Johns Hopkins Outlasts Tar Heels In Quagmire 11-10

Saturday, February 23

Chapel Hill, N.C.

12 p.m.

North Carolina

3-1

Johns Hopkins

1-2

Johns Hopkins

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

February 23, 2019 | Men's Lacrosse

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Blue Jays pull away in third quarter to win.

By: Dave Lohse

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Johns Hopkins outscored North Carolina 4-1 in the final eight minutes of the third quarter and then held on in the final minute of play to defeat the Tar Heels 11-10 Saturday afternoon in men's lacrosse action at muddy Kenan Stadium.

The playing conditions were precarious at best for both teams as several days of rain left puddles all over the turf and churned up mud virtually every place else. The conditions led to a sloppy but evenly played game as Johns Hopkins improved to 1-2 while UNC lost for the first time and is now 3-1.

Ara Atayan led the Tar Heels offensively with his first career hat trick while Justin Anderson, Nicky Solomon, Jacob Kelly, William Perry, Timmy Kelly, Tanner Cook and Jack Rowlett had single goals. Anderson, Jacob Kelly, Solomon and Alex Trippi had assists for UNC. Joey Epstein had two goals and two assists for the Blue Jays while Kyle Marr had two goals and an assist. Seven other Blue Jay players each had one goal and Cole Williams had two assists.

Hopkins jumped out to a 3-0 lead 7:21 into the match. Epstein scored the second goal for Hopkins and assisted on the third. UNC then ran off five straight goals. Nicky Solomon scored off an assist by Jacob Kelly with 6:06 left in the first quarter to cut UNC's lead to 3-1 after the first 15 minutes. Hopkins outshot the Tar Heels 16-3 in the opening period of the game but put only five shots on goal.

In the second quarter UNC outshot the Blue Jays 15-4, including eight of 15 shots on target. William Perry scored off an assist from Justin Anderson with 10:53 left in the half. UNC then scored three successive unassisted goals to take a 5-3 lead. Atayan, Anderson and Atayan again scored in a span of 2:34 before Hopkins finished the half with a goal to cut UNC's lead to 5-4 at intermission.

The Tar Heels took a 6-4 lead with 10:30 left in the third quarter as Jacob Kelly scored off an assist by Nicky Solomon. But momentum swung to the Blue Jays with eight minutes left in the third quarter and Hopkins outscored the Tar Heels 7-2 over a 17-minute span to take its biggest lead of the game at 11-8 with 6:31 to play. UNC rallied with goals by Jack Rowlett and Timmy Kelly with 33 and 14 seconds remaining in the game but Johns Hopkins won the ensuing face-off and celebrated its second successive win in Chapel Hill in the series which the Blue Jays now lead 26-22.

Hopkins outshot the Tar Heels 36-35 while each team won 12 face-offs in the match. UNC held a slight edge in ground balls at 34-30 led by seven ground balls by both Jack Pezzulla and Jack Halpert. UNC committed 18 turnovers to 16 by the Blue Jays. Ryan Darby made seven saves for Johns Hopkins while Jack Pezzulla had six saves for Carolina.

UNC will be back in action next Saturday when it hosts Denver at Kenan Stadium at 11 a.m. The game will be nationally televised on ACC Network Extra.