No. 4 UNC Beats No. 18 UMBC to Stay Unbeaten
from press release
CATONSVILLE, MD. — Senior midfielder Sean
DeLaney’s career-high five points led fourth-ranked North
Carolina’s offense and redshirt junior goalkeeper Chris
Madalon matched his career high for saves with 13 to lead the
defense as the Tar Heels defeated No. 18 UMBC 12-7 in men’s
lacrosse action before a crowd of 1,365 at UMBC Stadium. The Tar
Heels remain unbeaten on the season at 5-0 heading into a
nationally-televised game at Duke (2-2) Wednesday at 7 p.m. at
Koskinen Stadium in Durham N.C.
Saturday was about shooting accuracy on offense for UNC as the Tar
Heels tallied 12 goals on 33 shots, including 12 on their 18 shots
on goal. UNC went four for five on the extra-man against the
Retrievers (1-2) and won the ground ball battle 33-27 and the
face-off war 13-9. UNC’s defense held its fifth straight foe
to single digits in goals although the Retrievers were able to
score seven, the most against Carolina this season. Meanwhile, the
Tar Heels have now scored in double digits for the 12th time in the
last 13 games.
DeLaney equaled his career high for goals in a game with four,
matching the total he had against Lehigh on February 28, 2009. His
points were a career high. He previously had four points on six
occasions. Junior attackman Billy Bitter had two goals and two
assists and sophomore attackman Thomas Wood had two goals, the
fifth straight game in which he has had at least two tallies.
Redshirt senior attackman Gavin Petracca had three assists, giving
him eight in the past two games, while senior midfielder Cryder
DiPietro tied his career high for goals in a game with two. Senior
defenseman Sean Jackson scored the first goal of his career for the
Tar Heels and junior midfielder Michael Burns had the other UNC
goal.
UMBC was led by a four-point performance by Jamie Kimbles, who had
three goals and an assist. All seven UMBC goals came from three
players as Bobby Stockton had two, to go with an assist, and Matt
Latham also had a pair. Kyle Wimer had three assists for the
Retrievers.
The play between the pipes was a crucial factor in the game as the
Tar Heels scored a decisive win despite being outshot 34-33. UNC
also had to overcome 20 turnovers, including 15 unforced ones, and
a season-high seven failed clears. Chris Madalon had a lot to do
with the success of the defense, as he equaled the career-high 13
saves he had against Navy on February 25 and allowed only seven
goals. Carolina had eight caused turnovers, led by senior
defenseman Michael Jarvis who had three. Sophomore defenseman
Charlie McComas led the Heels in ground balls with five to go along
with two caused turnovers. Adam Cohen went all the way in goal for
UMBC, making six saves and scooping up two ground balls.
Carolina won for the second straight time at UMBC Stadium and has
now won four in a row in the series to go to 19-6 overall. The game
was a far cry, however, from the offensive shootout the two teams
staged in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament when the Tar
Heels outlasted the Retrievers 15-13 at Fetzer Field on May 9,
2009.
North Carolina got off to a great start, jumping to a 4-0 lead
before UMBC crept back in the game gradually to cut the Tar Heel
lead to 7-5 at halftime. UNC led by two at the half despite being
outshot by the Retrievers 21-14 in the first 30 minutes.
Less than a minute into the game, Cruder DiPietro’s shot was
saved by Cohen but Billy Bitter scooped up the ground ball and
scored on the rebound at 14:07 to make it 1-0. After the Tar Heels
killed off a UMBC extra-man opportunity in the third minute of the
game, Madalon made his first save of the game at 10:49, leading to
a transition goal for the Heels. Sean Jackson got the goal, his
career first, on an alley-oop after taking a pass from Bitter at
the 10:26 mark.
UMBC won the ensuing face-off but the Tar Heels got the ball back
on a turnover. Bitter recorded his second straight assist, feeding
Thomas Wood for his 10th goal of the season at 10:01 to make it 3-0
and forcing a UMBC timeout. The Retrievers got their second EMO of
the period after a slashing call on Wood at 9:38 but UMBC turned
the ball over before getting off a shot. UNC cleared the ball and
scored its fourth straight goal on the subsequent possession. It
was the first of four goals for Sean DeLaney with Gavin Petracca
providing the assists.
UMBC scored on the next possession as Bobby Stockton scored his
seventh goal of the year assisted by Kyle Wimer at 5:59, making it
4-1. Carolina had to kill off another EMO as Michael Jarvis was
flagged for an illegal body check with three minutes left in the
quarter. Madalon came up big on the EMO, making saves on Rob Grimm
at 2:39 and on Bobby Stockton at 2:25.
Carolina’s Jimmy Dunster hit the pipe on the ensuing
possession and, after a turnover by Bitter, UNC was called for its
fourth penalty of the first quarter with DiPietro whistled for
unnecessary roughness at 1:06. UMBC cashed in this time, scoring on
the EMO with 43 seconds left as Kimbles scored the first of his
three goals, assisted by Wimer.
Both teams started the second quarter a man down after offsetting
unnecessary roughness penalties to end the first quarter.
Fifty-eight seconds into the stanza, UNC’s Ryan Flanagan was
issued an offside penalty but Carolina’s penalty killers
excelled again, holding the Retrievers without a shot on the
opportunity. Carolina then got its first EMO of the match after a
pushing penalty on Matt Kresse at 11:33. UNC converted quickly with
DeLaney getting his second goal of the match off an assist by
Marcus Holman 12 seconds into the penalty. UMBC got the goal right
back, however, as Latham scored off an assist by Stockton 50
seconds after the Tar Heel goal.
The offensive fireworks settled down for over six minutes before
Cryder DiPietro scored with 4:23 left in the half to make it 6-3.
DiPietro took the ball down the right alley and sent a high
bouncing shot past Cohen for the goal. UMBC came back with a goal
by Stockton, assisted by Grimm, at 2:57. Madalon made a save on a
shot by Stockton at 3:06 but Grimm won the ground ball and fed
Stockton who scored on an underhanded shot. Just six seconds later,
UNC regained a three-goal lead as Michael Burns won the face-off
for UNC and came right down and finished past Cohen for a 7-4 lead.
UNC’s penalty woes continued as Jimmy Dunster was called for
pushing 14 seconds later but the Retrievers were unable to score
while UNC was a man down. Carolina was not so fortunate a minute
later as a cross checking foul against Ryan Flanagan at 1:38 was
converted into an EMO goal by the Retrievers at 1:17 with Kimbles
scoring from Wimer.
The half ended 7-5 for UNC and with the Tar Heels a man up after a
slashing penalty on Mike Camardo with four seconds left in the
half. Carolina outshot the Retrievers 12-5 in the third quarter and
outscored them 3-1 to build a four-goal lead by the end of the
quarter. Thomas Wood hit the post six seconds into the period and
Wood also had a shot saved by Cohen at 14:19 as the Retrievers
successfully killed off the EMO.
A couple of minutes later UNC made it an 8-5 game on
DiPietro’s second goal of the contest as the senior dodged
down the side for an unassisted goal. After saves by Madalon on
shots by Chris Jones and Stockton, the Tar Heels benefitted from a
slashing penalty on Wimer with 9:07 left in the period. Wood scored
his second of the game on the EMO, sneaking on in on the near side
past Cohen at 8:39. DeLaney assisted on the goal and UNC’s
lead grew to 9-5.
UMBC scored the next goal as Latham took an assist from Kimbles at
tallied at the 4:57 make it 9-6. Carolina answered that goal at
1:29 of the period as DeLaney scored man-up from Petracca after a
delay of game penalty on Kimbles.
Carolina won the opening face-off of the fourth quarter and 12
seconds into the period Rob Grimm was set off for a minute for an
illegal body check. UNC converted the EMO with Bitter scoring his
second goal of the game, off an assist by Petracca, at the 14:28
mark. UMBC scored its last goal of the game at 11:17 as Kimbles got
his hat trick, scoring unassisted. UNC finished off the scoring
after a timeout by the Tar Heels at 4:45. Jimmy Dunster was
double-teamed on the restart but split his defenders and fed
DeLaney for a dunk on the crease at the 4:33 mark. It gave DeLaney
his second four-goal game of his career. Madalon made two more
saves down the stretch, stopping Grimm at 3:35 and Wimer at 3:01
before the Tar Heels cleared the ball at 2:50 and then ran out the
rest of the clock, making no effort to add to their lead.
