MD vs UNC

For people that do not like the game of lacrosse all I can say is: “you must not have watched the Terps and Heels go at it this afternoon”. What a game, sure it might not have been as high paced as some other games I have seen, but it was definitely a great game. Two Top 5 teams that were undefeated coming into the game, 2nd ranked North Carolina (8-0) and 4th ranked Maryland (6-0), got together at Fetzer Field and only one was going to come out a winner. It was UNC, defeating MD by the final score of 9 to 7, but man o man does the score give you nothing of what the game was. For the first time this year the Heels trailed in a game, their top offensive power, junior attackman Billy Bitter a last minute scratch, hadn’t not started 9-0 in a season in over a decade and a half. If you want to talk about pressure, this is all about pressure.

The Terrapins took the lead in the game, scoring with less than two minutes gone in the first quarter. But the this is where the Tar Heels would take over for the first time in the match up, as they scored three in a row. Off of a shot that was saved by the MD’s goalkeeper, frosh forward Marcus Holman grabbed the ball, passes it to sophomore attackman Thomas Wood, who put it into the back of the Terps’ net tieing up the game at 1 with just under 9 minutes to go. About five minutes later the Heels would strike again, this time off of a shot that sophomore middi Jimmy Dunster hit the post with and then recovered to pass to Holman, who this time scored for UNC, making it 2-1. The third goal by Carolina comes off another ground ball that is picked up by senior attackman Gavin Petracca, who once again finds Wood in the middle of the Maryland defense, making the score 3 to 1 with the quarter ending 2 minutes later.

The second 15 minutes began as the first ended, as North Carolina found a way to score once again as Dunster found the Maryland net once again. The would put the game at 4-1 for UNC with about 8 minutes to go in the half. This is where the Terps found a way to mount a come back using a lot more of their middies compared to the forwards. Between the 6 and a half (more or less) and the two minutes mark UNC would see it lead dwindle, finally going to the locker rooms with the score tied at four. And I have to say that in this stretch of the game I truly wondered if the Heels would lose because they didn’t have the services of Bitter.

But the Heels would come back out and attack well, with two assists by Wood UNC would score, one by senior midfielder Sean DeLaney (who was crushed as he shot) and then one by senior forward Petracca (on a man up play) put North Carolina up 6 to 4 with nine minutes left in the third. Freshman attackman Marcus Holman would put the finishing touch on the quarter, as he scored with 1 minute and a half to go in the third. About 2.5 minutes into the last period MD would score, on the insuing face off UNC would take the ball and Holman, thanks to an assist by junior Milton Lyles, would score right back, putting the score at 8 to 5. Halfway through the 4th it would be the Terps hit the scoreboard once again, making the score 8 to 6, which would last until the 2 and a half mark, where once again it would be Holman giving a cushion to this Heels. Senior defenseman Michael Jarvis would provide the spark to this goal thanks to the ground ball he was able to clear. WIth the score now 9 to 6 the last goal, coming with a handful seconds was by Maryland, but it was too little too late.

And while the Heels won this game, and I thought played good, the stats were not all in their favor. Maryland beat Carolina in both shots on goal and ground balls by the total of 33 to 28. Both teams made the best of the extra man when they had him, with the Terps going 3 for 4 and the Heels going 1 for 2. Face offs were won by UNC 11 to 8, while the Heels did give up more TOs in the game, 17 to 15, and had to make more saves, 11 to 7. But in the one number that truly counts, the score, it was Carolina outscoring Maryland 9 to 7 and now being 9 and 0 in the season (2-0 in the ACC).

Carolina will once again be on national television, ESPNU, as they head to Homewood Field next Saturday to meet #12 Johns Hopkins (4-4). The game is set to start at noon EST.

UNC vs Darmouth (TarHeelBlue.com)

The Men’s Lacrosse squad is still undefeated, even better news is that they are winning by playing well on both sides of the ball. And that is exactly what happened in this game as well, as third ranked North Carolina (8-0) took on Darmouth (2-2) at Fetzer Field and beat them by the final of 15 to 6 in front of a crowd that number 1,123. From what I read on the official web site of North Carolina, TarHeelBlue.com, the Heels are doing it on offense, scoring in double figures in 15th of the last 16 games, and on defense, holding their opponent to seven goals or less in seven of their last eight games. This last game was so lopsided that head coach Joe Breschi was able to play his entire roster.

While there is no denying that the final score showed how one sided this game was the first 15 minutes of the game weren’t as easy as some might think, with North Carolina and Darmouth ending the period tied at one a piece. In the second one things, but not so changed quickly as UNC shut out their opponent ending the half on a 5-0 run, but didn’t go to goal until almost 5 minutes had passed in the quarter. The third quarter was again pretty lopsided with the Carolina outscoring Darmouth 6 to 2, while the last period was again even, with both teams scoring 3 goals in it. In all ten Tar Heels scored in this one, with senior middi Sean DeLaney (3), senior attackman Gavin Petracca (3) and sophomore midfielder Jimmy Dunster (2) having multiple goals. Out of the 15 goals scored UNC had 12 assists, with DeLaney, senior middi Cryder DiPietro and Dunster all having two, plus another six players having one a piece.

UNC almost doubled the shots that Darmouth had, 43 to 22, while the saves were 12 to 8 for Carolina. The Heels were also in control of the ground balls (35 to 21) were a lot less sloppier with the ball as Darmouth had 23 turnovers to their 13. The face offs were also won by the home squad 16 to 9, while Darmouth went 1 for 5 in the extra man situation and UNC went 1 for 1. What is all even more impressive about these stats is that the last 15 minutes UNC played their second goalkeeper, meaning that these numbers could have been even more lopsided in their favor.

Carolina will now take on an ACC opponent in Maryland on Saturday, March 27 at Fetzer Field. Game time is 2 p.m. EST and the contest will be televised live nationally by ESPNU.

UNC Lacrosse

If anyone thought the the UNC Lax team might not be worthy of the Top 5 ranking after the great game in Durhma there should not any doubts left. Third ranked North Carolina (6-0 & 1-0 in the ACC) went to play against ninth ranked Duke (2-3 & 0-2 in the ACC) and came out with an impressive 13 to 7 victory. Watching the game on ESPNU I have to say that if the old saying “defense wins championships” head coach Joe Breschi could have a national contender in his hands. Especially in the first two quarters it felt that anytime that the Blue Devils had the ball it was just one miscue from becoming a Heels’ counterattack. For someone like me, that truly loves this game, from the fast breaking to the organized attacks, this game was a true pleasure to watch. This was the first win after 11 losses in a row to arc rival Duke and maybe the best stat of the night is that on a partially rainy night 1,912 fans witnessed this game.

The full recap of the game can be found on TarHeelBlue.com, but for this blogger the highlights were all about the wonderful way this squad came out strong (leading 3-0) and never looked back as offense found the goals when they needed it and the defense bent but never broke when Duke tried to make a run. The Heels outshot 33-24 the Blue Devils, but anyone that watched the game it felt like it was a lot more. The two squads 31 ground balls a piece and the only thing in Duke’s favor were the face offs, which they beat UNC by 10 to 8. UNC had seven extra man chances, they scored on four of them. In other words, as I said before, if anyone has any doubts that this squad does not belong in the Top 5 you either didn’t see the game or you are an ABC’er of sort.

But the game was still in reach with about three and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. But the Heels then went into a 4-0 run before the end of the period and put the game away for good. This game, besides being another win for the Heels Lacrosse team it’s also another point for North Carolina in the Carlyle Cup. UNC has now almost a week off until their next game, as they play against another Top 10 squad, Princeton, on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be webcast live on TarHeelBlue.com.

GK Chris Madalon (TarHeelBlue.com)

I would say that if you had asked head coach Joe Breschi if his Tar Heel Lax team would be 3-0 to begin the season he would have said “yes”. However if you had said “about 4-0″ knowing the fourth game of the season would be against Navy at their stadium I am not so sure that coach Breschi would have said “yes”. However, for fourth ranked North Carolina (4-0) the fourth win came against #16 Navy (1-2) by the final score of 11-4 in front of a hostile crowd that numbered 1,461. What was even more impressive, reading the recap on the official UNC Athletics web site, is that the Heels got off to a 6-0 start at Annapolis and never looked back in this one. And it all started with Navy doing the one thing no coach likes to have happen, give up late goals.

Navy did that just, not once, but twice, in the first quarter, letting RS senior attackman Gavin Petracca, who had 2 in this game to go with 5 assists, score with less than a minute to go and then allowing senior middi Sean DeLaney (3 goals – 1 assist) double them up with one tick left of on the clock. Carolina would score four more times in the second, and then allowed a goal in the last seconds of the quarter (6-1). In the second half UNC would score four more times before Navy would find the back of the Heels’ net again (10-2), but the third quarter would finish with a last minute goal by the Heels making it 11-2 with just fifteen minutes to go. In that last quarter the only goals would be by Navy, making the final 11-4, and getting Carolina to a 4-0 start and give the program its 400th win. True frosh attackman Marcus Holman led the squad with four scores, while sophomore attackman Thomas Wood had the other two goals for Carolina. On the defensive side, RS junior goalkeeper Chris Madalon had a career high 13 saves in this game.

The Tar Heels led in most categories, out shooting Navy by 43 to 26, losing the ground balls to the Midshipmen 38 to 36 and losing the face offs 11 to 5. The extra man possessions were overwhelming for Carolina, who went 3 for 5, while Navy only went 1 for 4, while the TOs was also all for the Heels, who won that 24 to 13.

The Heels have over a week off before taking on #20 UMBC on Saturday, March 6 at 12:00 p.m. EST at UMBC Stadium.

UNC vs Lehigh

One of the greatest thing of lacrosse is the constant movement of the play and the way scoring can be so quick and furious that if you blink you might lose it. Well, yesterday, that is exactly what happened when fourth ranked North Carolina destroyed Lehigh by the final score of 17 to 5 at Fetzer Field. What I find sad in some ways is that reading the recap of the game on Tar Heel Blue is that just 752 people were on hand to witness the UNC win. The good news is that with the win the Tar Heels are now 3 and 0 on the season and seem to have found its offensive power after only scoring 5 goals in the previous game. In all Carolina have racked up 33 goals in three games while allowing 14 (over a 2 to 1 ratio). This game was pretty much over from the get go as the Heels got to quick goals and never really looked back.

Make no mistake, this was a total mismatch, as the Heels outshot their opponents by a final of 45 to 17, with Lehigh only having five shots in the first half of the game. Ground balls were won by the Heels 48 to 29, while the face-offs were the only thing that were close, with UNC getting 14 and Lehigh 12. Turnovers was 28 to 19 for Lehigh, showing once again how lopsided this game had to have been. In all there were nine Tar Heels scoring (Jimmy Dunster 3; Gavin Petracca 3; Billy Bitter 2; Thomas Wood 2; Sean DeLaney 2; Tyler Morton 2; Marcus Holman 1; Chris Layne 1; Chris Hunt 1) and five having assists (Billy Bitter 4; Thomas Wood 3; Cryder DiPietro 2; Jimmy Dunster 1; Sean Jackson 1). Which to me means just one thing, this team is going to win with a team effort, making it harder on all opponents who to mark as many of the Carolina players can score.

Junior attackman Billy Bitter did have the most points, six, in this game, and you have to believe when this season is all over he is going to be talked about as the go to guy player for the 2010 season. Without a doubt Bitter and the rest of the team will have a much tougher match up when Carolina heads to Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. to take on the Navy Midshipmen this Thursday, with the game beginning at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Sean DeLaney

Well, believe it or not, while the football team is waiting to see which bowl game they go to, the men’s basketball team is working through their tough non conference schedule, the men’s lacrosse team is already on the minds of many. One of those that are thinking about Lax is Inside Lacrosse, who has come out with their pre-season Top 25. Seeing the Top 5 of this pre-season ranking the Heels have good news and not so good news.

The good news is that head coach Joe Breschi’s squad are ranked fourth in the poll. And that is something that any team would be happy with. Unfortunately for UNC there is not one, but two pieces of bad news. One is Duke and the second is Virginia, which are ranked first and third in the same poll. Rounding out the Top 5 is #2 Syracuse, last season’s national champions and #5 Cornell, the runner up from the `09 season. So basically the top five teams in the rankings are either ACC teams or teams from upstate New York (a hot bed for lacrosse).

The other thing to think about is that out of the 12 game schedule the Tar Heels will have this season half of their opponents are ranked in this poll from Inside Lacrosse. The schedule has UNC playing three of these games playing in Chapel Hill and three on the road. This means that it is going to be a long and tough season if Carolina wants to stay in the Top 5.

However the Heels do have four players on the Inside Lacrosse All-American teams. Leading the way is junior attackman Billy Bitter (46 goals/25 assists), who made the first team. While last season’s Offensive MVP senior middi Sean DeLaney (35 goals/8 assists) and `09 Defensive MVP junior defender Ryan Flanagan were put on the second team. Finally, sophomore defenseman Jimmy Dunster was tabbed at the honorable mentions spot. All but Dunster started each game last season for North Carolina.

In the end this should be a very good season to tune into lax and if you do not know the game, to learn it. If you like a fast moving, hard hitting, smart thinking game then lacrosse is something you need to get involved with!

HC Joe Breschi (TarHeelBlue.com)

Between the fact that a lot of things in real life got in the way, the fact that I changed over to a new page in the months right before the baseball/softball/lacrosse seasons and the fact that I just could not get in track to follow them, this year the spring secondary sports that I love and follow were just not taken care of. And it’s a shame, because this year, with a new head coach and a new mentality the men’s lacrosse team did pretty well, even if the finished the season by losing to Duke (for the third time this season) in the NCAA Tournament. Actually, the reality of the matter is that the whole ACC did well this season, and while the final was a match up of two upstate New York schools (Syracuse and Cornell), the four squads that make up the Atlantic Coast Conference all finished in the Top 10 in the season’s last ranking of the Nike/Inside Lacross Media Poll (voted by lax media from across the country).

Nike/IL Top 10 (Final Rankings for `08-`09)

And if you do follow the sport, you know things are looking up for head coach Joe Breschi and the lacrosse squad, as the incoming class for this year is composed of 13 players. You can read the breakdown of each player joining the team in August of 2009 by going to the official site of UNC Athletics. One of these young men, Grist Burns (5’11″/170 lbs. attackman), is from Chapel Hill, and I have always loved to see the player from the town come to UNC, because in my opinion bringing in players from close by is also a good way of bringing in as many people to come see the team play. Three of the players are from the state of New York, and I can say I saw all three of them play. So, for me, next year seeing the team play will mean seeing players I know from high school, and that is just one more reason to truly follow this team as best as I can.

Of the 13 players three of them will be playing in the All-American game. The players are: midfielder Ian Braddish of West Islip, (N.Y.) High School and attackman Marcus Holman and midfielder Greg McBride, both of whom play for The Gilman School in Baltimore, Md. The game will be played on June 27, 2009 and will be televised by ESPNU.

For now all I can say is congratulations on a good season and best wishes for the upcoming one to this that seems to be putting all the right pieces in the right places.

UNC Men's Lacrosse

The first three things that the Tar Heels did in the game against the Retrievers were errors/mistakes. A bad pass right off the start resulted in a turnover, letting a UMBC attacker get past the first line resulted in a desperation push and a 30 seconds penalty against UNC and finally, a UNC defender slipping on the grass of Fetzer Field resulted in a clear shot by a UMBC midfielder, which went into the top right corner of the Heels’ goal. In other words, the first three things in the game resulted in the Heels being down 2 to 1 to the Retreviers. But then, I also saw sophomore forward Billy Bitter (#4 in the picture), who was truly bitter to the UMBC defense, scoring 8 goals on his first eight shots. Thanks in great part to the performance of the underclassman, sixth seed North Carolina (12-5) beat eleventh seed UMBC (12-4) by the final score of 15 to 13.

While the score might be great, the crowd in my opinion is a bit disappointing, as only 1,431 went to Fetzer Field to watch what I consider the world’s fastest sport. Something that both of these teams proved as they went up and down the field looking for the quick goal first and then settling down only if nothing was there. Between Bitter and senior middi Shane Walterhoefer, who went 22 for 31 in the face off battle,  the Heels team looked good on offense for most of the game. The two kept making one play after another in order to get their team to a victory and on to the quarter finals next week. And while the score was close, with the Retrievers having the lead at half time and even taking the lead into the fourth quarter, when they kept Carolina from scoring for over 9 minutes, the reality is that for most of the game UNC was the better team on the field.

Joe Breschi, the first year coach at Chapel Hill, got plenty of points by a handful of players, with senior forward Bart Wagner scoring a pair of goals in the game and adding three assists, while freshman middi Jimmy Dunster (plus an assist), junior attacker Gavin Petracca (plus an assist), junior midfielder Cryder DiPietro, senior middi Shane Walterhoefer and senior defenseman Jack Ryan all had one in the game. From the official site of North Carolina Athletics there is the recap of the game, and I found out that this was Ryan’s first ever goal, which is cool, but even cooler, it came on the first shot that defender has taken in his four years at UNC.

There were also plenty of assists to go around, starting with senior mid Bobby McAuley, who had a pair. While junior midfielder Sean Burke, junior midfielder Sean Delaney and sophomore defenseman Milton Lyles all collected one a piece. In the end, as most of the teams that have “Carolina” on the front of their jerseys, this was all about a team effort. But you can not overlook what Bitter did yesterday, scoring eight goals and adding an assist, with the only blemish being that he missed the target on his last shot of the day, going 8 for 9 on the day. With the ones scored in the game against UMBC Bitter is now at 46 goals for the season, just one back of the school record, and with a game coming up against arch rival Duke, you should think he will break that. The forward’s 69 points (goals & assists combined) is third all time in the school’s history.

As far as some of the key stats, the Heels out shot the Retrievers 46 to 35, and only in the fourth quarter were they outshot, when UMBC took 8 to UNC’s 6. As has been the case in every game played by Carolina this year, the Heels won the battle of the ground balls, by a hefty margin of 56 to 37. From the box score I see that eleven players had at least 3 ground balls. Each teams finished with 17 turnovers and they both cleared fairly well with UMBC going 20 for 24 and Carolina 19 for 22. UMBC had the only two extra-man goals of the game (out of three chances). UNC went 0 for 2 in the extra man possessions.

With North Carolina and Duke winning it means they will meet for the third time this season next Sunday in the quarterfinals at Annapolis, Md.’s Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. UNC is going to try and snap a 10 game losing streak against the Blue Devils. The games this season finished with Duke winning at Kenan Stadium 12 to 8 in the regular season and 15 to 13 in the ACC Tourney, also played at Kenan. Can the third time be the charm for Joe Breschi’s club? I surely hope so, and we will find out next weekend.

Unfortunately this year came and went and one of my favorite sports, lacrosse, was not looked at nearly enough by me. I truly apologize for that, since I love the sport and with a new head coach, Joe Breschi, and a good team, it would have been fun to follow it a lot more than I was able to. This weekend the NCAA Tournament begins and sixth seed North Carolina (11-5) (ranked 6th) is hosting 11th seed UMBC (12-3) (ranked 9th) at Fetzer Field, game time being 2:30 p.m. EST (televised by ESPNU). I know that this year the Tar Heels’ offense has been good, their defense also not bad, and their face offs have been outstanding. That to me almost certainly means a first round win, because if you can win the face offs and get extra possessions you will definitely be in the driver’s seat.

Since I would do injustice to the team if I tried to give you an in depth analysis of this game, I have found a site that seemed to have done a pretty good job with giving the preview of the UNC/UMBC game. There is also another, much smaller article, outlining some of the match ups for this weekend. This should be by all accounts a very good game, as both teams are ranked in the Top 10 in the nation and both know how to play the game well. For UNC going to the tournament isn’t anything new as they have made it 24 times between 1976 and this season. Of those 24 times 22 were as a Top 8 seed in the tournament. Here is the list of all the games from this weekend’s first round action:

NCAA Tournament First Round

Saturday, May 9, 2009

• Brown (12-3) at No. 8 Johns Hopkins (9-4), 12 Noon
• UMBC (12-3) at No. 6 North Carolina (11-5), 2:30 p.m.
• Hofstra (11-3) at No. 5 Cornell (10-3), 5 p.m.
• Navy (11-4) at No. 3 Duke (13-3), 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

• Maryland (9-6) at No. 7 Notre Dame (15-0), 12 Noon
• Villanova (11-5) at No. 1 Virginia (13-2), 2:30 p.m.
• Massachusetts (9-5) at No. 4 Princeton (12-2), 5 p.m.
• Siena (12-5) at No. 2 Syracuse (12-2), 7:30 p.m.

Another interesting thing to note, if North Carolina wins their game, as I believe they will, especially if you look at the history, with the Heels having a 13-3 record when hosting a NCAA Tournament game and 10-2 when it’s been a Fetzer Field, they will be facing their arch rivals in all sports (or almost all). Since with a Duke victory of Navy the two schools/programs would meet up next Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. as the second game of a double header. Lastly, something I wanted everyone to note, all four teams from the ACC at this year’s tournament, and with the exception of Maryland, all are in the Top 8. Virginia is the top seed, Duke is third and, as we know already, UNC is sixth.

Good luck to the team as they play today and I am going to definitely do a recap of the game, so check for that either later today or early tomorrow.