North Carolina Survives Scare, Edges Bryant
from press release
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Freshman Marcus Holman (left) had a goal and an assist Saturday to help No. 4 UNC avert an upset with a 5-4 win over unranked Bryant. © Gray Quetti |
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Fourth-ranked North
Carolina avoided an upset in men's collegiate lacrosse action
Saturday afternoon as it prevailed against Bryant University 5-4
before a crowd of 1,009 at Navy Field. The game marked the home
opener for the Tar Heels who improved to 2-0 on the season while
the Bulldogs lost their season opener.
For the second straight week, Thomas Wood and Sean DeLaney led the
Tar Heel offense as Wood had two goals and an assist and DeLaney
added two goals. Wood had the game-winning tally with less than 13
minutes left on the clock. Bryant's four goals came from four
different players.
Also for the second game in succession, the Tar Heels ran into a
red-hot goalie. Jacksonville's Brad Hester saved 17 shots against
UNC last Saturday and Jameson Love had 20 saves for Bryant Saturday
while allowing only five goals. Love made nine of his 20 saves in
the first quarter when the Heels outshot the Bulldogs 15-5. But
Love's superb netminding kept the game at only a one-goal edge for
UNC after the first 15 minutes.
Chris Madalon had a solid performance for UNC, making nine saves
and allowing only four goals. Madalon had three of his saves in the
fourth quarter as the Tar Heels protected their one-goal lead.
UNC outshot the Bulldogs 44-22 and had a slight 33-31 edge in
ground balls. UNC committed only 15 turnovers as compared to 25 for
Bryant. UNC also forced nine failed clears by Bryant.
But the Bulldogs were never out of it because of the stellar play
of Love in the goal and the work of Andrew Hennessey at the
face-off X as he won 11 of 13 draws. UNC played without regular
face-off man, junior Michael Burns, and relied on freshman William
Scroggs to fill in for the veteran.
UNC scored the only goal of the first quarter as freshman attackman
Marcus Holman took a pass from junior attackman Billy Bitter and
scored with 11:34 left in the quarter.
Three times UNC attained two-goal leads in the second quarter,
going into intermission leading 4-2. Sean DeLaney made it 2-0 off
an assist by Thomas Wood with 10:19 left before halftime. Just 48
seconds later, however, DeLaney was flagged for slashing and the
Bulldogs took advantage with Gary Crowley scored an unassisted
man-up goal with 8:56 left.
Carolina retook a two-goal lead with 6:41 left in the second
quarter as Thomas Wood scored his first goal of the game, assisted
by Marcus Holman. Bryant answered that tally with a goal by Ben
Sternberg, assisted by Travis Harrington, with 3:46 before the
half. DeLaney finished off the scoring in the opening 30 minutes as
he was assisted by Billy Bitter on a goal with 1:03 left in the
half. It was a man-up goal for DeLaney after Evan Roberts of Bryant
had been called for slashing with 1:22 left in the period.
Bryant shut out the Tar Heels in the third quarter while scoring
two goals of its own to go into the fourth quarter with the game
tied at 4-4. Bryant Amitrano scored an unassisted goal with 9:34
left in the quarter and Travis Harrington tied the game off an
assist by Ben Sternberg with 3:16 to play.
The game-winner came off the stick of Wood with 12:50 to play off
an assist by UNC senior midfielder. It proved to be the only goal
of the fourth quarter as Carolina held on for the victory and
improved to 4-3 in one-goal games under head coach Joe Breschi, now
in his second year. Carolina had won only a single one-goal
decision between 2004 and 2008 before Breschi's arrival.
Billy Bitter led the Tar Heels in ground balls with six while
defenseman Matt Murnane also had six for Bryant. Junior defenseman
Ryan Flanagan had a three caused turnovers for UNC to lead a team
effort of 16. Murnane led Bryant with four caused turnovers out of
the Bulldogs' total of eight.
UNC will have a week to prepare for the arrival of the Lehigh
Mountain Hawks of the Patriot League next Saturday in Chapel Hill
for a 12 Noon game at Fetzer Field.
