Fetzer Field in 1999.
UNC VERSUS IVY LEAGUE FOES: Dartmouth was the first of three teams from the Ivy League UNC played in 2014. Carolina beat the Big Green 18-5 on February 22.The Tar Heels play at Princeton on March 7 and host Harvard on March 18.
Carolina's records versus Ivy League teams are as follows: Brown (3-0), Cornell (3-4), Dartmouth (11-3), Harvard (1-1), Pennsylvania (8-5), Princeton (8-7) and Yale (0-3). UNC is 34-23 all-time against Ivy League squads.
HEAD COACH JOE BRESCHI: Joe Breschi is now in his sixth season as the head coach at his alma mater. Breschi has led the Tar Heels to double-digit win totals and NCAA Tournament bids in each of his first five seasons in Chapel Hill.
He earned his 150th career coaching victory when Carolina beat Virginia in the ACC Tournament championship match on April 28, 2013. He was named ACC Coach of the Year in both 2010 and 2013.
Breschi Coaching Facts:
- 62-26 in five seasons at UNC (70.5)
- 154-89 in 17 seasons overall (63.4)
- 6-10 in ACC regular-season games
- 4-4 in ACC Tournament games
- 3-5 in NCAA Tournament games at UNC; 4-8 in NCAA Tournament games overall
- 14-11 in one-goal games at UNC
- 32-23 versus ranked teams at UNC; 30-3 versus unranked teams at UNC
- 51-9 versus non-conference teams at UNC
- 38-8 in home games at UNC
13 WINS IN 2013: North Carolina won 13 matches last season. That was the most wins in a season since Coach Joe Breschi's squad won 13 games in his second season as head coach in 2010.
Those two 13-win seasons gave Tar Heels their most wins in a single campaign since the 1993 team went 14-2.
MOST GOALS AGAINST A TOP 10 TEAM IN 17 YEARS: Carolina's 18 goals against Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals on April 26, 2013 were the most it had scored against a Top 10-ranked team since April 6, 1996 when the Tar Heels beat #1-ranked Virginia 19-18 at Fetzer Field.
TUTTON'S MIDFIELD GOALS: Midfielder Chad Tutton scored 28 goals in his sophomore campaign, ending the season on a 13-game goal scoring streak. That was the most goals by a Tar Heel midfielder since Sean DeLaney scored 35 goals in 2009.
WINNING THE ONE-GOAL GAMES: Carolina has a record of 14-11 in games decided by one goal in Coach Joe Breschi's six seasons as head coach. That included a 4-3 mark in one-goal games last season.
SECOND-LONGEST WINNING STREAK IN 20 YEARS: North Carolina won 10 successive games during the 2013 season before falling to Denver in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal. That equaled the longest winning streak for UNC since the 1992 season.
UNC won all 16 games during the 1991 season and then followed that up with wins in the first two games of 1992 before its 18-game winning streak was halted at Syracuse. The longest winning streak since that time came in 2010 when the Tar Heels opened the season with 10 straight wins en route to a final record of 13-3 and an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal appearance. Carolina matched that winning streak during the 2013 campaign.
HIGHEST SCORING AVERAGE IN 17 YEARS: North Carolina averaged 13.35 goals per game last season. That was the highest scoring average for the Tar Heels since the 1996 teams scored 15.29 goals per game. UNC scored 227 goals in 17 games last season.
JUNIOR DUO CLIMBING CAREER GOAL & POINT CHARTS: Junior attackmen Joey Sankey and Jimmy Bitter continue to climb UNC's career charts in goals and points.
Here are Sankey's career ranks in points and goals:
- Points: Tied 27th, 116 points
- Goals: 30th, 68 goals
Here are Bitter's career ranks in points and goals:
- Points: 34th, 103 points
- Goals: Tied 32nd, 66 goals
Jimmy Bitter finished his sophomore year with 59 goals while Joey Sankey wrapped up his second year with 58 goals.
Those were the two highest goal totals by any sophomore in UNC lacrosse history.
CAROLINA SCORING TIDBITS: Following are some details on top UNC players and their personal scoring streaks heading into the Princeton game.
- Has scored a goal in 25 of the past 27 games
- Has recorded a point in 30 successive games (streak began March 16, 2012)
- Has recorded a point in 25 successive games (streak began April 20, 2012)
- Has scored goals in 22 of the past 25 games
- Has recorded a point in 30 of the past 31 games
- Has scored a goal in 17 successive games
- Has scored a goal in 29 of the past 30 games
UNC's CAREER HAT TRICKS: Joey Sankey leads all current Tar Heel players with 11 career hat tricks. Jimmy Bitter with 10 and Chad Tutton with 9 rank right behind Sankey.
The only other Tar Heels will career hat tricks are Pat Foster with 2 and Ryan Creighton and Shane Simpson with 1 each.
KEENAN'S UPDATED FACEOFF & GROUND BALL NUMBERS: R.G. Keenan has won 605 face-offs in his career. That is the second most face-off wins in UNC history. Shane Walterhoefer (2006-09) is the UNC career leader with 723 face-off victories.
Keenan has 325 career ground balls, the third most in UNC history.
Keenan's 605 face-off wins are the second most amongst active NCAA Division I players, his 327 ground balls are the second most amongst active players and his 6.41 career ground balls per game is the fourth highest active total.
Keenan's 1,052 face-off attempts are the most amongst any NCAA Division I player.
ANOTHER DOUBLE DIGIT WIN SEASON UNDER COACH BRESCHI: Despite playing against one of the nation's toughest schedules in 2013, the Tar Heels reached a double digit win total for the fifth successive year under the tutelage of head coach Joe Breschi, who was hired in June 2008. The Tar Heels finished with a 13-4 mark.
Breschi is the first head coach in UNC history to post double digit win totals in each of his first five years mentoring the Tar Heels. Other than Breschi, Dave Klarmann (1991-94) is the only other coach to win 10 or more games in each of his first four seasons.
Under Breschi's leadership, UNC went 12-6 in 2009, 13-3 in 2010, 10-6 in 2011, 11-6 in 2012 and 13-4 in 2013. Prior to 2009-13, the last time Carolina patched together five successive seasons with 10 or more wins was 1989-94 when the Tar Heels had at least double digits in wins 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 VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS UNDER COACH BRESCHI: North Carolina has played nationally-ranked opponents 55 times in Joe Breschi's six-year coaching tenure. UNC is 32-23 in those games. Conversely, the Tar Heels are 30-3 against unranked opponents in his six seasons.
Breschi is 62-26 overall at Carolina in his six 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.
CAROLINA'S IMPROVEMENT 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 14-11 in games decided by one goal over the past six years.
