Carolina Opens ACC Season At Duke Friday

Friday, March 30

Durham, NC

5:00 p.m.

North Carolina

Duke

Junior attackman Andy Matthews leads UNC in assists with 19.

Photo by: Peyton Williams

March 28, 2018 | Men's Lacrosse

2018 Game Notes (PDF)2018 Media Guide (PDF)Live Stats Watch ESPN

Game will be nationally televised on ESPNU

By: Dave Lohse

Carolina Opens ACC Season Friday Evening Against Arch Rival Blue Devils

2018 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
Game 11: North Carolina Tar Heels (6-4, ACC 0-0, unranked in USILA Division I Men's Lacrosse Coaches Poll, unranked in Inside Lacrosse Maverik Media Poll) vs. Duke Blue Devils (8-2, ACC 0-1, ranked #5 in USILA Division I Men's Lacrosse Coaches Poll, ranked #5 in Inside Lacrosse Maverik Media Poll )
Friday, March 30, 2018
5 p.m. EDT
Koskinen Stadium
Duke University
Durham, N.C.
KEY LINKS FOR FRIDAY'S GAME
UNC Media Guide: 2018 Media Guide
Player Roster & Coaches' Bios: GoHeels.com Roster Page
2018 Statistics: Individual Stats
UNC Lacrosse Social Media Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Live Stats: GoHeels.com
TV: ESPNU

TAR HEELS HEAD TO DURHAM TO MEET FIFTH-RANKED BLUE DEVILS FRIDAY: Head coach Joe Breschi and his 2018 University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team conclude a four-game road swing Friday when the Tar Heels meet the fifth-ranked Duke University Blue Devils at 5 p.m. EDT in Durham, N.C.
The game will be the ACC opener for Coach Joe Breschi's youthful and banged up Tar Heel team which is looking to end a four-game losing streak. Duke is also coming off a loss having lost to ACC rival Syracuse last Saturday in Durham in the Blue Devils' ACC lidlifter.
Friday's game at Koskinen Stadium will be nationally televised on ESPNU with Anish Shroff on the play by play and Quint Kessenich providing color analysis.
Live Twitter updates during the game will be available via @uncmenslacrosse.

CAROLINA'S SECOND TRIP TO PACIFIC COAST LAX SHOOTOUT ENDS IN HARD FOUGHT LOSS: In its most recent game, the Tar Heels, then ranked 19th, fell against the #2-ranked and defending NCAA champion University of Maryland Terrapins last Saturday by an 11-7 score in the 2018 Pacific Coast Lax Shootout.
UNC trailed the entire game an fell behind by as much as 8-2 early in the third quarter. But Breschi's troops staged a furious rally and cut the lead to 9-7 with five minutes left. But that was as close as the Tar Heels would get and the Terps eventually pulled away for an 11-7 triumph and their fourth straight regular-season win over Carolina.
Still, the effort against the Terps was markedly improved over the last couple of games and the Tar Heels will have some momentum to build on as they head into the ACC schedule.
Saturday's game in California marked the second time the Tar Heels played in the Pacific Coast Lax Shootout. The Tar Heels also played in the event on March 21, 2015 when the Maryland Terrapins beat Carolina 10-8 in a match played in Santa Ana, Calif. Following are the year-by-year results of the Pacific Coast Lax Shootout.
2014-Denver 10, Notre Dame 7
2015-Maryland 10, North Carolina 8
2016-Notre Dame 9, Maryland 4
2017-Virginia 19, Cornell 18 (OT)
2018-Maryland 11, North Carolina 7

UNC-DUKE GAME DETAILS: After starting the season with six straight wins, the Tar Heels head to Durham looking to end a four-game losing streak. The 6-4 Tar Heels opened the campaign with successive wins over Lafayette, Furman, Lehigh, Johns Hopkins, Mercer and St. John's before dropping a 10-6 home game against Denver on March 5. In their past three games, the Tar Heels fell at Hofstra 12-6 on March 10, at Richmond 11-10 on March 14 and against #2 Maryland by an 11-7 score at Costa Mesa, Calif. on March 24.
The game against Maryland ended the nonACC portion of the season for the Tar Heels who now play nothing but conference opponents the rest of the way.
All four of those games will be played teams currently ranked in the Top 12 of the U.S. Intercollegiate Coaches Association poll.
Those games are at #5 Duke Friday, home against #12 Virginia on April 7, at #9 Syracuse on April 14 and home against #6 Notre Dame on April 21. While the Tar Heels are currrently unranked in both national polls, they do stand 17th in the latest NCAA RPI and they are in the exact same position as they were the past two seasons as far as the chance to play their way into the NCAA Tournament.
UNC enters this stretch of game with a 6-4 record, having played against one of the toughest schedules in the country to date.
In 2016, UNC was 5-4 entering the ACC portion of its schedule and went 3-2 against ACC opponents to finish 8-6 and earn an NCAA bid that eventually led to the a national championship.
In 2017, Carolina was again 5-4 entering games against ACC opponents and it went 3-3 the rest of the way and earned an NCAA Tournament bid at 8-7.
So this year's situation is no different. The Tar Heels can still play their way into post-season play.

SCOUTING DUKE: The Blue Devils entered the 2018 season ranked either #1 or #2 in the polls and the Duke side has lived up to the hype as it enters the game against the Tar Heels ranked #5 in both polls.
The Blue Devils are 8-2 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. Duke is just a mere two goals away from being a perfect 10-0. The only Duke losses have come in Philadelphia against Penn by a 10-9 score and at home in Durham last Saturday when the Blue Devils lost a one-goal decision to the Syracuse Orange.

CAROLINA VERSUS DUKE THE SERIES: North Carolina and Duke will play for the 74th time on the lacrosse field on Friday when the squads tussle Koskinen Stadium in Durham. Since the Tar Heels elevated to a full-time varsity program in 1949, North Carolina leads the all-time series 41-32. The first meeting when both teams were varsity programs came in 1952.
Carolina once held an overwhelming lead in the series before the Blue Devils won 25 of the 31 meetings between 1995 and 2013.
Dating back to the 2013 ACC Tournament meeting between the two teams, Carolina has won three of the past five meetings between the two teams.
ALL-TIME MEETINGS
May 15, 1952-Duke 11, UNC 7 (@Durham)
May 11, 1953-Duke 13, UNC 4 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 14, 1954-Duke 15, UNC 1 (@Durham, N.C.)
May 9, 1964-UNC14, Duke 0 (@Durham, N.C)
May 1, 1965-UNC 14, Duke 7 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 13, 1967-Duke 12, UNC 6 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 27, 1968-UNC 13, Duke 7 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 14, 1969-UNC 12, Duke 10 (@Durham, N.C.)
May 13, 1970-UNC 20, Duke 5 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 12, 1971-UNC 7, Duke 4 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 26, 1972-UNC 15, Duke 7 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 26, 1973-UNC 11, Duke 10 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 25, 1974-UNC 17, Duke 15 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 26, 1975-UNC 13, Duke 5 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 21, 1976-UNC 24, Duke 4 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 23, 1977-UNC 12, Duke 7 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 19, 1978-UNC 17, Duke 10 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 14, 1979-UNC 10, Duke 4 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 12, 1980-UNC 10, Duke 6 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 12, 1981-UNC 22, Duke 5 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 13, 1982-UNC 18, Duke 5 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 12, 1983-UNC 19, Duke 5 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 11, 1984-UNC 18, Duke 4 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 10, 1985-UNC 11, Duke 9 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 19, 1986-UNC 9, Duke 8 -overtime- (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 18, 1987-Duke 10, UNC 9 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 23, 1988-UNC 18, Duke 9 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 22, 1989-UNC 14, Duke 8 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 29, 1989-UNC 18, Duke 6 (@Chapel Hill, N.C., ACC Tournament)
April 21, 1990-UNC 26, Duke 13 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 23, 1991-UNC 15, Duke 6 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 26, 1991-UNC 11, Duke 8 (@Durham, N.C., ACC Tournament)
April 15, 1992-UNC 9, Duke 8 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 18, 1993-UNC 13, Duke 9 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 23, 1993-UNC 13, Duke 6 (@College Park, Md., ACC Tournament)
March 23, 1994-UNC 23, Duke 9 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 29, 1995-UNC 13, Duke 8 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 23, 1995-Duke 14, UNC 6 (@Chapel Hill, N.C., ACC Tournament)
March 19, 1996-Duke 11, UNC 10 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 19, 1996-UNC 18, Duke 8 (@Charlottesville, Va., ACC Tournament)
March 12, 1997-Duke 8, UNC 7 (@Durham, N.C.)
March 11, 1998-Duke 13, UNC 9 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 9, 1998-Duke 16, UNC 14 (@Amherst, Mass., NCAA Tournament)
April 14, 1999-UNC 10, Duke 9 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 23, 1999-Duke 9, UNC 7 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.-ACC Tournament)
March 22, 2000-Duke 13, UNC 8 (@Durham, N.C.)
March 21, 2001-Duke 11, UNC 8 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 20, 2001-Duke 11, UNC 9 (@Orlando, Fla., ACC Tournament)
March 20, 2002-UNC 9, Duke 7 (@Durham, N.C.)
March 19, 2003-UNC 14, Duke 9 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 20, 2004-UNC 10, Duke 9 -overtime- (@Durham, N.C.)
March 19, 2005-Duke 12, UNC 10 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 29, 2005-Duke 13, UNC 11 (@Baltimore, Md., ACC Tournament)
March 18, 2006-Duke 11, UNC 8 (@Durham, N.C.)
March 17, 2007-Duke 9, UNC 7 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 27, 2007-Duke 13, UNC 9 (@Durham, N.C., ACC Tournament)
May 20, 2007-Duke 19, UNC 11 (@Annapolis, Md., NCAA Tournament)
March 15, 2008-Duke 19, UNC 9 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 25, 2008-Duke 17, UNC 6 (@Charlottesville, Va., ACC Tournament)
March 14, 2009-Duke 12, UNC 8 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 26, 2009-Duke 15, UNC 13 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.-ACC Tournament)
May 17, 2009-Duke 12, UNC 11 (@Annapolis, Md.-NCAA Tournament)
March 10, 2010-UNC 13, Duke 7 (@Durham, N.C.)
May 22, 2010-Duke 17, UNC 9 (@Princeton, N.J.-NCAA Tournament)
March 17, 2011-Duke 14, UNC 9 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 16, 2012-Duke 13, UNC 11 (@Durham, N.C.)
April 22, 2012-Duke 12, UNC 9 (@Charlottesville, Va.-ACC Tournament)
March 13, 2013-Duke 11, UNC 8 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 26, 2013-UNC 18, Duke 17 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.-ACC Tournament)
March 15, 2014-Duke 9, UNC 8-overtime- (@Durham, N.C.)
March 29, 2015-UNC 15, Duke 14 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 1, 2016-UNC 17, Duke 16-overtime- (@Durham, N.C.)
April 2, 2017-Duke 12, UNC 8 (@Chapel Hill, N.C.)

REVIEWING 2017 MEETING BETWEEN UNC AND DUKE: The #11-ranked Duke men's lacrosse team outscored #16 North Carolina 7-1 in the second half Sunday night to pull away for a 12-8 victory before 3,825 fans at Fetzer Field and a national television audience on ESPNU. The game was played on April 2, 2018.
North Carolina jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the game 3:13 into the second quarter but was limited to just two goals the rest of the way while the Blue Devils outscored the Tar Heels 11-2 over the game's final 38:04. Carolina still led at the end of three periods but Duke won all six face-offs in the final period and outshot Carolina 13-4 in the final 15 minutes while outscoring the Heels 5-0 in the final frame of the game.
Jack Bruckner led the Blue Devils with four goals while Justin Guterding had a game-high six points on three goals and three assists. Kevin Quigley and Joey Manown each had two goals for the Blue Devils, who improved to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the ACC. Brad Smith had a goal and two assists for Duke.
Timmy Kelly led Carolina with two goals and an assist while Michael Tagliaferri had a pair of goals for the Tar Heels, who are now 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. Luke Goldstock had a goal and two assists for Carolina and Chris Cloutier had a goal and an assist.
Kyle Rowe was arguably the most valuable player of the game for the Blue Devils as he won 17 of 24 face-offs and had a game-high eight ground balls. Over the final three quarters of the game, Duke won 15 of the game's 18 face-offs. After outshooting the Blue Devils 10-2 in the first quarter, the Tar Heels were limited to just seven shots in the second quarter, five in the third quarter and four in the final quarter as the Blue Devils dominated possession. Duke had 34 shots in the final three quarters combined after getting off just two shots and committing five turnovers in the opening 15 minutes.
Overall, Duke led in shots 36-26, ground balls 25-20 and face-off wins 17-7. Danny Fowler made six saves for the Blue Devils while Brian Balkam had 10 saves for Carolina.
Carolina opened the game on a three-goal scoring run, including a pair of goals by senior midfielder Michael Tagliaferri. After Jack Bruckner scored the first of his four goals with 5:13 left in the first quarter, UNC ran off another three goals in a row with tallies by Chris Cloutier, Luke Goldstock and William Perry staking the Tar Heels to a 6-1 lead with 11:47 left in the second quarter.
The Blue Devils scored four of the last five goals of the first half and Bruckner's third goal of the opening 30 minutes pulled Duke within two goals at halftime. Duke's Joey Manown scored back-to-back goals to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:17 to play in the third period before the Tar Heels went back in front on a goal by Timmy Kelly with seven seconds left in the third quarter.
That would be Carolina's last goal of the game, however, as Duke scored all five goals in the fourth quarter. Justin Guterding put Duke ahead for good at 9-8 with 11 minutes to play. He then scored back-to-back goals at 4:56 and 4:04 of the fourth quarter to produce the final Duke winning margin of four goals.

POTENTIAL STARTING LINEUP: North Carolina's tentative starting lineup against Duke could look something like the following:
Attack – #55 Matt Cunningham (Sr.), #45 Chris Cloutier (Sr.), #12 Andy Matthews (Jr.)
Attack Reserve — #15 Timmy Kelly (Jr.)
1st Midfield — #77 Tanner Cook (So.), #21 Justin Anderson (So.), #3 William Perry (So.)
2nd Midfield — #11 Brian Cannon (So.), #16 Sean Morris (Fr.), #1 Alex Trippi (Fr.)
Short Stick Defensive Midfielders — #11 William McBride (Sr.), #28 Cam Macri (So.), #40 Cole Haverty (Jr.), #19 Timmy Gehlbach (Sr.), #23 Parker Alexander (Fr.)
Long Stick Defensive Midfielders — #4 Jack Halpert (Jr.), #88 Kyle Mathie (Sr.), #0 Jake Peden (Jr.)
Face-Offs — #17 Ryan O'Connell (Fr.), #25 Riley Graham (Sr.), #26 Charles Kelly (Jr.)
Close Defense Starters — #22 Jack Rowlett (Jr.), #20 Ryan Macri (Sr.), #43 Michael Nathan (Jr.)
Close Defense Reserves – #0 Jake Peden (Sr.), #29 Patrick Lyons (So.), #50 Kevin Walker (Jr.)
Goalkeeper — #48 Alex Bassil (Jr.)
Backup Goalkeeper — #42 Jack Pezzulla (So.)

UNC HEAD COACH JOE BRESCHI: Joe Breschi, UNC Class of 1990, leads the Tar Heels in his 10th season at Carolina. Breschi is 108-52 in his 10 years at Carolina, a winning percentage of 67.5 percent. He also coached 11 years at Ohio State and is 200-114 overall in 21 seasons as a collegiate head coach. His overall winning percentage at Ohio State and UNC combined is 63.7 percent. On April 9, 2017, UNC head coach Joe Breschi won his 100th game at Carolina. His 100th win as the Tar Heel head mentor came in Carolina's 15-12 victory against Virginia at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va.
His 200th overall coaching victory came in a 9-8 victory over St. John's on March 3, 2017 in Kenan Stadium.
Breschi Coaching Facts:
• 108-52 in 10 seasons at UNC (67.5)
• 200-114 in 21 seasons overall (63.7)
• 24-20 in one-goal games at UNC
• 7-6 in overtime games at UNC
• 57-44 versus ranked teams at UNC; 51-8 versus unranked teams at UNC
• 85-25 versus non-conference teams at UNC
• 65-17 in home games at UNC

UNC VERSUS?RANKED?OPPONENTS UNDER?COACH?BRESCHI: North?Carolina has played nationally-ranked (based on the USILA coaches poll) opponents 101 times in Joe Breschi's 10-year coaching tenure. UNC?is 57-44 in those games, a winning percentage of 56.4 percent. Conversely, and as would be expected, the Tar Heels are 51-8 against unranked opponents in Breschi's 10 seasons for an outstanding winning percentage of 86.4 percent. Breschi is 108-52 overall at Carolina in his 10 seasons as head coach. During Breschi's tenure, UNC's only losses to unranked teams came at Ohio State in 2011, at home to Lehigh in 2012, at Pennsylvania in 2012, at home to Hofstra in 2016, at Massachusetts in 2016, at home against Hofstra in 2017 and at Hofstra and at Richmond in 2018.

TAR HEELS IN OVERTIME UNDER BRESCHI: Carolina's 12-11 win over Lehigh on February 17 marked the 13th time the Tar Heels have played an overtime match in Coach Joe Breschi's 10 seasons as head coach. UNC is 7-6 in those 13 overtime contests. Carolina has won four of the last five games that have gone to extra time dating to a 17-16 win at Duke on April 1, 2016.

CAROLINA'S IMPROVEMENT IN ONE-GOAL DECISIONS: Prior to Joe Breschi taking over as head coach in 2009, UNC went just 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 24-20 in games decided by one goal over the past 10 years with Breschi at the helm, a winning percentage of 55.8 percent. UNC is 3-1 in games decided by one goal in the 2018 season with wins over Furman, Lehigh and St. John's and a loss to Richmond.

NEW HOME PLAYING VENUE FOR 2018: At the conclusion of the 2017 lacrosse season, historic Fetzer Field was razed. Construction on a new Fetzer Field, which will house the men's and women's soccer and men's and women's lacrosse programs at Carolina, began in May 2017. The new Fetzer Field will reopen in August 2018 in time for the Tar Heels' upcoming men's and women's soccer seasons. UNC men's and women's lacrosse will return to the new Fetzer Field in the spring of 2019.
In the interim, North Carolina will play all eight of its home games in 2018 in Kenan Stadium, the Tar Heels' historic football stadium which opened 91 years ago in 1927. All home games will be free of charge in 2018. Fans are encouraged to sit on the North Side of the stadium and enter through gate 4 on the West end of Kenan Stadium as stadium improvements are being made on the South Side of the stadium.
Parking for weekend games is free in the Bell Tower Parking Deck. Parking will also be available in the Rams Head Parking Lot for an hourly fee on game days and for weekday games. The Rams Head Deck is on the East side of the stadium.
Concessions on game days will only be available on the North Side of the stadium. Seating on the South Side of Kenan Stadium is not available this spring as new seats are being installed in the historic football edifice.
The original Fetzer Field was built in 1935 and had served as the home of the Tar Heel men's lacrosse program since 1949, its first varsity campaign. The original Fetzer Field was built as a Works Progress Administration program during the Great Depression.
The original Fetzer Field housed the following sports:
Track and Field -1935-2017
Men's Soccer - 1947-2016
Men's Lacrosse - 1949-2017
Women's Soccer - 1979-2016
Women's Lacrosse - 1996-2017

TAR HEELS AT KENAN STADIUM: Because of field improvements last spring at Kenan Stadium, 2017 marked the first year since 2015 that the Tar Heels did not play a game at Kenan Stadium, the home of the football Tar Heels. UNC is back in Kenan Stadium on a full-time basis in 2018 for eight home games as the new Fetzer Field in being completed on campus. North Carolina had a 6-0 mark in games played at Kenan Stadium from 2013-16 after beating Notre Dame 17-15 there on April 23, 2016.
UNC's last loss in the Tar Heel football stadium came on March 5, 2018 when Denver defeated the Tar Heels 10-6. It marked Carolina's first loss at Kenan Stadium since April 26, 2009 when the Tar Heels lost to Duke 15-13 at Kenan Stadium in the ACC Tournament championship game.
The Tar Heels defeated Virginia twice (2013 ACC Tournament championship game & 2016 regular season game) and Duke (2013 ACC Tournament semifinals), Johns Hopkins (2013 regular season), Maryland (2014 regular season), Notre Dame (2016 regular season), Lafayette (2018 regular season), Furman (2018 regular season), Lehigh (2018 regular season), Mercer (2018 reguar season) and St. John's (2018 regular season) once each in the 12 games at Kenan Stadium played between March 30, 2013 and March 3, 2018.
Since his arrival as UNC head coach for the 2009 season, Coach Joe Breschi's teams are 12-3 in games played in Kenan Stadium. UNC hosted the ACC Tournament in Kenan Stadium in both 2009 and 2013 during Breschi's tenure. UNC has won 12 of its past 14 games played at Kenan Stadium dating to the 2009 ACC Tournament semifinals against Maryland on April 24, 2009, losing only to Duke in the 2009 ACC Tournament finals and to Denver on March 5, 2018.

TWO TAR HEELS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-ACC: A pair of Tar Heel veteran players and two-year starters at their positions were named to the preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team selected by the league's five head coaches and released by the conference office on Tuesday, January 30. Senior attackman Chris Cloutier and junior close defenseman Jack Rowlett were named to the preseason All-ACC Team. Both are entered their third years as starters for the Tar Heels in 2018. Cloutier was the Most Valuable Player of the 2017 ACC Tournament when the Tar Heels won their 13th league title in history.

CLOUTIER NAMED TO TEWAARATON TROPHY WATCH LIST: University of North Carolina men's lacrosse senior attackman Chris Cloutier was named to the 2018 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List on Thrusday, March 1. A total of 50 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse players were named to the list. Cloutier is Carolina's leading scorer in 2018 with 25 goals and six assists for 31 points. He is a senior from Kitchener, Ontario. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 2016 NCAA Tournament and the 2017 ACC Tournament. Cloutier was tabbed as a third-team USILA All-America attackman in 2017.

CLOUTIER'S GOAL SCORING & POINTS STREAKS: Senior attackman Chris Cloutier heads into the Duke game with a 30-game goal scoring streak.
With two goals last week against Maryland Cloutier broke the school record for most consecutive games scoring a goal.
The previous school record was 29 games held by Marcus Holman. Holman's 29-game scoring streak began against Detroit Mercy on February 18, 2012 and extended through a game against Duke on April 26, 2013.
During Cloutier's 30-game scoring streak (four games in 2016, 16 games in 2017, 10 games in 2018), he has scored 80 goals, an average of 2.67 goals per game. Cloutier currently has the second longest active goal scoring streak in NCAA Division I lacrosse. The only player with a longer streak is Duke's Justin Guterding who has scored goals in 37 straight games dating back to March 26, 2016. Cloutier's current goal-scoring binge began on May 14, 2016 against Marquette in the first round of that year's NCAA Tournament.
Cloutier also has recorded at least one point in 30 successive games. That is the 14th longest point production streak in Tar Heel lore. During those 30 games, Cloutier has been responsible for 103 points on 80 goals and 23 assists. Cloutier's 30-game point streak is the 12th longest streak amongst current streaks in NCAA Division I.

CHRIS CLOUTIER ON CAREER CHARTS: Senior attackman Chris Cloutier (Kitchener, Ontario) has scored 105 career goals at Carolina heading into the Duke game. Cloutier became the 14th player in UNC history to score 100 goals in his career when he tallied with 1:28 left in the third quarter in the March 5 game against Denver. Cloutier is in 10th place in UNC goal scoring history. With two goals against Maryland he passed fellow Canadian Chad Tutton (2012-15) into 10th place. Tutton is now in 10th place with 104 goals.
Cloutier needs three goals to tie Dennis Goldstein for ninth place in Tar Heel career goal scoring. Goldstein had 108 goals in his career from 1987-91.
Cloutier is currently in 25th place in points in Carolina history with 139. He has 105 goals and 34 assists in his career. Next up on the career points chart are Harper Peterson (1967-70) and Mike McCall (2002-05) in a tie for 23rd place with 140 career points.

KELLY NAMED ACC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK ON FEBRUARY 26: University of North Carolina junior attackman Timmy Kelly of Lutherville, Md., was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, February 26. Kelly scored a career-high four goals as North Carolina earned a 13-11 victory at No. 13/14 Johns Hopkins, giving the Tar Heels their fifth straight win over the Blue Jays in Baltimore. With the game tied at 9-9, Kelly put North Carolina ahead for good with a man-up goal with 8:11 left in the game. He scored again 15 seconds later to give the Tar Heels a two-goal lead and then scored with 5:09 left in the match for the eventual game-winning goal in UNC's 13-11 victory. Kelly's previous career high was three goals in a game, achieved on a trio of occasions - once in 2017 and twice in 2018.

CLOUTIER & KELLY NAMED TO USILA TEAMS OF THE WEEK: The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association has instituted a 10-man National Team of the Week for the first time in 2018. The initial Tar Heel tapped for the team is senior attackman Chris Cloutier of Kitchener, Ontario. Cloutier was named to the team on February 12 after scoring five goals and adding an assist in the Tar Heels' 15-14 overtime victory over Furman.
Cloutier forced overtime with a goal with 1:16 to play in regulation and sophomore Justin Anderson won the game for the Tar Heels 31 seconds into overtime.
Timmy Kelly was named to the USILA Team of the Week on Tuesday, February 27. Kelly scored a career high four goals in Carolina's 13-11 win at Johns Hopkins on February 23. With the game tied at 9-9 in the fourth quarter, the junior attackman scored three straight goals to put the Tar Heels up 12-9 en route to a 13-11 triumph over the Blue Jays.

ANDY MATTHEWS ASSIST STREAK COMES TO END: Junior attackman Andy Matthews recorded at least one assist in 16 successive games before that streak was ended on March 10 against Hofstra. Matthews had begun his assist streak against Dartmouth on March 18, 2017 and it extended for 16 games through the contest against Denver on March 5, 2018. His 16-game assist streak equaled the fifth longest streak in UNC lacrosse history. Players with assist streaks longer than Matthews included Bruce Ledwith (1972-73) at 22 games, Michael Burnett (1980-82) at 21 games, Dennis Goldstein (1990-91) at 18 games and Joey Sankey (2015) at 17 games while Brendan Carey (1996) also had a 16 game assist streak.
Matthews also recorded points in 19 straight games beginning on March 4, 2017 and extending through the game on March 5, 2018.
With points in 22 straight games, Matthews recorded a streak that matched the 22nd longest streak in UNC history.
Matthews curently ranks 62nd in career points at Carolina with a total of 63 and he is 26th in career assists with 46.

CAROLINA SQUAD CHOOSES FIVE CAPTAINS FOR 2018 TEAM: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse program, under the leadership of Tar Heel head coach Joe Breschi, elected five players to serve as team captains for the 2018 season. The 2018 Tar Heel team captains include:
• Senior attackman Chris Cloutier of Kitchener, Ontario
• Senior defenseman Joe Kenna of Chantilly, Va.
• Senior defenseman Ryan Macri of Hamilton, Mass.
• Senior defenseman Kyle Mathie of Smithtown, N.Y.
• Senior midfielder William McBride of Baltimore, Md.
McBride is the second member of his family to serve as a Tar Heel captain. His brother Greg McBride served as a team captain in 2014.
Macri served as a team captain on the Tar Heels' ACC championship winning team in 2017. He is one of just eight individuals to serve as a team captain in multiple years for the Tar Heel program, joining the following players who were all two-time team captains in their own right.
• Ryan Macri, 2017-18
• Austin Pifani, 2016-17
• Mark Rizzo, 2016-17
• Marcus Holman, 2012-13
• Mike Munnelly, 2007-08
• Austin Garrison, 2002-03
• Joey Seivold, 1986-87
• Lew Floyd, 1953-54

TAR HEELS ON TV IN 2018: Carolina will have four of its 14 regular season games televised on ESPNU in 2018. The second of the four games to air on ESPNU comes this Friday when the Tar Heels play at fifth-ranked Duke.
In addition to that, seven more games will be televised on ACC Network Extra with live streaming on WatchESPN and the ESPNApp. Games at Hofstra and Richmond and against Maryland were on other networks.
The 2018 ESPNU schedule is as follows:
• Friday, February 23, 5 p.m., North Carolina at Johns Hopkins
• Friday, March 30, 5 p.m., North Carolina at Duke
• Saturday, April 14, 4 p.m., North Carolina at Syracuse
• Saturday, April 21, 12 p.m., Notre Dame at North Carolina
The 2018 ACC Network Extra schedule is as follows:
• Saturday, February 3, 12 p.m., Lafayette at North Carolina
• Saturday, February 10, 12 p.m., Furman at North Carolina
• Saturday, February 17, 12 p.m., Lehigh at North Carolina
• Wednesday, February 28, 4 p.m., Mercer at North Carolina
• Saturday, March 3, 10:30 a.m., St. John's at North Carolina
• Monday, March 5, 4 p.m., Denver at North Carolina
• Saturday, April 7, 6 p.m., Virginia at North Carolina
The UNC-Hofstra game was televised on LSN and Pride Productions. The UNC-Richmond game was televised on NBCSW+ and NBCSPhiladelphia+. The UNC versus Maryland game aired on YouTube.

TAR HEELS IN THE POLLS: North Carolina entered the 2018 season coming off an 8-8 campaign in 2017 in which it won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the 11th straight season. Carolina began the 2018 campaign ranked ninth in the Inside Lacrosse Maverik preseason media poll. Coach Joe Breschi's Tar Heels were also ranked ninth in the preseason United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association preseason coaches' poll. The first regular season polls were released on February 12. After starting the season 6-4, Carolina is currently unranked in the USILA coaches poll and unranked in the Inside Lacrosse Maverik media poll this week. This is the first time since the preseason poll of the 2007 season that the Tar Heels have been unranked in the USILA coaches poll. UNC had been unranked in some weekly media polls over the past 11 years but had remained in the coaches poll every week since early 2007.

CAROLINA PICKED TO FINISH THIRD IN ACC: The North Carolina men's lacrosse team was picked to finish third in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2018. The preseason poll voted on by the league's five head coaches was released on Tuesday, January 30. The Tar Heels are the defending Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament champions after having finished fourth in last year's ACC regular season standings. Duke and Notre Dame are tied atop the 2018 preseason poll with 17 points each in the rating. The Tar Heels are picked third with 12 poll points. Syracuse is fourth with nine poll points and Virginia is fifth with six poll points.

CONGRATULATIONS MARCUS: The U.S. men's lacrosse national team named its 23-player travel roster that will represent the United States in the Federation of International Lacrosse Men's World Championship July 12-21 in Netanya, Israel. The U.S. team will again include 2013 University of North Carolina alumnus Marcus Holman, who also played on the National Team when the World Championships were held in Denver, Colo., in 2014. The U.S. Team won a silver medal in that event.

28 TAR HEELS NAMED TO ACC ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL IN 2016-17: A record 385 University of North Carolina student-athletes were named to the 2016-17 Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll, announced on July 13, 2017 by the league. It was the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past five years that UNC had established a new high and the fifth year in a row that more than 300 Tar Heel student-athletes have been honored. Coach Joe Breschi's North Carolina men's lacrosse team was responsible for 28 of the 385 Tar Heels on the Honor Roll during the last school year. Fifty-six percent of the team's 50 members were tapped for the Honor Roll. The ACC champion 2017 Tar Heels placed four more members on the team than the outstanding number of 24 tapped from 2016's NCAA championship squad for the 2015-16 Honor Roll. Overall, the 2016-17 school year honorees included freshman Justin Anderson, senior Brian Balkam, sophomore Alex Bassil, junior Bug Carper, freshman Tanner Cook, junior Matt Cunningham, junior Mike D'Alessandro, senior Luke Goldstock, junior Riley Graham, sophomore Jack Halpert, sophomore Cole Haverty, senior Stephen Kelly, sophomore Timmy Kelly, senior Peyton Klawinski, senior Jack Lambert, freshman Patrick Lyons, freshman Cam Macri, junior Ryan Macri, junior Kyle Mathie, sophomore Andy Matthews, junior Patrick McCormick, sophomore Michael Nathan, senior Austin Pifani, sophomore Jordan Prysko, senior Mark Rizzo, freshman Tyler Seminetta, sophomore Kevin Walker and senior Luke Walsh.

CAROLINA'S STELLAR MARK IN NON-CONFERENCE GAMES: UNC's record in non-conference games continues to be one of the best in the nation over the past 13 seasons, dating back to late in the 2006 season. The Tar Heels have won 106 of their last 135 games against non-conference teams dating back to April 15, 2006 when the Tar Heels beat Fairfield 18-9 at Kenan Stadium. In Joe Breschi's 10 seasons as head coach, the Tar Heels are a brilliant 85-25 against non-conference teams, a winning percentage of 77.3 percent. The only non-conference losses were to Notre Dame in 2009, to Ohio State and Johns Hopkins in 2011, to Lehigh, Pennsylvania and Denver in 2012, to Massachusetts, Notre Dame and Denver in 2013, to Denver in 2014, to Maryland twice in 2015, to Hofstra, Denver, Massachusetts and Maryland in 2016 and to Johns Hopkins, Hofstra, Richmond, Maryland and Albany in 2017 and to Denver, Hofstra, Richmond and Maryland in 2018.

NEAR DOMINANCE AT HOME UNDER BRESCHI: UNC?is 65-17 in home games in Coach Joe Breschi's 10 years at the helm of the Tar Heels. That's a winning percentage of 79.3 percent. UNC's only home losses during Breschi's 10-year tenure include regular-season and ACC Tournament games to Duke in 2009, a regular-season loss to Duke in 2011, an NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland in 2011, regular-season losses to Lehigh and Virginia and an NCAA Tournament loss to Denver in 2012, a regular-season loss to Duke in 2013, a regular-season loss to Notre Dame in 2014, regular-season losses to Hofstra and Denver in 2016, regular-season losses to Johns Hopkins, Hofstra, Richmond, Maryland, Duke and Syracuse in 2017 and a regular season loss to Denver in 2018. The Tar Heels had won 17 successive home games under Breschi's tutelage from 2014-16 before being upset at home by Hofstra on February 20, 2016. That 17-game home winning streak had begun against Bucknell with a 20-4 win on March 11, 2014.

CAROLINA IN HOME GAMES: North?Carolina has an all-time record of 290-129-2 in home games. That included a perfect 11-0 record in 2015. In Joe Breschi's 10-year tenure as head coach, he has twice led Carolina to unbeaten records at home – 7-0 in 2010 and 11-0 in 2015. Since 1949, UNC has had eight undefeated home seasons, two under the tutelage of Breschi. UNC?has a 69.3 percent winning percentage all-time in history in home games.

THE ALL-TIME RECORD: North Carolina has an all-time record of 492-300-2 in the sport of men's lacrosse. That is a winning percentage of .624.
The Tar Heels need eight wins to reach the 500-win plateau in school history. The team's 300th all-time loss came against Maryland by an 11-7 score on March 24, 2018 in Costa Mesa, Calif.

CAROLINA'S DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING GAMES: In Coach Joe Breschi's 10 years as head lacrosse coach at UNC, Carolina's success has in large part been tied to hitting the 10-goal plateau in a game. In fact, UNC's 11-10 loss to Richmond on March 14, 2018, marked only the 18th time in Breschi's coaching tenure that the Tar Heels have lost when they have reached the 10-goal plateau. UNC has scored at least 10 goals in a game in 117 of 160 games under Coach Breschi's direction dating back to the opening game of the 2009 season. That's 73.1 percent of the time. Carolina is 99-18 in those 117 games, a winning clip of .853. As would be expected, in the 43 games under Coach Breschi's tutelage in which the Tar Heels have not reached the 10-goal mark, UNC has not fared nearly as well as when it scores in double figures. In fact, the Tar Heels' record in those 43 games?is just 9-34, a winning percentage of .209.
Carolina's last win in which it was held to single digits in goals came against St. John's 9-8 at Kenan Stadium on March 3, 2018. That marked the first game the Tar Heels had won in which both teams scored in single digits since downing Furman in a 7-3 decision on February 11, 2017 at Greenville, S.C. The 10 goals in the UNC-Furman game on February 11, 2017 were the fewest combined goals in a Tar Heel game since Februrary 13, 2010 when UNC beat Bryant 5-4 in Chapel Hill at Navy Field. In 2017, UNC was 6-3 when scoring in double digits and 1-5 when being held in single digits. The Tar Heels are 5-1 in games in which they have scored in double digits in 2018 and 1-3 in which they have scored in single digits.

UNC CLAIMS ANOTHER SEASON OPENING WIN: The Tar Heels beat Lafayette 17-10 in their 2018 season opener on February 3. UNC has won every season opener since the 1999 season, running its streak to 20 seasons in a row with the win over the Leopards. Carolina's last loss in a season opener came on February 22, 1998 when the Tar Heels fell to Butler 13-12 at Fetzer Field.

CAROLINA VERSUS NUMBER ONE: During the 2017 season, North Carolina played against the team ranked #1 in the nation in the USILA coaches poll a total of three times.
North Carolina played against the #1-ranked team in the USILA coaches poll that third time when it defeated Syracuse 16-15 on Friday, April 28 in the ACC Tournament semifinals. That was also the 12th time UNC had played the nation's #1-ranked team since midway through the 2012 season.
With a 13-9 victory over top-ranked Denver on March 4, 2017, the University of North Carolina recorded a victory against a team ranked #1 in the USILA coaches' poll for the sixth straight year. UNC would go on to play Syracuse twice in the 2017 when the Orange was ranked #1, losing an overtime game in the regular season before winning against the Orange in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
Since beating Johns Hopkins 13-9 on April 1, 2012 at the Meadowlands, UNC is now 8-4 against the nation's top-ranked teams in its last 12 games against teams ranked at the top of the USILA coaches rankings.
Altogether, UNC played #1 teams thrice each in both the 2016 and 2017 campaign.
According to research by UNC Athletic Communications, UNC is now 14-21 all-time against teams ranked #1 in the USILA coaches poll after the April 28, 2017 victory against Syracuse. Carolina's first meeting against a #1 USILA ranked team came in 1974.
Carolina has had wins against #1 teams in each of the six years from 2012-17. Those wins came against Johns Hopkins 13-9 on April 1, 2012, against Maryland 10-8 on March 23, 2013, against Maryland 11-8 on March 22, 2014, against Denver 12-10 on February 27, 2015, against Notre Dame 17-15 on April 23, 2016, against Maryland 14-13 in overtime on May 30, 2016, against Denver 13-9 on March 4, 2017 and against Syracuse 16-15 on April 28, 2017.
Prior to the win against Johns Hopkins in 2012, Carolina had not beaten a #1-ranked team since April 6, 1996 when UNC beat Virginia 19-18 at Fetzer Field.
UNC VERSUS #1 TEAMS ALL-TIME IN USILA POLL (14-21)
March 13, 1974 - Maryland 16, UNC 8 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 24, 1980 – Virginia 11, UNC 10, two overtimes (at Charlottesville, Va.)
May 30, 1981 – UNC 14, Johns Hopkins 13 (at Princeton, N.J.)
May 21, 1983 – Johns Hopkins 12, UNC 9 (at Baltimore, Md.)
April 6, 1985 – UNC 11, Johns Hopkins 10 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 19, 1985 – Syracuse 14, UNC 13, overtime (at Syracuse, N.Y.)
May 24, 1986 – UNC 10, Johns Hopkins 9, overtime (at Newark, Del.)
April 8, 1989 – Johns Hopkins 16, UNC 10 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 26, 1990 – Syracuse 21, UNC 10 (at Piscataway, N.J.)
March 9, 1991 – UNC 10, Syracuse 3 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 6, 1993 – UNC 14, Syracuse 10 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 3, 1994 – Syracuse 17, UNC 10 (at Syracuse, N.Y.)
April 6, 1996 – UNC 19, Virginia 18 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 12, 1997 – Princeton 10, UNC 9 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 8, 1999 – Loyola 10, UNC 7 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 19, 2002 – Virginia 10, UNC 3 (at Durham, N.C.)
March 29, 2003 – Johns Hopkins 11, UNC 10 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 22, 2004 – Johns Hopkins 15, UNC 9 (at Charlottesville, Va.)
April 2, 2005 – Johns Hopkins 7, UNC 5 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 8, 2006 – Virginia 21, UNC 13 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 15, 2008 – Duke 19, UNC 9 (at Durham, N.C.)
April 6 2009 – Virginia 11, UNC 10 (at East Rutherford, N.J.)
April 10, 2010 – Virginia 7, UNC 5 (at East Rutherford, N.J.)
April 1, 2012 – UNC 13, Johns Hopkins 9 (at East Rutherford, N.J.)
April 7, 2012 – Virginia 15, UNC 10 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
March 23, 2013 – UNC 10, Maryland 8 (at College Park, Md.)
March 22, 2014 – UNC 11, Maryland 8 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
February 27, 2015 – UNC 12, Denver 10 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 18, 2015 – Notre Dame 15, UNC 14 (at Notre Dame, Ind.)
March 5, 2016 – Denver 13, UNC 12, Overtime (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 23, 2016 – UNC 17, Notre Dame 15 (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
May 30, 2016 - UNC 14, Maryland 13 - overtime, (at Philadelphia, Pa.)
March 4, 2017 – UNC 13, Denver 9 (at Denver, Colo.)
April 15, 2017 – Syracuse 12, UNC 11 – overtime (at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
April 28, 2017 – UNC 16, Syracuse 15 (at Durham, N.C.-ACC Tournament Semifinal)

THE FINAL GAME AT THE OLD FETZER: Fetzer Field had served as the primary home of the University of North Carolina men's lacrosse program since the varsity program's founding in 1949. Despite exhaustive efforts at research, an exact record for games played at Fetzer is not fully known or researchable due to gaps in athletic communications records from the 1940s to 1970s. The all-time home record for UNC lacrosse since 1949 was 285-128-2 at the end of the 2017 season and now stands at 290-129-2 overall. That includes games played at Fetzer Field, Kenan Stadium, Navy Field, Henry Stadium and Finley Field.
Fetzer Field was built as a track and field facility in 1935 as a Works Projects Administration (WPA) project during the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Administration in the Great Depression.
Over the decades, several more sports began to compete at Fetzer Field - men's soccer in 1947, men's lacrosse in 1949, women's soccer in 1979 and women's lacrosse in 1996.
Fetzer Field was torn down in May 2017. A new soccer/lacrosse specific stadium is b being built on the same spot with opening planned for August 2018 in time for the 2018 men's and women's soccer campaigns. A new track and field facility is being built on Old Mason Farm Road in Chapel Hill near the Ronald McDonald House and a new field hockey stadium is being built on Ehringhaus Field. An indoor practice facility for football and outdoor football practice fields are also a part of the overall athletics construction project and those are located on the previous site of Navy Field and Henry Stadium.

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER DOUBLE DIGIT WIN SEASON UNDER COACH BRESCHI: Despite playing against one of the nation's toughest schedules in 2016, the Tar Heels reached a double digit win total for the eighth successive year under the tutelage of head coach Joe Breschi, who was hired in June 2008. The win over Notre Dame on May 22, 2016 gave UNC eight successive seasons with 10 or more wins.
Breschi was the first head coach in UNC history to post double digit win totals in each of his first eight 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 as the Tar Heel head coach. Under Breschi's leadership, UNC went 12-6 in 2009, 13-3 in 2010, 10-6 in 2011, 11-6 in 2012, 13-4 in 2013, 10-5 in 2014, 13-4 in 2015 and 12-6 in 2016.
The 2009-16 streak marked the first time that UNC has won 10 or more games in a season in eight straight years in Tar Heel history. UNC won 10 or more games in six straight seasons from 1989-94, the first two seasons under head coach Willie Scroggs and the last four under head coach Dave Klarmann.
After going 8-8 in 2017, the Tar Heels are off to a 6-4 start in 2018. Four more wins this season would give the Tar Heels 10 or more wins in a season for the ninth time in head coach Joe Breschi's 10-year coaching tenure. The Tar Heels have four more regular-season games remaining as well as the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.

EARLIEST START TIME IN TAR HEEL HISTORY: The North Carolina versus St. John's game on March 3 faced off at 10:30 a.m. That was the earliest start time to a game in UNC men's lacrosse history dating back to the 1949 season.
The previous earliest starting time to a game came on March 10, 2012 when UNC defeated Princeton 9-8 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. That game started at 11 a.m.
Almost excatly six years apart, both of those historically early games ended up in 9-8 Tar Heel victories in regulation time.

EARLIEST GAME DATE WISE IN CAROLINA HISTORY: When North Carolina played Lafayette in Kenan Stadium on February 3, 2018, it marked the earliest date on which the Tar Heels have ever played a game in their history dating back to 1949. The previous earliest game ever played was on February 4, 2017 when UNC defeated UMBC 17-6 in Raleigh, N.C. at Cardinal Gibbons High School.

2018 GAME SUMMARIES

TAR HEELS IMPROVE TO 6-0 WITH WIN OVER ST. JOHN'S: William Perry's goal from a near impossible angle with 6.8 seconds to play lifted the 10th-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team past St. John's 9-8 on March 3 at Kenan Stadium. In the process, the Tar Heels rewarded head coach Joe Breschi with his 200th collegiate career coaching win. He won 92 games in his 11 seasons as Ohio State's head coach from 1997-2008 and Saturday's win was his 108th in 10 seasons with the Tar Heels.
Perry's goal ended a scoring drought of 28 minutes and 45 seconds for the Tar Heels in the second half of the game. After leading at halftime 7-5, UNC's Timmy Kelly scored off an assist by Perry 1:08 into the second half to put the Heels up 8-5. But St. John's scored the next three goals of the game and tied the contest at 8-8 with 7:08 to play in the fourth quarter on an unassisted goal by Ryan Schaeffer.
Both teams had opportunities over the next several minutes of the game before Jason DeBenedictis took a shot for the Red Storm with 34 seconds left in the game that went wide right. UNC's William McBride backed up the shot and the Heels successfully cleared the ball before Breschi called timeout with 19 seconds left. Coming out of the timeout, freshman Alex Trippi carried the ball to the center from the right side, dodged down the left side alley and fed Perry who was positioned at goal line extended 10 yards out on the left side. Perry stung the net into the upper right corner just inside the pipe to put the Heels up 9-8. Carolina then won the ensuing face-off off the stick of Charles Kelly with Jack Halpert on the ground ball pickup and the Heels killed the clock.
North Carolina improved to 6-0 on the season for the first time since 2015 with the victory while St. John's fell to 2-2. Carolina now has a two-goal win against Johns Hopkins to go along with three one-goal wins this campaign, including a pair of overtime triumphs. Only two of Carolina's six wins have been by more than two goals.
Eight different Tar Heels scored goals in the game with Perry scoring twice and adding an assist. Justin Anderson had a goal and an assist for the Tar Heels and Andy Matthews contributed a pair of assists.
UNC outshot the Red Storm 45-28 but struggled much of the day to get the ball past Red Storm goalkeeper Matt Hanley who played spectacularly. Hanley made 15 saves, including eight on 10 shots on goal by the Tar Heels in the second half. UNC goalkeeper Jack Pezzulla made five saves altogether.
UNC's Charles Kelly won 12 of 21 face-offs against a pair of St. John's face-off men. Kelly led the Tar Heels with five ground balls as the Tar Heels led the Red Storm in that category 32-26. Timmy Kelly and Jack Rowlett each had four ground balls for Carolina.
St. John's committed 12 turnovers and was 16 of 20 in the clearing game. Carolina had just eight turnovers and was 20 of 21 in the clearing game. Both teams had one extra-man opportunity with the Tar Heels scoring the only man-up goal of the contest.
NOTING THE TAR HEELS
• Saturday marked the first ever meeting between North Carolina and St. John's.
• Chris Cloutier scored one goal in the game. He has scored at least one goal in 26 successive games. Cloutier's 26-game scoring streak is the second longest active streak in the country and it is now the third-longest goal scoring streak in UNC history. The only Tar Heels with longer goal scoring streaks are Marcus Holman at 29 games (2012-13) and Mac Ford at 27 games (1983-85).
• Andy Matthews had two assists against the Red Storm. He now has at least one assist in 15 successive games. That is the sixth longest assist streak in UNC history.
• Chris Cloutier has now scored 98 goals in his career. He is now tied for 16th in career goal scoring at Carolina. He is tied for 25th in career points at UNC with 130.
• Tar Heel head coach Joe Breschi now has 200 career wins on the collegiate level. He was 92-63 in 11 seasons at Ohio State from 1997-2008. Breschi is 108-48 in 10 seasons at UNC.
• Carolina has won 106 of its last 131 games against non-conference opponents dating back to April 15, 2006. UNC has won 85 of 106 non-conference games since Breschi became the head coach in 2009.
• UNC is 24-19 in games decided by one goal in Coach Breschi's 10-year tenure.
• The win marked only the ninth time in the last 40 games in which Carolina has scored in single digits and still prevailed. The last time came on February 11, 2017 when UNC beat Furman 7-3.

TAR HEELS RACE PAST BEARS IN RETURN TO KENAN: Behind a six-goal effort by senior attackman Chris Cloutier, the University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team improved to 5-0 on the season with a 14-7 win over the Mercer Bears on February 28 at Kenan Stadium.
Cloutier led the Tar Heels with six goals while eight other Tar Heels each scored a single goal. The six goals by Cloutier were the second most he has ever had in a game in his career, topped only by the nine goals he scored against Loyola in the NCAA Tournament semifinals on May 28, 2016.
The win was the 199th of Tar Heel head coach Joe Breschi's collegiate coaching career which includes 11 seasons at Ohio State and 11 years at North Carolina. He gets his first chance at win No. 200 Saturday when the Tar Heels host St. John's.
Freshmen Alex Trippi and Sean Morris and sophomore William Perry joined Cloutier as Tar Heels with multiple points in the game. Trippi had a goal and two assists while both Morris and Perry had a goal and an assist. The Bears (1-4 on the season) got three goals from Scott Baird and a pair of tallies by Matt Quinn.
The Tar Heels outshot the Bears 42-34 in the match and the home side had a slight edge in ground balls at 28-24. Junior Jack Halpert led the Tar Heels with a career-high six ground balls.
Junior Charles Kelly won 14 of 21 face-offs, the second most draws he has won in a game in his career. He also had five ground balls while Ryan Macri had four ground balls and Jack Pezzulla and Alex Trippi had three each. The only game in which Kelly has won more face-offs came against Lehigh on February 17 when he won 15. Kiel Brennan took all 24 face-offs for Mercer, winning nine.
Bradley Hodoval played all 60 minutes in goal for the Bears, making 16 saves while allowing 14 goals. Pezzulla started his third straight game in goal for the Tar Heels and played 47:53, making 10 saves and allowing just four goals. Junior Alex Bassil played the last 12:07 of the match and made four saves while allowing three goals.
UNC was a perfect 17 for 17 in the clearing game while Mercer was 16 for 21. The Bears committed 12 turnovers while UNC had just 10 turnovers but five of those came in the fourth quarter when Mercer outscored Carolina 3-1.
UNC's extra-man offense continued to thrive on the young season, going three for four. Mercer did not score on its four extra-man chances.
After Tanner Cook of Carolina and Scott Baird of Mercer exchanged goals, Cloutier scored a man-up goal with 4:19 left in the first quarter, a tally which put the Tar Heels up for good in the game. Cloutier's goal was the first of eight successive tallies by Carolina. The Canadian senior had three of those eight goals. Mercer retaliated with a pair of goals before Cloutier finished the scoring in the first half with 55 seconds left, giving the Tar Heels a 10-3 lead at intermission.
UNC outscored the Bears 3-1 in the third quarter with two of the three goals coming from Cloutier. UNC achieved its biggest lead of the game at 14-4 with 12:07 left in the fourth quarter on an extra-man goal by William Perry. Mercer scored the last three goals of the contest, including back-to-back goal by Matt Quinn at 5:53 and 3:01 of the final period.
NOTING THE TAR HEELS
• Carolina played a season-high 34 players in the game.
• North Carolina improved to 2-0 all-time against Mercer. The Tar Heels won the previous meeting 20-7 on February 12, 2012 in Atlanta.
• Chris Cloutier scored six goals in the game. He has scored at least one goal in 25 successive games. Cloutier's 25-game scoring streak is the second longest active streak in the country and it is tied for the third-longest goal scoring streak in UNC history. The only Tar Heels with longer goal scoring streaks are Marcus Holman at 29 games (2012-13) and Mac Ford at 27 games (1983-85).
• Andy Matthews had one assist against the Bears. He now has at least one assist in 14 successive games. That is tied for the sixth longest assist streak in UNC history.
• Chris Cloutier has now scored 97 goals in his career. He is now 17th in career goal scoring at Carolina. He is now 26th in career points at UNC with 129.
• Tar Heel head coach Joe Breschi needs one more victory to reach 200 career wins on the collegiate level.
• Carolina has won 105 of its last 130 games against non-conference opponents dating back to April 15, 2006.

HEELS HIT ROAD AND EMERGE WITH COME-FROM-BEHIND WIN AT JOHNS HOPKINS: The 12th-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team never led until midway through the fourth quarter but three successive goals by junior attackman Timmy Kelly gave the Tar Heels the lead for good in an eventual 13-11 victory over 13th-ranked Johns Hopkins before 1,383 fans and an ESPNU national television audience at Homewood Field on Friday evening, February 23.
With the win, the Tar Heels started the season 4-0 for the first time since 2015 and Coach Joe Breschi's team has already won a two-goal game on the road and a pair of overtime games, playing extremely well in tight games in the young 2018 campaign. UNC has now won its last five games against the Blue Jays at Homewood Field and has cut the Blue Jays' all-time lead in the series to 25-22.
Kelly notched a career-high four goals in the game, including three straight in the fourth quarter that broke a 9-9 tie and lifted the Heels to a three-goal lead. Sophomore midfielder Tanner Cook matched his career high for points in a game with five as he scored four goals, all in the first half, and added an assist. Chris Cloutier added two goals, running his goal scoring streak to 24 successive contests. Both Andy Matthews and William Perry had a goal and two assists. Matthews has now recorded assists in 13 consecutive games.
Tar Heel sophomore goalkeeper Jack Pezzulla stood on his head for long stretches during the night, making a career high 13 saves. Hopkins led 5-3 at the end of the first period but Pezzulla made five saves in the opening 15 minutes and prevented the early deficit from growing greater. Hopkins placed 10 of its 11 shots in the first quarter on goal and had leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 5-3 in the quarter.
Hopkins led in most statistical categories except saves where Brock Turnbaugh had nine for the Blue Jays. Hopkins led in shots 39-37 and in ground balls 29-20. This marked the second straight game in which the Tar Heels have earned just 20 ground balls (Lehigh had 30 to UNC's 20 in the previous game), but in both cases UNC has pulled out tight victories.
Hopkins face-off man Hunter Moreland was outstanding as he won 18 of 27 draws at the X and had a game-high 10 ground balls. Four of his nine losses at the X were due to face-off violations.
Both teams committed 13 turnovers and both squads were excellent in the clearing game with just one failed clear each. UNC's extra-man offense, which has been a highlight of its early-season play, was three of four while Hopkins scored twice on four chances.
Hopkins opened the game with a pair of goals in the first 1:15 of play before Tanner Cook got the Tar Heels on the board with 3:10 elapsed. After the Blue Jays again went up by two goals, tallies by Cook and Chris Cloutier tied the game at 3-3 with 5:41 left in the period. Hopkins, however, regained the momentum with unassisted goals at 1:05 and 0:14 of the period and led 5-3 at the first break.
Cook scored back-to-back goals at 13:52 and 5:28 of the second period and the Heels were back in a tie at 5-5. Cole Williams put the Blue Jays back ahead 4:53 before halftime but he was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for tossing his stick in the air in celebration and Carolina capitalized with Kelly's first goal, an extra-man tally off an assist by Andy Matthews just 27 seconds later.
Coming out of halftime, Hopkins seized the momentum. A pair of unassisted goals gave the Blue Jays an 8-6 lead 3:55 into the second half. Carolina bounced back and goals by Cloutier at 5:42 and by William Perry in a man-up situation with 2:27 left saw the game tied at 8-8 heading into the final period.
Patrick Fraser regained the lead for Johns Hopkins with 12:39 left in the game with an EMO goal but momentum shifted to Carolina about three minutes later. An unassisted goal by Andy Matthews tied the game at 9-9 with 9:46 to play and started a four-goal run for the Tar Heels. At 8:11, Kelly gave UNC its first lead of the game, scoring man-up off an assist by Cook. Jack Rowlett then forced a turnover by Hunter Moreland eight seconds later and the junior defenseman fed Kelly for a two-goal lead with 7:56 to play.
Charles Kelly was called for a penalty on the ensuing face-off but Pezzulla saved a shot by Fraser on the Hopkins EMO. UNC cleared the ball and called timeout and a minute and a half later, Kelly notched his fourth goal of the game to put the Heels up 12-9 with 5:09 to play.
Hopkins scored a pair of goals to cut UNC's lead to 12-11 with 3:06 to play. Carolina won the next face-off but turned the ball over and Hopkins had two shots to tie the game, both off cage, before Jack Keogh turned the ball over with 1:53 to play. After the Tar Heels were hit with a shot clock warning with 1:08 to play, Justin Anderson scored six seconds later to restore a two-game lead for the Tar Heels. Hopkins had two more shots and an EMO in the final minute but it turned the ball over with one second left.
Next up for Carolina is a match against Mercer on Wednesday, February 28 at 4 p.m. at Kenan Stadium. Admission is free. The game will be webcast nationally on ACC Network Extra.
NOTING THE TAR HEELS
• North Carolina improved to 22-25 all-time against Johns Hopkins. The Tar Heels have won 10 of the last 12 meetings between the two teams and they have won the past five games between the two teams played at Homewood Field.
• Chris Cloutier scored two goals in the game. He has scored at least one goal in 24 successive games. Cloutier's 24-game scoring streak is the second longest active streak in the country and it is tied for the fifth-longest goal scoring streak in UNC history.
• Andy Matthews had two assists against the Blue Jays. He now has at least one assist in 13 successive games. That is the seventh longest assist streak in UNC history.
• Chris Cloutier has now scored 91 goals in his career. He is now tied for 20th in career goal scoring at Carolina with Ryan Wade (1991-94). He is now 28th in career points at UNC with 123.
• Tar Heel head coach Joe Breschi needs two more victories to reach 200 career wins on the collegiate level. He has 92 wins in 11 seasons as head coach at Ohio State and he has 106 wins in 10 seasons as head coach at North Carolina.
• Carolina has won 104 of its last 129 games against non-conference opponents dating back to April 2006. That's a winning percentage of 80.6 percent in those 129 games.
• Timmy Kelly scored four goals against the Blue Jays, a career high. He had a trio of three-goal games previously in his career, against UMBC in his sophomore year and against Lafayette and Lehigh ealier this season. Kelly's four points matched his career high previously set against Virginia on April 10, 2016 and matched against Lafayette on February 3, 2018
• Tanner Cook matched his career high for points in a game with five. He also had five points against Furman on February 10, 2018
• Jack Pezzulla had a career high 13 saves. His previous career high was eight against Lehigh on February 17, 2018.

TAR HEELS CLAIM THRILLING WIN AGAINST LEHIGH: For the second straight Saturday, the 13th-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team needed overtime to prevail in a barnburner as William Perry's fourth goal of the game with 36 seconds elapsed in extra time gave the Tar Heels a 12-11 win over Lehigh before 826 fans at Kenan Stadium on February 17.
Just seven days previous to that game, it was Perry's fellow sophomore first midfield line mate Justin Anderson who scored just 31 seconds into overtime to lift the Tar Heels past Furman 15-14 at Kenan Stadium.
With the win over the Mountain Hawks, the Tar Heels improved to 3-0 on the season while Lehigh fell to 2-1. Saturday's game marked the second straight Saturday in which the Tar Heels fell behind late in the fourth quarter, earned a tying score with less than 2 1/2 minutes remaining in regulation and then won the game in the first minute of overtime.
William Perry had a career high four goals to lead the Tar Heels while Timmy Kelly matched his career high for goals in a game with three and Andy Matthews equaled his career high for points in a game with five. Matthews had two goals and three assists in the game.
Lehigh had two players combine for seven of its 11 goals as Andrew Pettit had four tallies for the Mountain Hawks and Tristan Rai had three goals.
The Tar Heels ended the game with a 39-35 shot advantage. North Carolina's Charles Kelly did yeoman's work in the face-off circle as he won 15 of 26 face-offs, including four of six wins in the fourth quarter and the face-off to begin overtime. He led the Tar Heels with six ground balls.
Kelly's work at the X was a key factor in the Tar Heels' win as the Mountain Hawks had an edge in most other statistics. Lehigh led in ground balls 30-20 and it committed only seven turnovers compared to 11 for the Tar Heels. Both teams scored two extra-man goals and both squads were almost perfect in the clearing game as Lehigh went 15 for 16 and UNC went 19 for 21. Conor Gaffney had a game-high seven ground balls for the Mountain Hawks while Andrew Pettit had six ground balls to go with four goals and an assist.
Both goalies played the entire 60:36 in the cage with Lehigh's James Spence making 11 saves and UNC's Jack Pezzulla notching eight saves.

GAME OF RUNS ENDS IN OVERTIME WITH TAR HEELS TOPPING PALADINS: The ninth-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team weathered a furious second half rally by Furman on February 10 to win 15-14 on a Justin Anderson goal just 31 seconds into the sudden victory period at Kenan Stadium before a crowd of 845 rain-soaked fans.
Anderson, a sophomore from Las Vegas, Nev., assisted on Chris Cloutier's game-tying goal with 1:16 left in regulation and then he scored the game-winner with 3:29 left in the first overtime period to lift the Tar Heels to 2-0 on the season. Despite trailing by six goals with less than four minutes left in the third quarter, the Paladins (now 0-2) scored eight of the next nine goals of the game and took a 14-13 lead on an extra-man goal by Mike Liscombe with 2:09 to play in the fourth quarter.
Senior attackman Chris Cloutier led the Tar Heels offensively with five goals and an assist while sophomore midfielder Tanner Cook scored five goals, including four in the first half, on just seven shots. The sophomore midfielder's previous career high for goals in a game was three the previous Saturday versus Lafayette. Justin Anderson had the game-winning goal and his three assists were a career high. He had never had more than one assist in a game in his career prior to Saturday. Sophomore midfielder William Perry had two goals and an assist for Carolina while Andy Matthews had a pair of assists and Timmy Kelly had a goal and an assist.
UNC dominated the game statistically but it was never able to put the Paladins away in the second half. The Tar Heels outshot Furman 45-36, won the ground ball battle 43-26 and was in control at the face-off X, winning 21 of 32 draws. But the Tar Heels committed 17 turnovers to just 14 for Furman and the Paladins made 13 saves in goal while a pair of UNC goalkeepers combined for nine.
Both Charles Kelly and Riley Graham were above 50 percent at the face-off X to help lead Carolina to the win. Kelly won 11-of-14 draws and Graham won 10-of-18. The two Tar Heels tied for the game-high ground ball total on the day with six each. Cloutier had five ground balls for Carolina.
The 11 face-off wins by Kelly versus Furman were the most he has had in a game in his career. His previous career high was seven versus Michigan on February 6, 2016.

CAROLINA OPENS WITH WIN OVER LEOPARDS: Ten different Tar Heel players scored goals on February 3 as the ninth-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team defeated Lafayette 17-10 in both team's season openers at Kenan Stadium. The Tar Heels' balanced scoring effort was led by hat tricks by attackman Timmy Kelly and midfielder Tanner Cook as the Tar Heels won their season opener for the 20th year in a row in front of a crowd of 1,112 fans.
Lafayette outshot the Tar Heels 46-38 in the game and the Leopards won the battle at the face-off X by a margin of 19-12. But Carolina shot the ball with more accuracy, tallying 17 goals on 27 shots on goal. While Carolina committed 16 turnovers, the Leopards had 24 turnovers and that negated much of the Leopards' edge in face-offs. UNC had 33 ground balls to 29 for Lafayette. Seventeen different Tar Heels recorded ground balls for UNC led by Riley Graham with five and Ryan Macri with four.
Jonathan Anastos played the whole game in goal for the Leopards and made 10 saves while allowing 17 goals. UNC played two goalkeepers. Freshman goalie Luke Millican played the first 50:48 and made eight saves while allowing seven goals. Jack Pezzulla played the final 9:12 in the cage and had three saves and three goals allowed.
Carolina was led in scoring by Timmy Kelly and Chris Cloutier with four points each as Kelly had three goals and an assist and Cloutier rung up two goals and two helpers. Tanner Cook added a hat trick for Carolina and William Perry and Brian Cannon each scored twice. Freshman Colin Munro had a goal and an assist for the Tar Heels in his Tar Heel debut while Andy Matthews added a pair of assists for UNC.
With two goals in the game, Chris Cloutier scored a goal in his 21st straight game, matching Jimmy Bitter for the seventh longest goal scoring streak in Tar Heel history. Andy Matthews had two assists for the Tar Heels and he has now posted helpers in 10 straight games, matching John Webster for the ninth longest streak in UNC history.