University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia
Big First Half Leads Heels Past Cavaliers
April 10, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The 11th-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team outscored 20th-ranked Virginia 10-1 over the opening 24 minutes of the game en route to a 16-8 victory over the Cavaliers Sunday afternoon at Kenan Stadium.
Six Tar Heels had a pair of goals and Timmy Kelly had a goal and three assists to lead Carolina, which got a stellar day from goalkeeper Brian Balkam who made 14 saves while allowing just seven goals in 56 minutes of action. Stephen Kelly had another outstanding game at the X for UNC as he won 17 of 25 face-offs and scooped up a game-high 10 ground balls.
With the win, UNC improves to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in the ACC. Virginia falls to 6-6 overall and 0-3 in the ACC. Next up for the Tar Heels is a trip to #10 Syracuse next Saturday at 4 p.m. Virginia returns home to face Duke in Charlottesville on April 17 at 12 noon.
UNC held a 56-33 edge in shots on the Cavaliers, including 34-12 in the first half while racing to a 10-2 lead. The Tar Heels also won the ground ball battle 31-17 and ending up with a 17-10 edge in the face-off circle.
Timmy Kelly led the Tar Heels offensively with a career-high four points on a goal and three assists. Steve Pontrello had two goals and an assist for the Heels while Chris Cloutier had a goal and an assist. Patrick Kelly, Luke Goldstock, Michael Tagliaferri, Brian Cannon and William McBride each scored two goals for UNC. James Pannell led the Wahoos with a hat trick while A.J. Fish and Ryan Lukacovic each had two goals and an assist for the visitors.
Both teams took good care of the ball with Virginia committing only six turnovers and UNC just eight. Each team had two failed clears.
Cannon and McBride each matched their career highs for goals in a game in leading UNC on the offensive end. Goldstock recorded a point for the 28th straight game, matching Bruce Ledwith for the 14th longest point producing streak in Tar Heel history.
Balkam had a career best game in the goal for UNC with 14 saves in 56:02 of action. He allowed just seven goals. It was an impressive bounce back effort for Balkam who left Carolina's previous game against Duke after just a quarter and a half. Colin Reder, who was the hero of the overtime win against Duke after making 10 saves off the bench, played the last 4 minutes in goal for UNC, making one save and allowing a goal.
The Tar Heels opened the scoring with a goal by Michael Tagliaferri 29 seconds into the contest on a dodge from behind the goal. After A.J. Fish tied the game for Virginia a little over four minutes later, UNC went on a 9-0 goal-scoring run while holding UVA scoreless for 22:46.
Pontrello, Cloutier and Goldstock scored unassisted goals for the Tar Heels to give the Heels a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Goldstock scored off a rebound of a save by Matt Barrett with 10 seconds left in the quarter to give the Heels a three-goal cushion.
The Tar Heels owned the first nine minutes of the second half. UNC scored the first six goals of the quarter and it was outshooting the Wahoos at one point by a 14-1 margin in the frame. Each of the first four goals of the second quarter was assisted. Brian Cannon scored an EMO goal off an assist by Pontrello at 13:52. The Tar Heels then ran off three goals in a span of just 1:12 to boost its lead to 8-1. William McBride scored off the first of Timmy Kelly's three assists at 10:28. The Tar Heels got another man up situation and Patrick Kelly scored off an assist by Cloutier at 9:26. Stephen Kelly won the ensuing face-off and fed Tate Jozokos for a goal 10 seconds later.
Timmy Kelly and Steve Pontrello notched unassisted goals at 6:38 and 5:59 of the period to make it 10-1. The goal by Pontrello would be the last one for Carolina in a span of 18:17 over the second and third periods. During that time, Virginia scored three unanswered goals to climb back into the game. Pannell scored late in the second period to break nearly a 23-minute scoreless streak and then Virginia got goals from Fish at 10:30 and Pannell at 9:50 of the third quarter to pull within 10-4.
The Tar Heels held the Cavaliers scoreless on an ensuing extra-man opportunity before a long possession for the Tar Heels resulted in an unassisted goal by Michael Tagliaferri at 3:42 of the third quarter making it 11-4. That was the first goal in a four-goal run by the Tar Heels that pushed them to their biggest lead of the game at 14-4 two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter. Brian Cannon scored off an assist by Timmy Kelly with 2:16 left in the third quarter. William McBride tallied while the shot clock was on with 13:19 left in the fourth quarter off another assist by Timmy Kelly and Patrick Kelly scored an unassisted goal less than a minute later to put the Heels up 14-4 with 12:24 left in the fourth quarter.
Virginia outscored the Tar Heels 4-2 over the last 10 minutes of the match, resulting in the final margin of 16-8.
Carolina is now 5-0 in its last five games played at Kenan Stadium, a winning streak which began against Johns Hopkins in 2013. UNC's last loss at Kenan came in 2009 when the Tar Heels fell 15-13 to Duke in the ACC Tournament championship game.
The eight-goal margin of victory was Carolina's largest against Virginia since a 15-7 win in the 1994 ACC Tournament championship game in Charlottesville, Va.
