No. 4 UNC Set To Host No. 2 Notre Dame Sunday

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The fourth-ranked North Carolina men's lacrosse team returns to Kenan Stadium Sunday to host No. 2 Notre Dame for an Atlantic Coast Conference battle. Game time is 2 p.m. and tickets are available here.

UNC comes into the game 9-2 overall and 2-2 in ACC play following last Saturday's win at Syracuse. Notre Dame is 6-2 (2-2 ACC).

The Tar Heels are also celebrating Senior Day, with ceremonies beginning at 1:15. Kenan Stadium gates open at 1.

The Rivalry
Sunday's game is the 20th meeting between North Carolina and Notre Dame in a series that dates back to 1995. UNC leads the series 10-9.
• Notre Dame won the most recent meeting, on April 20, 2019, in the final game of that year's regular season. Playing in Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish won 12-10 with current Tar Heels Justin Anderson, Tanner Cook and William Perry scoring two goals each.
• UNC won the last time the teams played in Chapel Hill, 10-9 on April 21, 2018, at Kenan Stadium. As in the 2021 edition, it was Senior Day for the Tar Heels. Unlike 2021, that game was the season finale for Carolina, which did not make the ACC Tournament field that year and finished 7-7 overall, 1-3 in ACC play.

Tar Heel Trends
• UNC has scored first in all four ACC games this spring. The Tar Heels led 5-0 at Syracuse before the Orange scored.
• UNC's 19-15 advantage in face-offs at Syracuse marked the first time the Tar Heels have won the face-off battle in ACC play this season.
• The April 10 18-16 loss to Virginia marked UNC's highest score in a loss this spring and the most goals the Tar Heels have allowed to an opponent. Prior to that game, no opponent had scored more than 15 goals against Carolina, which is averaging 17.7 goals per game.
• UNC has not trailed at halftime this season. The Tar Heels were tied at 7-7 in the April 10 home field loss to Virginia and have led at the break in every other game.
• Connor McCarthy, the graduate transfer from Princeton, has hat tricks in each of the past two games. He had scored three goals total over his first eight games as a Tar Heel before breaking out for six in the past two games.
• The win at Syracuse marked the third time this season that UNC has scored 20 or more goals but the first time since 1994 the Tar Heels have done so vs. an ACC team.
• The last time UNC scored 20 or more goals three times in a season was 1996.

Noting the Tar Heels
• Carolina's two losses this season are by a combined three goals.
• The Tar Heels lead the nation in turnovers per game, giving up an average of 12.2 (compared with 15.4 for opponents).
• UNC is seventh nationally in shot percentage (.341) and fifth in scoring margin (+6.7).
• The Tar Heels rank 12th nationally in man-down defense, having allowed just 13 extra-man goals in 50 opponent opportunities (.740).
• UNC leads the ACC in man-down goals this spring. The Tar Heels have scored six (with Chris Gray accounting for three). No other conference team has scored one.
• UNC held its opponent scoreless in a quarter in three games in a row (Q2 vs. Air Force, Q4 vs. Duke, Q2 vs. Virginia). The Tar Heel defense didn't have a scoreless quarter against Syracuse, but the Orange managed just one goal in the first quarter.
• The Tar Heels are 70-77 in clears in their four ACC games.
• Air Force (March 20th) was the Tar Heels' sixth Southern Conference opponent of 2021 and the final non-conference opponent of the season.
• Chris Gray's six assists vs. Air Force marked the first time since 2013 a Tar Heel has had six or more assists in a game. Marcus Holman had six on two occasions in 2013. The last time a player had more was in 1997 (Merrill Turnbull with 7). Gray equaled that feat at Syracuse, when he had two goals and six assists.
• Gray was announced on March 24 as one of 52 recipients of the ACC's Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship Awards for 2021. A management and society major, Gray was recently admitted to UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and plans to begin working toward his MBA there next year.
• Eight Tar Heels were part of the Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-America teams announced on April 8. Gray, Tanner Cook and Will Bowen were named to the first team; Connor Maher and William Perry to the third team; and Justin Anderson, Collin Krieg and Matt Wright to the honorable mention list.

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Players Mentioned

Justin Anderson

Will Bowen

Tanner Cook

Chris Gray

Collin Krieg

Connor Maher

Connor McCarthy

William Perry

Matt Wright