UNC Earns 18-7 Win Over Jacksonville Dolphins

Saturday, February 13

Chapel Hill

6:00 PM

North Carolina

2-0

Jacksonville

0-1

Jacksonville

North Carolina

The Tar Heel defense, including Matt Wright (left), drew praise from coach Joe Breschi after Saturday's win over Jacksonville.

February 13, 2021 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Final Stats Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina improved to 2-0 on the season with an 18-7 men's lacrosse win over Jacksonville Saturday on a cold, rainy night at Dorrance Field. Senior forward Chris Gray, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Week, again led the Tar Heels in scoring with four points and three assists. Senior William Perry added a hat trick and Brian Cameron, Tanner Cook, Jacob Kelly and Nicky Solomon scored two goals each.

The Tar Heels are back in action on Tuesday, hosting High Point for a 2 p.m. game. That day's game was originally scheduled against Bellarmine, but after the Knights announced Friday that they'll pause team activities due to Covid protocols, HPU is now slotted into that spot. The game will air live on the ACC network.

Saturday night's game, UNC's first of the season at Dorrance Field after opening the season last weekend at Kenan Stadium, was played with temperatures in the 30s and drizzle falling throughout. It didn't take the Tar Heels long to heat up, however, with Gray scoring his first goal just 1:15 into the game. The Dolphins (0-1) answered with a goal by Brett Reilly, assisted by Jack Dolan, to even the score at 1-1 just over three minutes in.

Cook dropped in an unassisted goal with 10:59 to play in the quarter, putting the Tar Heels up for good and leading off a string of four consecutive UNC scores, capped by a highlight-reel-worthy backhand shot by Gray to make it 5-1 after a quarter.

CHRIS GRAY. BACKHAND. @UNCMensLacrosse 😮 pic.twitter.com/a8wNrNgp6U — ACC Network (@accnetwork) February 13, 2021

The second period was even, with each team scoring four goals. Among them for UNC was Gray's third, completing his first-half hat trick, and sophomore Andrew Tyeryar's first Tar Heel goal, which came off a face-off win at the 5:42 mark. Carolina led 9-5 at halftime.

The Tar Heels went into the second half man-up after a late penalty by the Dolphins, and Perry capitalized on the advantage with his first of three goals after halftime. That kicked of a run of six consecutive Carolina goals, including a man-down score by Gray with 5:54 to play in the period. That came near the end of a three-minute, non-releasable penalty on UNC that the Tar Heels survived without giving up a goal to the Dolphins.

"I was extremely pleased with the defensive end of the field – I thought we played outstanding lacrosse down there," Breschi said. "Especially the three-minute, non-releasable penalty – I think at the time it was 12-5 in the third quarter and we made the stop."

The Tar Heels got goals from Alex Trippi and Perry in the fourth period to go up 18-6. A late Jacksonville goal by Luke Robinson provided the final margin. Junior Jack Dolan and senior Evan Tyler finished with two goals each for the Dolphins.

UNC outshot Jacksonville 53-24, including 28-9 after halftime.

Tar Heel freshman Collin Krieg picked up his second win in goal, playing all 60 minutes with seven saves.

"All in all, defensively it's a big step forward for us," Breschi said. "Offensively I thought we were a little stagnant in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, but we certainly took advantage of opportunities, with 53 shots to their 24. I just thought we played really, really hard. The effort was outstanding. Kudos to our defense and how well they played".