Lawson Named Progress Energy Performer Of The Week
March 31, 2009
Ty Lawson averaged 19 points and seven assists in leading Carolina past Gonzaga and Oklahoma to win the NCAA South Regional and earn Progress Energy Performer of the Week honors for March 23-29. The junior from Clinton, Md., had 19 points in both games. He scored 17 of his 19 against Gonzaga in the opening half and 15 of his 19 against the second-seeded Sooners in the second half. Other Nominees: KRISTEN TAYLOR Taylor, a junior attacker from Manlius, N.Y., led the Tar Heels to a pair of ACC wins last week, scoring the game-winning goals against both Virginia Tech and Boston College. In the road win over the Hokies, Taylor scored five goals and tallied an assist and a ground ball in a 12-8 UNC victory. Three days later at home against Boston College, Taylor scored three more goals in a 12-8 win over the Eagles. JOE KINDERWATER Kinderwater finished eighth in the 1650-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships, the second straight year in which he has earned first-team All-America honors in the event after finishing sixth a year ago. Kinderwater swam a school record time of 14:46.06, eclipsing his old school record of 14:46.93 set last month at the ACC Championships. Kinderwater scored 11 of UNC's 23 team points as the squad finished 26th in the team standings. BILLY BITTER Bitter had game highs for goals (2), assists (2), points (4) and ground balls (5) as the Tar Heels rewarded head coach Joe Breschi with his 100th career coaching victory with a 10-9 overtime victory over No. 6 Johns Hopkins at Fetzer Field. Bitter assisted on Sean Delaney's game-winning goal in overtime after scoring go-ahead goals for the Tar Heels in both second- and fourth-quarter scoring runs by UNC that eventually led to overtime. DANIELLE SPAULDING Danielle Spaulding led the Tar Heels to a perfect 5-0 week as she recorded three victories in the circle. Spaulding struck out 43 in 20.0 innings of work in four starts, while allowing just four hits and a pair of earned runs. The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native set a new North Carolina single game school record by striking out 19 batters at Campbell on Wednesday a day after allowing just one hit to No. 13 Ohio State a day earlier. Spaulding picked up two more wins over the weekend as she tossed a complete game on Saturday striking out 13 more in the process allowing just two hits and a run. To close out the week the junior left-hander did not allow a hit in three innings of work in Carolina's 8-0 run-rule win over Boston College, while tacking on eight more strikeouts. VANNEISHA IVY Vanneisha Ivy fresh off an All-America performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships opened the outdoor season in impressive fashion as she ran the second-best time in the ACC in the 100-meter hurdles. Ivy clocked a 13.24 for the third-best mark in school history at the rain-soaked Raleigh Relays. Ivy finished eighth in the country in the 60-meter hurdles two weeks ago at the NCAA Indoors. BRIAN MORAN North Carolina relief pitcher Brian Moran was dominant in four appearances last week with 16 strikeouts and no walks over 10 1/3 innings. The Rye, N.Y., native allowed just two runs for a 1.74 ERA and earned two victories. Despite not picking up the win in Sunday's series-clincher against No. 8 Virginia, Moran had arguably his finest outing as a Tar Heel with career highs of 6 1/3 innings and eight strikeouts out of the bullpen. He entered with the bases loaded in the third, worked out of the jam and kept the Cavaliers off the scoreboard over the next five innings. He allowed just two runs, and the Tar Heels rallied for the win in the ninth. Earlier in the week, the lefty beat No. 26 UNC Wilmington for the second time in his career with three strikeouts and just one hit allowed over 2 1/3 frames Tuesday. Moran struck out all five batters he faced, stranding three runners in the process, over his next two outings against Charlotte Wednesday and versus No. 8 Virginia Friday. He earned the win in the opener against the Cavaliers. On the season, Moran has a remarkable 42-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio and leads the Tar Heels with a 2.37 ERA over 30 1/3 innings. CATHERINE O'DONNELL KATE THOMAS Junior Kate Thomas and freshman Catherine O'Donnell led the Tar Heel women's golf team to a tie for fourth-place at the rain-shortened Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in Athens, Ga. Downpours of rain forced the cancellation of play on Friday and Saturday so the originally scheduled 54-hole event became an 18-hole tournament played Sunday at the University of Georgia Golf Course. Thomas and O'Donnell both carded a two-over-par 74 on the par 72, 6,335-yard layout, to tie for fifth place. O'Donnell's round included one birdie and three bogies while Thomas carded two birdies and four bogies. Carolina carded a 304 total, five strokes behind champion Auburn. TAYLOR FOGLEMAN Taylor has now won 11 straight singles matches in a row, and is the most consistently successful player on the team. The impressive part of his win streak is that he has dominated in nearly every match, evidenced by his 6-1, 6-1 win against Orban and his 6-3, 6-2 win against Muppidi. He also picked up a convincing, 8-1 doubles win against the ranked pair of Kreutzer and Nolan. He led UNC to 7-0 decisions against Maryland and BC this past week. VARSITY EIGHT The UNC varsity eight won all three of its races over the weekend,
putting in a trio of strong performances to defeat Georgetown, George
Washington and George Mason.
On Saturday, racing on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the Tar
Heels opened the day with a victory against Georgetown, finishing in a
time of 7:13.2 to the Hoyas' 7:20.1. In winning that race, Carolina
reclaimed the commemorative trophy that changes hands between UNC and GU
based on the winner of the varsity eight race.
In the boat's second contest of the day, Carolina finished in 7:10.1,
ahead of George Washington in 7:14.8.
On Sunday against George Mason in Occoquan, Va., the UNC varsity eight
turned in its fastest time of the season, crossing in 6:44.55 to GMU's
6:46.03.
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