Tar Heels Overpower Red Foxes 17-5

Friday, March 8

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7 p.m.

North Carolina

4-2

Marist

2-3

Marist

North Carolina

Alex Bassil made his first start of the 2019 season, notching nine saves and allowing just four goals.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 8, 2019 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score (pdf)Play By Play (pdf)Watch Highlights on YouTube Coach Breschi Post-Game (mp3)

Alex Bassil makes nine saves in first start of season.

By: Dave Lohse

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Twelve different Tar Heel men's lacrosse players scored goals Friday night as UNC broke a two-game losing streak by beating Marist 17-5 before 604 fans at UNC Lacrosse Stadium. With the win UNC improved to 4-2 on the season while Marist fell to 2-3 as the Red Foxes saw their two-game winning streak halted.

Timmy Kelly, Ara Atayan, William Perry, Jacob Kelly and Bailey Laidman each scored a pair of goals for the Tar Heels in the win. Laidman's two goals were the first tallies of his career. Single goals were scored by Nicky Solomon, Andy Matthews, Alex Trippi, Harrison Schertzinger, Henry Schertzinger, Matt Gavin and Brian Cameron. The goal by Harrison Schertzinger was also a career first.

Nicky Solomon had the first multi-assist game of his career with three helpers. Timmy Kelly added two assists. Justin Anderson, Ara Atayan, Andy Matthews, Jordan Prysko, Harrison Schertzinger and Alex Trippi all had single assists for the Tar Heels.

Jojo Pirreca had two goals for the Red Foxes who had won Hartford and Stony Brook in their last two games. Jake Wienman had a goal and an assist and Michael Smith had two assists.

UNC outshot the Red Foxes 53-27 and oustcored Marist 6-1 in the opening period and 6-2 in the final period. UNC had a slight edge in ground balls at 38-34. UNC senior defenseman Jack Rowlett led the Tar Heels in ground balls with five while both Rowlett and Henry Schertzinger caused three turnovers. Defenseman James Sarrocco led the Red Foxes in ground balls with five.

Jake MacGregor started in goal for Marist and played 56:03, allowing 15 goals and making 15 saves. He played extremely well in the first half and recorded 12 saves before haltime. Despite the fact UNC outshot the Red Foxes 30-7 in the first half, Macgregor's play kept the game from being a rout as UNC led 7-1 after 30 minutes. Carolina shot more effectively against MacGregor in the second half, scoring eight second half goals against him vis-à-vis three saves. Kevin McKendry played the final 3:57 in goal for Marist, giving up two goals.

Senior Alex Bassil made his first start of the season for Carolina, playing 56:03 and making nine saves and allowing just four goals. Freshman Caton Johnson came on in goal in the final 3:57, making three saves and allowing one goal.

Turnovers and clears were a big difference in the game as Marist committed 25 turnovers by 15 different players while Carolina also committed its fair share of turnovers at 16. In the clearing game, Marist was successful just 11 of 23 times as 12 of its turnovers resulted from failed clears. UNC was 21 of 24 in the clearing game.

Zachary Tucci took all but one face-off for UNC and the freshman won 12 of his 24 draws. Raleigh native Peyton Smith was 11 of 22 in the face-off X for Marist after coming into the game winning 75 percent of his draws in the first four games of the season.

William Perry opened the scoring for UNC 48 seconds into the game as he rifled a shot from distance past MacGregor off an assist by Nicky Solomon. Marist tied the game at 10:13 but an unassisted goal by Harrison Schertzinger, his first in a Tar Heel uniform, 1:10 later gave the Tar Heels the lead for good. Seven different Tar Heels scored the seven goals tallied by UNC in the first half. Jacob Kelly, Nick Solomon, Ara Atayan, Henry Schertzinger and Timmy Kelly ran off the next five goals of the game, giving UNC a 7-1 lead at halftime.

Jojo Pirreca opened the scoring into an empty net 22 seconds into the second half for his second goal of the game. UNC answered with goals by Perry and Alex Trippi before Marist pulled within 9-3 on a goal by James Lyons with 10:25 left in the third quarter.

Carolina then went on a four-goal scoring run to push its lead to 10 goals. Atayan and Jacob Kelly scored their second goals of the game before the end of the third period. Timmy Kelly then scored a man-up goal just 22 second into the fourth quarter off an assist by Alex Trippi. Just nine seconds later Andy Matthews stole a Marist clearing pass and scored into an empty net.

Marist retaliated with a man-up goal from the right wing by Jake Weinman with 7:51 left in the fourth quarter before the Tar Heels went on a four-goal run. All four goals in that streak were of the assisted variety as UNC finished with 11 assists on its 17 goals. Brian Cameron scored from Timmy Kelly at 6:12, Matt Gavin tallied off an assist by Ara Atayan at 3:57. Bailey Laidman then scored the first two goals of his career at 1:29 and 47 seconds of the final period, assisted respectively by Harrison Schertzinger and Jordan Prysko. The latter of the two goals by Laidman came in a man-up situation. Marist finished the scoring with a goal by Edward May with five seconds to play.

Next up for the Tar Heels is a game against Patriot League opponent Bucknell on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Bison are 1-4 on the season heading into a home game Saturday morning against Holy Cross. Tuesday's game will be aired nationally on ACC Network Extra.