Men's Lacrosse Uses Scoring Barrage To Beat High Point

Saturday, February 27

Chapel Hill

1:00 PM

North Carolina

5-0

High Point

1-2

High Point

North Carolina

Justin Anderson, Nicky Solomon and William Perry (left to right) each scored multiple goals in Saturday's win.

February 27, 2021 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Final Stats Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Behind a scoring barrage that led to a goals total not seen in two decades, the North Carolina men's lacrosse team beat High Point 27-12 Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium in the teams' second meeting this month. UNC improved to 5-0 with the win while HPU fell to 1-2.

Tar Heel attackmen Brian Cameron, Chris Gray and Nicky Solomon had four goals each in the win and 13 different players scored. Gray and Solomon also had three assists each.

The Tar Heels last scored 27 goals in a win over Pfeiffer during the 2001 season. They had as many by halftime – 14 – as they scored in all of last Sunday's win at Richmond.

Saturday's 27 goals came on 54 shots, giving the Tar Heels a season-best .500 shooting percentage. Cameron scored his four goals on four shots, with three of those coming in the first quarter.

"The offense was terrific, shared the ball and took advantage of the opportunities," UNC coach Joe Breschi said. "I thought we shot the ball better – last game (against High Point) we shot 25 percent, this game 50 percent."

After scrimmaging in the preseason, UNC and High Point met in Chapel Hill on Feb. 16 in a hastily-scheduled game – North Carolina was set to host Bellarmine that day, but the Knights had to cancel due to Covid protocols. High Point stepped in to play, and the result was a 17-15 UNC win at Dorrance Field. The Panthers hadn't played since then, while UNC picked up its first road win of the season on Sunday at Richmond.

HUGE win for our team today 👏🔥 Highlights from the 27-12 win over High Point ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/i0pN0x1nkc
— UNC Men's Lacrosse (@UNCMensLacrosse) February 27, 2021

At Kenan Stadium on Saturday in the third time the teams have seen each other this spring, High Point was fast out of the gate, leading 2-0 early on a pair of goals by Sean Coughlin. The Tar Heels got back-to-back goals by Grey and William Perry to pull even. The next three from Carolina were Cameron's hat trick, and the score was tied 5-5 after the first quarter.

The Tar Heels scored nine goals on 16 shots in the second quarter to take a 14-9 lead by halftime. They were even more potent in the third quarter, outscoring the Panthers 8-1 en route to the big win.

Kevin Rogers led HPU with three goals and an assist. Three other Panthers had two goals each.

For the game, UNC led 54-34 in shots and 26-15 in ground balls. Freshman Collin Krieg started his fifth game in goal for the Tar Heels and made six saves in 48 minutes of play. Luke Millican and Will Pettit also saw time in goal in the fourth quarter, with Pettit making two late saves.

After an 18-for-20 day the last time out against High Point, sophomore Andrew Tyeryar had another standout day at the face-off x, winning 17 of 23. UNC was 25-41 in faceoffs for the game.

Next up for Carolina is a home game Saturday (March 6) against Mercer. That's the final tune-up before the start of Atlantic Coast Conference play on March 11 at Virginia.

While Breschi found lots to be pleased with on Saturday, there were plenty of areas for improvement as well. "I think we've got a ton of potential on this team and I think offensively we're pretty explosive," he said. "I was a little disappointed in the lapse we had in the second quarter, and that's something we addressed at halftime and talked about how good we are, but how great do we want to be? That's something we have to embrace and understand what it takes to be great."