Tar Heels Set For NCAA Quarterfinals Matchup With Rutgers

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – North Carolina and Rutgers will meet Saturday for the first time ever in men's lacrosse with a giant prize on the line: a spot in the final four. The two face off at 2:30 in an NCAA Quarterfinals game at Hofstra's James M. Shuart Stadium.

Tickets are sold out but fans can watch the game air live on ESPNU.

UNC, the top seed in the NCAA Tournament field, comes into the matchup 12-2 after last Saturday's 16-4 homefield win over Monmouth, also a first-ever meeting against a New Jersey school. Rutgers (12-5) advanced with a 12-5 win over Lehigh in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights are in the field for the first time since 2004 and the first-round win was their first in NCAA play since 1990.

The Tar Heels are making their 33rd NCAA Tournament appearance and are now 34-27 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.

Noting the Tar Heels
• Carolina leads the nation in goals per game (17.0) and points per game (26.14). The Tar Heels are fifth in assists per game (9.14). UNC also leads the nation in scoring margin (+6.50).
• In the game against Monmouth, Chris Gray set a school record for points in a season. He now has 83, two more than the 81 that previous-record-holder Bruce Ledwith had in 1973.
• Gray heads into the Rutgers game with 46 goals this season. With four more he'd equal UNC's single-season record and become just the second Tar Heel to score 50 goals in a season. (The only one to hit 50 so far was Luke Goldstock in 2015.)
• The Tar Heels are staunchest in the ACC and 14th nationally in man-down defense, allowing 17 goals in 60 opponent opportunities.
• UNC has the best clearing percentage among ACC teams – .889 – and ranks ninth in the NCAA. The Tar Heels were 106-115 in clears in their six ACC games and were 30-31 vs. Monmouth.
• The Tar Heels rank second in the NCAA in turnovers, just behind Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are averaging 12.25 per game and the Tar Heels 12.43.
• UNC led 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.

Tar Heel Trends
• UNC scored first in five of six ACC games this spring, with Notre Dame the only conference foe to score first on the Tar Heels. That trend continued in the postseason, with Carolina leading 6-0 before Monmouth scored.
• UNC goalkeepers Collin Krieg (first 48:33, 15 saves, 2 goals allowed) and Will Pettit (11:27, 5 saves, 2 goals allowed) combined for 20 saves to hold Monmouth to four goals. It was the lowest score by a UNC opponent since the Tar Heels beat Furman 7-3 early in the 2017 season.
• After losing the face-off battle in the first three ACC games of the year, UNC won it the last three: 19-15 at Syracuse, 15-11 vs. Notre Dame and 16-15 vs. Duke. UNC's face-off team of junior Zac Tucci and sophomore Andrew Tyeryar won 15 of 24 vs. Monmouth, including the first nine of the day.
• UNC has not trailed at halftime this season. The Tar Heels were tied at 7-7 in loss to Virginia and have led at the break in every other game.

The Rivalry
Saturday's game is the first-ever meeting between UNC and Rutgers.
• The teams have a coaching staff tie in RU assistant coach Eric Seremet, a 1992 UNC graduate who is in his third season at Rutgers after nine season as the head coach at Air Force. In Chapel Hill, Seremet was a member of four ACC Championship teams and the 1991 NCAA Championship squad. For two seasons (1989, 1990) he teamed with UNC head coach Joe Breschi, a 1990 UNC graduate. Breschi was Tar Heel assistant coach for Seremet's last two years in Chapel Hill and the two have stayed in touch since.
• While UNC and Rutgers have never met, the Tar Heels have played an NCAA game at Rutgers: in the 1996 quarterfinals, UNC fell 19-12 to Syracuse at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, N.J.

NCAA Tournament Notes
• The win over Monmouth was UNC's first in NCAA play since the Tar Heels beat Maryland in OT to win the 2016 NCAA championship. Carolina made the field in 2017 but lost in the first round.
• UNC's 12-point margin of victory vs. Monmouth (16-4) was the program's largest in NCAA Tournament play since 1990, when UNC beat Harvard 18-3.
• Carolina is playing in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2016 (the last time UNC won the NCAA Championship) and the 26th time overall. The Tar Heels are 13-12 in NCAA quarterfinals games and had lost eight in a row before winning in 2016, 13-9 over Notre Dame in Columbus, Ohio.
• UNC is the No. 1 overall seed for the fourth time in program history and first time since 1993. That year the Tar Heels fell 13-12 to Syracuse in the NCAA Championship game.

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Players Mentioned

Chris Gray

Collin Krieg

Will Pettit

Zac Tucci

Andrew Tyeryar