University of North Carolina Athletics
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Carolina Doubles Up Michigan In Season Opener
February 6, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The 2016 version of the University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team opened its season in impressive style Saturday afternoon, blasting Michigan 20-10 before a crowd of 2,006 fans at Fetzer Field on a sunny and chilly afternoon.
UNC's restyled starting attack got five points each from senior Steve Pontrello, junior Luke Goldstock and sophomore Chris Cloutier as the Tar Heels led 10-6 at halftime and then broke the game open by scoring the first seven goals of the second half.
Cloutier, stepping in at attack with the Tar Heels' minus record scorers Joey Sankey and Jimmy Bitter lost to graduation, had a tremendous first career start with five goals on seven shots. Pontrello had four goals and an assist, topping his career bests for both goals and points in a game. Luke Goldstock, picked up where he left off from last year, when he scored 50 goals, as he had two goals and three assists.
This early season game ended up being a shooter's day for both teams as the Tar Heels scored 20 goals on 43 shots and Michigan tallied 10 times on 25 shots. UNC led in ground balls 44-24 with eight Tar Heels claiming three or more led by senior Jake Matthai's five.
Carolina had a 20-14 edge in the face-off circle with junior Stephen Kelly winning 12 of 21 and freshman Charles Kelly going 7 for 12. The other thing that stood out on the stat sheet was Carolina's man-down defensive unit which limited Michigan to one goal on six attempts.
For the Tar Heels, William McBride had two goals and an assist and freshman Timmy Kelly notched his first two career goals. Patrick Kelly had a goal and an assist for the Tar Heels.
Michigan was led by Kyle Jackson who had five goals, including four of the Wolverines' six first half tallies. Ian King had a two-goal, thee-assist performance for Michigan. Peter Kraus had a goal and an assist for the visitors from the Big 10 Conference.
After Michigan scored in the opening a minute and a half, UNC ran off five goals in a row and never looked back. Cloutier got the scoring going for UNC at 12:55 and then Steve Pontrello got his first of four goals on a man-up situation just 30 seconds later. William McBride got the first of his two goals at 11:04 and long-stick defensive midfielder Evan Connell scored off the ground ball scramble on the ensuing face-off prompting the Wolverines to take a timeout.
After Michigan crawled back within 5-3, Goldstock and Cloutier scored to put the Heels up 7-3 at the end of the quarter.
The two teams traded scores in the second quarter. Jackson notched back-to-back tallies in the first three minutes of the second quarter but Peyton Klawinski and Timmy Kelly answered those goals. Jackson scored his fourth goal of the half at 5:52 off the second of King's three assists. But Goldstock scored off a Patrick Kelly feed to put the Heels up 10-6 at halftime.
The Tar Heels put the game away by scoring the first seven goals of the second half. Pontrello, Timmy Kelly and McBride notched third quarter tallies before four different Tar Heels scored in a span of 3:33 early in the fourth quarter to give the Tar Heels their biggest lead of the game at 18-7.
Carolina will be back in action on Saturday, February 13, 2016 when it hosts the Furman Paladins at Fetzer Field at 1 p.m.
