University of North Carolina Athletics
Heels Head West For Pacific Coast Shootout
March 19, 2015 | Men's Lacrosse
2015 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
Game 10: North Carolina Tar Heels (9-0, #2 USILA Division I Coaches Poll/#2 Cascade/Maverik/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, #2 Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Poll) vs. Maryland Terrapins (5-1, #6 USILA Division I Coaches Poll/#5 Cascade/Maverik/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, #6 Nike/Lacrosse Magazine Poll)
Saturday, March 21, 2015
10:00 p.m. EDT, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Santa Ana Stadium
Santa Ana, Calif.
Live Stats: Gametracker
Webcast: TBA
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2015 UNC Lacrosse Statistics: Cumulative Statistics
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UNC Lacrosse Player & Coach Biographies: Meet The 2015 Tar Heels
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CAROLINA & MARYLAND TO MEET IN PACIFIC COAST SHOOTOUT: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team, under the direction of seventh-year head coach Joe Breschi, travels across the country this weekend to play the University of Maryland Terrapins in the 2015 Pacific Coast Shootout at Santa Ana Stadium in Santa Ana, California. Game time is 7 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time/10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Saturday.
Carolina is coming off a 15-10 win over Harvard at Fetzer Field on Tuesday night. The Terrapins are coming off an 11-2 rout of Villanova last Saturday in Philadelphia, Pa.
Saturday's game will mark the 65th meeting between the Tar Heels and the Terrapins. The Terps have dominated the series historically by a 40-24 margin but Carolina has won six of the last nine meetings in the series, including three in a row.
Carolina began its season with seven successive home games, going 7-0 in that span including victories over Johns Hopkins, top-ranked Denver and 2014 NCAA quarterfinalist Bryant. The Tar Heels played on the road for the first time last Saturday and came away with a 16-11 victory at Richmond. In its most recent game, the Tar Heels built a 10-goal second half lead against #16 Harvard and eventually defeated the Crimson 15-10 at Fetzer Field Tuesday night before a national TV audience on ESPN3.
Maryland has started the season 5-1. The Terps crushed Navy 8-1 in their season opener before falling at Yale 10-6 in its second game. Since then the Terrapins have run off four very impressive wins, including victories over three ranked teams – Penn, Princeton and Villanova.
SATURDAY'S BASICS: The Tar Heels are ranked second in the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Division I Coaches poll, in the Cascade/Maverik media poll run in conjunction with Inside Lacrosse Magazine and in the Nike Lacrosse Magazine poll. The Tar Heels are ranked behind Syracuse in both polls while Notre Dame is third and Duke fourth in both polls. Maryland is ranked sixth in the USILA coaches poll and the Nike Lacrosse Magazine poll. The Terps are ranked fifth in the Cascade/Maverik Inside Lacrosse magazine ranking.
In the media poll, Syracuse received 20 of 24 first-place votes while the Tar Heels earned four first place votes. In the coaches' poll, Syracuse received all 16 first place votes.
North Carolina is 9-0 after opening its season with a 19-4 victory over Furman on February 7 at Fetzer Field, a 15-9 triumph over High Point on February 10 at Navy Field, a 20-8 win over Massachusetts February 14 at Fetzer Field, a 13-11 victory over #9-ranked Johns Hopkins February 21 at Navy Field, a 12-10 victory over #1 Denver on February 27 at Navy Field, a 26-6 triumph over Manhattan College on March 7 at Navy Field, a 10-9 victory over Bryant at Fetzer Field on March 10, a 16-11 victory at Richmond on March 14 and a 15-10 win over #16 Harvard at Fetzer Field on March 17.
The Maryland Terrapins enter Saturday's game with a record of 5-1. The Terrapins opened their season with an 8-1 trouncing of Navy in Annapolis, Md., before falling at Yale 10-6 in their second game. Since then, the Terps have recorded home wins over Penn 11-7, Drexel 12-3, Princeton 11-4 and in its most recent game they won at Villanova 11-2.
THE HEAD COACHES: Joe Breschi, UNC Class of 1990, leads the Tar Heels in his seventh season at Carolina. He coached his 100th game at UNC in Carolina's 2015 season opener versus Furman. Breschi is 78-30 in his seven years at Carolina, a winning percentage of 72.2 percent. He also coached 11 years at Ohio State and is 170-93 overall in 18 seasons as a head coach. His overall winning percentage at Ohio State and UNC is 64.6 percent.
John Tillman is in his fifth season as the head coach at Maryland after serving as the Harvard head coach for three seasons. Tillman is a 1991 alumnus of Cornell. He is 53-20 in five years as the head coach in College Park, a winning percentage of 72.6. In eight seasons as a head coach overall, Tillman is 73-39 overall (65.2).
CAROLINA VERSUS MARYLAND: Saturday's game will mark the 65th meeting between North Carolina and Maryland on the men's lacrosse field. Maryland leads the series 40-24. The series has gone in streaks. Maryland won the first 17 games between the two teams from 1964-80. That was followed by 17 Tar Heel wins in the next 23 meetings between 1981 and 1996.
From 1997 to 2009, Maryland won 14 of the 15 games between the Terps and the Tar Heels. Since a Tar Heel win in the 2009 ACC Tournament semifinals, Carolina has won six of the past nine games between the two teams. UNC has won each of the last three games, winning 11-10 in Chapel Hill in 2012, 10-8 in College Park, Md., in 2013 and 11-8 in Chapel Hill in 2014.
TENTATIVE DEPTH CHART FOR SATURDAY'S CONTEST: Carolina's pre-game depth chart for the game versus Maryland looks at follows. This is a tentative depth chart and subject to change.
Starting Attack Unit
#1, Luke Goldstock, Sophomore; #4, Jimmy Bitter, Senior; #11, Joey Sankey, Senior
Attack Reserve
#18, Walker Chafee, Senior
1st Midfield Unit
#2, Patrick Kelly, Junior; #12, Chad Tutton, Senior; # 42, Peyton Klawinski, Sophomore
2nd Midfield Unit
#0, Steve Pontrello, Junior; #22, Shane Simpson, Sophomore; #32, Duncan Hutchins, Redshirt Senior;
Short Stick Defensive Midfielders
#3, Brett Bedard, Sophomore; #6, Jake Matthai, Junior; #21, Michael Tagliaferri, Redshirt Sophomore; #28, Tate Jozokos, Sophomore; #44, Drew Hays, Senior
Long Stick Defensive Midfielders
#15, Ryan Kilpatrick, Senior; #99, Evan Connell, Junior
Face-Off
#24, Stephen Kelly, Sophomore
Close Defense
#17, Austin Pifani, Sophomore; #40, Jake Bailey, Senior; #77, Zach Powers, Junior
Goalkeeper
#26, Kieran Burke, Junior
LAST TIME OUT FOR CAROLINA: Led by stellar performances by Jimmy Bitter and Kieran Burke, the second-ranked North Carolina men's lacrosse team built a 10-goal second half lead and eventually finished with a 15-10 win over 15th-ranked Harvard on March 17 before 1,532 fans at Fetzer Field.
Bitter tied his career highs for goals in a game with five and points in a game with seven as 10 different Tar Heels scored goals in the match. When Bitter scored with 9:44 left in the first quarter it marked the 50th successive game in which he recorded a point. He has recorded at least one point in every game he has played in since March 16, 2012. The other Tar Heels who recorded points in 50 straight games were Dennis Goldstein (2/28/1989 to 5/27/1991) and Ryan Wade (5/11/91 to 5/21/94). Joey Sankey had a goal and three assists and has now recorded a point for UNC in 45 straight matches dating back to April 20, 2012.
Kieran Burke improved his goalkeeper record to 4-0 for the Tar Heels by recording 21 saves. The 21 saves were the second most for Burke in a game in his career. He had a career-high 23 against Virginia on April 6, 2013. Burke made 10 saves Tuesday in the first half and 11 in the second half.
Bitter's five goals equal his career high of five against Air Force on March 8, 2013. His seven points in the game matched his career high set against Hofstra on April 14, 2012.
Besides Bitter's five and two effort, UNC got two goals from Chad Tutton, a goal and three assists from Joey Sankey, a goal and two assists from Luke Goldstock and a goal and an assist from both Jake Bailey and Steve Pontrello. Peyton Klawinski, Drew Hays, Patrick Kelly and Walker Chafee all scored single goals for UNC.
The goal for Kelly came on his 21st birthday and Hays notched a goal for the first time since February 12, 2012 against Mercer in the second game of his freshman year. Bailey scored his fourth career goal and recorded his first career assist. The two points gave him his first career multi-point game.
NOTING THE TAR HEELS AFTER THE WIN OVER THE CRIMSON:
• For the second straight game, UNC had its passing game working at top notch pace. Eleven of UNC's 15 goals were assisted. Last Saturday at Richmond, UNC recorded 14 assists on 16 goals.
• Bitter's 50-game point streak is the second longest active streak in NCAA Division I while Sankey's 45-game point streak is tied for the third longest.
• Bitter now leads all active Tar Heels with 19 career hat tricks, one more than Sankey.
• UNC's attack unit has combined for 69 goals, 58 assists and 117 points in nine games. A year ago, the starting attack had 81 goals, 50 assists and 131 points in 15 games.
• Patrick Kelly has 11 points this season, one more than he had a year ago.
• Jimmy Bitter has 47 points this season in nine games. He had 37 points all of last season in 14 games.
• Luke Goldstock has 41 points this season after having just 10 as a freshman.
• Joey Sankey now has 196 career points, trailing only Marcus Holman (213) and Bruce Ledwith (204) in that category. Jimmy Bitter now has 177 career points, which ranks eighth in UNC history. On Tuesday, he moved past his brother Billy (2008-11) on the UNC scoring chart. Billy Bitter had 175 points in his career.
• Bitter's five goals give him 112 in his career. He is now the fourth most prolific goal scorer in UNC history, trailing just Bert Fett (128), Marcus Holman (121) and Jed Prossner (113). Joey Sankey now has 107 career goals, which ranks eighth in UNC history and Chad Tutton has 89 career goals which places him in 21st place.
• Joey Sankey had three assists in the game, giving him 89 for his career, the fourth most in UNC history behind Bruce Ledwith (119), Michael Burnett (106) and Marcus Holman (92).
• Carolina is 39-27 against nationally-ranked opponents under Coach Joe Breschi. The Tar Heels are 71-12 under Breschi's direction when they score 10 ore more goals.
