Men's Lax Battles Back To Claim Victory In Season Opener

Friday, February 11

Chapel Hill, N.C.

5 PM

North Carolina

1-0

Richmond

0-1

Richmond

North Carolina

Senior face-off man Zac Tucci was pivotal in UNC's second-half comeback to beat Richmond Friday.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

February 11, 2022 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina opened the 2022 men's lacrosse season Friday evening with a win on its home turf, 13-9 over visiting Richmond at Dorrance Field. After trailing by one at halftime, 6-5, Carolina outscored the Spiders 8-3 in the second half to open 1-0 for the 24th season in a row.

"It was a hard-fought, gritty effort and I could not be more excited for the team," said UNC coach Joe Breschi, who kicked off his 14^th season as the Tar Heels' head coach.

Chris Gray led Carolina with four goals and four assists as seven different Tar Heels scored. Jacob Kelly had a hat trick plus two assists; Ryan O'Connell had two goals and an assist; and Harrison Schertzinger, Henry Schertzinger, Cole Herbert and Alex Breschi scored a goal each. Nicky Solomon totaled two assists.

The Tar Heels jumped ahead just 30 seconds into play with Kelly scoring on a pass from Henry Schertzinger for the first goal of the 2022 season. Carolina rolled to a 4-0 lead before the first Richmond goal, by Dalton Young with 2:43 to play in the first quarter. After that, the Spiders spun off three in a row to pull within one early in the second quarter after a man-up goal by Luke Grayum. Gray rifled in his second of the day to make it 5-3 UNC, but the Spiders reeled off three more, the final one with 35 second to play before halftime, to lead by one at the break.

The teams traded punches early in the third quarter, with UNC twice tying the score then Richmond pulling ahead again. Finally, Carolina put together a four-goal run. Harrison Schertzinger's score late in the third quarter tied the game at 8-8 then Kelly scored on an assist from Gray with just over a minute to play in the period to give the Tar Heels a lead they wouldn't give up. UNC took a 10-8 advantage into the fourth quarter and then outscored Richmond 3-1 in the final period.

"We knew how good Richmond was, how talented they are, very well-coached," Breschi said. "I love how we responded at halftime. Zac Tucci was a gamechanger with 10 of 12 (face-offs) in the second half, 10 ground balls."

UNC led 58-24 in shots, including a 25-14 advantage in the first half.

Sophomore keeper Collin Krieg made six saves for the Tar Heels. Richmond's Devin Craven finished with 16.

Although the starting attack and midfield lines were filled with seniors and graduate students, the starting defensive line was made up of first-time starters.

"On the D end we had Max Cooney, Paul Barton and Will Robbins starting, none of which had ever started a game before," said senior midfielder Connor Maher, one of the team captains. "So to go into an opening game against a very, very talented team like Richmond – who played super hard, all credit to them – and to have a nice, gritty, tough win to start the season, it's only going to help us down the road. It was a great first game and I thought everyone just kind of grinded and did a great job."

The Tar Heels are back in action on Sunday, hosting Colgate at 11 a.m. at Dorrance Field.