No. 10 Tar Heels Host Mercer Bears Saturday

Saturday, February 8

Chapel Hill, N.C

12 p.m. ET

North Carolina

Mercer

Connor Maher

Photo by: Rebecca Lawson

February 7, 2020 | Men's Lacrosse

Live Stats Watch (ACCNX)Game Notes

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Head coach Joe Breschi and his 2020 University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team return to action on Saturday afternoon when the Tar Heels meet the Mercer Bears at noon at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.

No. 10 North Carolina opened its season last Saturday with a 19-6 win over the Colgate Red Raiders while junior transfer Chris Gray leading the Heels in his Carolina debut. Both Gray and sophomore goalkeeper Caton Johnson received ACC Player of the Week nods – Gray Offensive and Johnson Defensive – for their season-opening performances.

Mercer is also playing its second game of the 2020 season. The Bears defeated Florida Tech, 18-6 last Saturday with sophomore Sean Goldsmith tying a Mercer single-game goals record with six goals in the victory.

The Tar Heels are 3-0 in their series against the Bears, defeating Mercer, 20-9 in their 2019 season opener.

The game will be the second of three successive home games for the Tar Heels to be played at Dorrance Field. If Carolina wins the Mercer match-up, the team would be competing for the program's 300th win at home when they face Lafayette on February 15.

HOW TO FOLLOW
The North Carolina men's lacrosse season opener against Colgate will be aired on the ACC Network Extra.

Links to live results and live streams of North Carolina men's lacrosse games are available at GoHeels.com.

Fans can also follow @UNCMensLacrosse on Twitter and Instagram for updates throughout the meet. UNC Men's Lacrosse is also on Facebook. A recap of games and results will be posted on GoHeels.com following the conclusion of each competition.

Live Results | Watch (ACCNX) | 2020 Schedule | 2020 Roster

LAST TIME OUT
The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team kicked off the 2020 season with a dominating 19-6 win over Colgate University on Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field.

Nine Tar Heels had multi-point performances with junior Chris Gray tallying six points (4g, 2a) in his Carolina debut. Sophomore Nicky Solomon and seniors William Perry and Justin Anderson also finished the day with hat tricks. Freshman Lance Tillman, senior Tanner Cook, junior Alex Trippi and sophomore Henry Schertzinger each had two points.

Carolina's 1-0 start marks the 22nd-consecutive season that the Tar Heels have opened with a win. The Raiders drop to 0-1 to begin their season despite a team-best, four goals by Griffin Brown.

North Carolina also dedicated the patio at the Soccer & Lacrosse Stadium to Willie Scroggs. The Willie Scroggs Patio is the area on the field side of the team building just outside of the building (where the seats are located in the east end of the field), as well as the area between the team building and indoor practice complex (the site of several receptions this past year). A plaque recognizing Willie and the donors to this project will be placed at the patio in the coming weeks.

This honor for the former men's lacrosse coach and senior associate director of athletics was made possible by a gift of $500,000 from a group of 11 generous donors. Their gifts honor Willie and recognize the incredible impact he had and continues to have on the lives of so many Tar Heels.

Key Moments
» All-American attack man Chris Gray wasted no time putting up points, opening the game with four of Carolina's seven first quarter goals. Gray connected with William Perry on both of his assists, one in the second period and one in the third.
» The Tar Heels had another seven-goal performance in the second quarter. William Perry picked up his first two goals of his hat-trick performance while co-captain Justin Anderson capped off his own hat trick. Lance Tillman came in off the bench to put up the first two points of his career with two goals.
» Nicky Solomon highlighted the third quarter with three-straight goals for Carolina in less than six minutes. Solomon's hat trick brought him to a career-high five points after his two assists to Gray in the first quarter.
» UNC's offensive momentum slowed in the final quarter as the team upped its substitutions while Colgate capitalized and scored four of its six goals. Junior Ara Atayan found junior Alex Trippi for Carolina's only goal of the quarter.