March 29, 2008
BALTIMORE, MD. - Ninth-ranked North Carolina bounced back from a tough loss to Maryland last Saturday by bolting to an 11-3 lead after three quarters en route to a 13-8 victory over defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field on the JHU campus in Baltimore before a crowd of 4,250 fans. It was Carolina's first win at Johns Hopkins since the 1994 season, breaking a six-match road losing streak to the Blue Jays.
It was Carolina's 14th successive non-conference victory during the past two seasons. Carolina's last non-league loss was against Navy on March 2, 2008 in Annapolis.
Junior goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman was brilliant once again for the Tar Heels as he made 14 saves and allowed only eight goals. He also had four ground balls. Zimmerman had six saves in the first quarter as the Tar Heels built a 4-0 lead despite being outshot 11-7 in the opening 15 minutes. He ended up with 13 saves through the first three quarters before Hopkins pecked away at UNC's lead in the final period. But by that time Carolina had built its biggest lead of the match at 11-3, running off the final five goals of the third quarter in the process.
Hopkins outshot the Tar Heels 40-30 in the game, had a 30-27 edge in ground balls and won 15 of 24 face-offs. But the Tar Heels forced Hopkins into 16 turnovers and UNC's looks at the goal were of a quality nature all day. UNC was efficient in its offensive scheme, scoring 13 goals on only 30 shots. The Tar Heels placed 21 of their 30 shots on net while Hopkins had only 22 of their 40 shots on goal.
Offensively the Tar Heels displayed great balance with eight goals coming out of the midfield and one more off the stick of defenseman Tim Kaiser. Ben Hunt led the Tar Heels with three tallies, including the opening two goals of the match, while Sean Delaney and attackman Michael B. Burns had two tallies apiece. Cryder DiPietro, Bobby McAuley, Nick Tintle, Gavin Petracca, Bart Wagner and Tim Kaiser all added single goals for Carolina. Wagner's goal gave him at least one point for the 37th successive match, the third longest scoring streak in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse.
UNC also had eight assists on the day with Delaney passing for a pair, giving him four points on the afternoon, and Billy Bitter, Brian Burke, Cryder DiPietro, Fletcher Gregory, Ben Hunt and Bobby McAuley each adding single assists.
No. 8 Johns Hopkins fell to 3-4 with the loss. The defending national champions had lost three straight overtime games to No. 12 Hofstra, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 1 Virginia before being beaten handily by North Carolina Saturday. For the Tar Heels, No. 9 in the USILA poll, the win was the first over JHU at Homewood since April 2, 1994 when Carolina won here 11-9.
The win also gave Carolina back-to-back wins over Johns Hopkins for the first time since the 1993 and 1994 seasons. UNC lost 13 in a row to Hopkins before ending that string with a 13-10 win at Chapel Hill a year ago. The five-goal margin of victory was the biggest for Carolina against the Blue Jays since May 29, 1993 when Carolina beat the Blue Jays 16-10 in the NCAA semifinals at College Park, Md. It was Johns Hopkins' largest margin of defeat in any game since an 11-4 Blue Jay loss against Maryland at Homewood Field on April 15, 2006.
UNC raced to a 4-0 lead after one quarter despite being outshot 11-7 in the frame. Carolina opened the scoring at 14:25 of the first quarter on an outside shot by Ben Hunt after a dodge past his defender on the left side of the box. Hunt repeated the feat at 12:22 of the quarter on another dodge from out top. Carolina moved to a 3-0 advantage on a goal by Cryder DiPietro from 15 yards out at the top of the box off an assist by Sean Delaney with 3:28 left in the opening quarter. Carolina's lead became 4-0 on an unassisted goal by Nick Tintle at 2:42 of the quarter.
Hopkins got on the scoreboard on an unassisted goal by Paul Rabil with 5:47 left before haltime. Carolina scored a goal on a fast break as defensemen Tim Kaiser tallied with 2:30 left in the first half, assisted by fellow Tar Heel defenseman Brian Burke. The Tar Heels ended the half with a 5-1 lead over the Blue Jays.
Carolina exploded for a 6-2 scoring margin in the third quarter to build an eight-goal lead. Hopkins scored on the first possession of the second half to cut the lead to 5-2 on a bounce shot by Michael Doneger. The Tar Heels matched that goal on a fast break goal by Gavin Petracca, assisted by Fletcher Gregory, with 11:19 left in the third quarter. Hopkins scored on the next possession as Doneger got his second goal of the quarter on a pass from Stephen Peyser with 10:34 left in the period.
The rest of the third quarter was all Tar Heels. Bart Wagner answered right back for Carolina as he took a pass from Bobby McAuley and went upper left shelf for a 7-3 lead with exactly nine minutes left in the third quarter. McAuley then scored 1:20 later in the quarter on a delayed penalty situation after Hopkins was caught offside. Sean Delaney assisted on McAuley's goal.
The Tar Heels scored an extra-man goal at 5:57 of the period as Sean Delaney sent a shot into the Hopkins goal off an assist by Ben Hunt. The Tar Heels made the score 10-3 on a wicked bounce shot goal by Ben Hunt with 4:17 left in the third quarter. Sean Delaney then dodged a pair of defenders to score a goal with 3:08 to play in the third quarter, making the score 11-3. Carolina finished the third quarter on a five-goal scoring streak to take an eight-goal margin into the fourth period.
Hopkins cut the Tar Heel lead to 11-4 with 14:18 to play on a goal by Stephen Peyser on a drive from out top. Hopkins then chopped the lead to six goals just seven seconds later on a goal by Dave Spaulding assisted by Mark Goodrich. The Heels answered that goal at 13:44 on a goal by attackman Michael B. Burns assisted by Cryder DiPietro. Johns Hopkins cut the lead to 12-6 with 8:49 remaining in the quarter on a goal by Paul Rabil assisted by Kyle Wharton.
The Heels made it 13-6 with 3:25 to play as Michael B. Burns scored his second goal of the game as Billy Bitter spotted Burns all alone in front for an easy put away. Hopkins got an extra-man goal from Kevin Huntley with 1:36 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 13-7. Huntley scored again with 18 seconds left to cut the Tar Heel lead to 13-8, which ended up being the final margin.
UNC will have seven days to prepare for No. 1-ranked Virginia which visits Fetzer Field next Saturday for a 4 p.m. game that will be nationally televised by ESPNU. Virginia lost to Maryland on Saturday to drop the Cavaliers' record to 9-1 on the season.
