Carolina Defeats Lafayette For Program's 300th Home Win, 24-8

Saturday, February 15

Chapel Hill, N.C

12 p.m. ET

North Carolina

3-0

Lafayette

0-3

Lafayette

North Carolina

Chris Gray, Alex Trippi and Nicky Solomon

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

February 15, 2020 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina men's lacrosse team secured the program's 300th home victory on Saturday afternoon with a 24-8 win over the Lafayette Leopards at Dorrance Field.

In their historic performance, the Tar Heels combined for the sixth-most points in a single game in school history with 43 (24g, 19a) and tied the second-most assists with 19. Carolina's 24 goals and 43 points against the Leopards are the most in a single game since the Tar Heels had 26 goals and 44 points against Manhattan on March 7, 2015.

With eight multi-point players and 16 different point-scorers throughout the game, 15 Tar Heels were able to set 26 new career records across the various individual statistics. Four of those student-athletes matched career highs in other categories while eight other individuals also matched at least one personal best.

Carolina's 3-0 start in 2020 marks the 12th time in the last 15 seasons that the Tar Heels have opened with three-straight victories. Lafayette's head coach Pat Myers, a former assistant coach at Carolina, and his team drop to 0-3 on the season after facing No. 1 Penn State, No. 16 Georgetown and now No. 9 North Carolina.

With three home victories under their belts, the Tar Heels will hit the road for three consecutive weekends to face their first ranked opponents of the season. Carolina will face off against No. 10 Johns Hopkins on February 22 and No. 8 Denver on March 1 before heading to Furman on March 6.

Though UNC has dropped its last two home matchups against Johns Hopkins, the Tar Heels have been relatively successful against the Blue Jays on the road. Carolina has won its last five games at Hopkins' Homewood Field dating back to a 13-8 win in 2008.

Key Moments
» In the first quarter, Carolina took 17 shots to Lafayette's nine and picked up nearly three times the ground balls to take a 6-2 lead. A dynamic offense – and even two long poles – allowed eight different Tar Heels to contribute to the opening quarter total.
» Alex Trippi and Tanner Cook each had two goals in the second quarter, but Lafayette held the period's goal differential to just one with six point-scorers.
» The Tar Heels took off in the third period, outscoring Lafayette 9-1 to all but clinch their historic victory. Nicky Solomon picked up four points on his way to yet another career-high performance (2g, 5a) while Chris Gray and Justin Anderson each scored twice.
» Cook picked up his fourth goal – a single-game season best – on an assist from Solomon while three other Tar Heels – Bailey Laidman, Quintin O'Connell and Jacob Kelly – each scored their first goals of the season.

Other Notable Individual Highlights
» Chris Gray (3g, 4a) and Nicky Solomon (2g, 5a) each had seven points to lead the Tar Heels. Gray's seven points mark his most during his time at Carolina and this marks the third-straight week Solomon has set a personal record in points. Solomon had a then-career-high five in the season opener against Mercer and then six versus Colgate.
» Solomon's five assists were one away from tying the fifth-most assists in a game (6) in school history.
» Alex Trippi scored a career-high four goals for a career-best five points (4g, 1a). Trippi also matched his career-best ground ball total with three.
» Three Tar Heels – Justin Anderson, Tanner Cook and Brian Cameron – had four points across four quarters. Cook scored four goals while Anderson and Cameron each had two goals and two assists. Cameron's four-point performance was the best of his career while Anderson's and Cook's were season bests.
» Defenseman Will Bowen had a breakout game, finding Sean Morris and Justin Anderson in open space for two assists while also picking up five ground balls and causing four turnovers.
» Six Tar Heels scored their first goals of the season – Henry Schertzinger, Harrison Schertzinger, Jacob Kelly, Sean Morris, Quintin O'Connell and Bailey Laidman. Kelly also found Trippi for an assist to bring his 2020 debut point total to two.
» Zac Tucci went 15 of 22 at the X for his most face-off wins and his best face-off percentage (.682) of the season. Tucci's 15 wins mark the sixth time in his career that the sophomore has won 15 draws or more.
» Eight Tar Heels made their 2020 season debuts against Lafayette.

Notable Team Achievements
» Carolina's 24-8 victory secured the program's 300th home win.
» The Tar Heels totaled 24 goals – four man-up – and 19 assists for 43 points on 58 shots. The team also combined for 51 ground balls and six Heels forced 10 turnovers in their third match of the season.
» Carolina's 24 goals and 43 points are the most in a single game since the Tar Heels scored 26 against Manhattan on March 7, 2015. The Tar Heels' 43 points against Lafayette are also the sixth most in program history.
» Carolina's 19 assists tie the second-most assists in a single game in program history. The last time Carolina had 19 assists was against VMI on March 31, 1993.
» The last time the Tar Heels won by a margin of 16 goals or more was March 14, 2016 when they defeated Manhattan, 18-2, on the road.