Career Day For Solomon Helps Tar Heels Down Bears, 14-6

Saturday, February 8

Chapel Hill, N.C

12 p.m. ET

North Carolina

2-0

Mercer

1-1

Mercer

North Carolina

Photo by: Rebecca Lawson

February 8, 2020 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score Play By Play

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team secured its second-straight home game victory on Saturday, defeating Mercer University, 14-6 at Dorrance Field.

Sophomore Nicky Solomon stole the show with a career-best performance over the Bears, tallying six points with two goals and a career-high, four assists. Junior Chris Gray had another impressive performance in Carolina blue, racking up five points with a goal and a season-best four assists, while seven other Tar Heels contributed to Carolina's final score.

Carolina's 2-0 start marks the eighth time in the last 10 seasons that the Tar Heels have opened with back-to-back wins. The Bears drop to 1-1 despite multi-point performances by Sean Goldsmith, Nick Rockfeller, Michael Quinn and Will McCarthy.

The Tar Heels will seek their 300th win at home in program history at noon Saturday, February 15 as they play host to the Lafayette Leopards before hitting the road for three consecutive weekends. Carolina faced Lafayette for the first time in program history when the Tar Heels bested the Leopards, 17-10 in its 2018 season opener.

Carolina will also host the Ronald McDonald House in Chapel Hill for RMH Day at Saturday's game against Lafayette. Fans with a donation item will receive a pair of Carolina blue and white socks.

Key Moments
» Brian Cameron, Nicky Solomon and Chris Gray all tallied two points in the first quarter against Mercer. Both Cameron and Solomon each had one unassisted goal while Gray connected once with each to bring Carolina's goal total to four at the end of the period.
» Four different goal scorers helped Carolina pull away in the second quarter. Gray added two assists to his performance, connecting first with Tanner Cook and then with Alex Trippi. Cook scored his second goal of a hat-trick performance within 40 seconds of his first while Ryan O'Connell put up his first goal of the season and freshman Alex Breschi got the first goal of his collegiate career on an assist from Nicky Solomon.
» The third quarter was again highlighted by Nicky Solomon, Chris Gray, Tanner Cook and Brian Cameron. Solomon helped both Cook and Cameron complete hat tricks while Gray scored his only goal of the game.
» The Tar Heel defense kept the Bears from finding the back of the net for the entire fourth quarter. Solomon secured a career-high six points with an assist to Trippi while Cook found Justin Anderson for Carolina's final scoring play.

Other Notable Individual Highlights
» Brian Cameron's three-goal game marks the first hat trick and the third three-point performance of his Carolina career. Tanner Cook's hat trick against Mercer is the fifth of his career.
» Zac Tucci had a team-leading five ground balls.
» Matt Wright picked up his first ground ball and caused his first turnover as a Tar Heel.
» Patrick Lyons had his second of back-to-back games with two caused turnovers, matching his single-game career record.

Notable Team Achievements
» The Tar Heels totaled 14 goals, two man-up, and nine assists for 23 points on 41 shots. The team also combined for 27 ground balls and six Heels forced seven turnovers in their second match-up of the season.
» Carolina took full advantage of its extra-man opportunities in the third and fourth quarters, scoring goals in each.
» The Tar Heel transition was nearly perfect with 18 successful clears on 20 attempts for a 90 percent success rate.