University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Massachusetts
Carolina Falls To UMass 14-9
March 12, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse
AMHERST, MASS. – Led by an 18-save performance by Dan Dolan, Massachusetts took an early lead and held it throughout in beating 10th-ranked North Carolina 14-9 in men's lacrosse action at Garber Field. The Minutemen broke a two-game losing streak to improve to 3-4 on the season while the Tar Heels fell for the second straight game and are now 3-3 on the campaign.
Dolan's performance was critical for the Minutemen who were outshot by Carolina 44-35, lost the ground ball battle 37-32 and won just eight of 25 face-offs. Nine different UMass players scored goals in the game led by Tyler Bogart with a hat trick. Dan Muller had two goals and two assists, Brendan Hegarty had two goals and an assist and Ben Spencer scored twice for the victorious side. Carolina got most of its production from its attack unit as Steve Pontrello had three goals and two assists and Chris Cloutier had two goals and two assists. Luke Goldstock also scored twice for the Heels as he extended his scoring streak to 23 games over the past two seasons.
Stephen Kelly led the Tar Heels at the face-off X where he won 17 of 25 draws and scooped up nine ground balls. Each of those totals matched his season high. Defensively, Jack Rowlett had five ground balls and four caused turnovers for the Tar Heels while Evan Connell had five ground balls and a caused turnover.
UMass outscored the Tar Heels in each of the first three quarters, gradually building a lead Carolina would be unable to overcome. Ben Spencer's goal with 40 seconds left in the second quarter gave UMass a 2-1 lead and he added another goal 4 ½ minutes into the second quarter. After Goldstock tallied for Carolina, Massachusetts went on a three goal run in just 1:09 to get separation from UNC. Bogart scored two of the three goals and his tally at 8:06 put UMass up 6-2.
Leading by three goals at halftime, UMass scored the opening goal of the second half before Carolina ran off three successive goals. Pontrello scored back-to-back goals at 11:48 and 8:47 to cut the Tar Heels' deficit to a single goal at 7-6. But the Minutemen answered with a five-goal run that essentially put the game away. They scored the last four goals of the third quarter and then Hegarty scored with 11:46 to play in the final period, his second goal in that five-goal run, to give UMass its biggest lead at 12-6.
The Tar Heels got back-to-back extra-man goals by Pontrello and Goldstock to cut the lead to 12-8 with 9:39 to play but Carolina would get no closer.
Carolina will look to get back in the win column Monday when it plays at Manhattan at 1:30 p.m.
