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No. 3 Johns Hopkins Holds Off Tar Heels' Upset Bid
March 29, 2002
BALTIMORE, MD. -- North Carolina's seventh-ranked men's lacrosse team almost pulled off a miraculous comeback against third-ranked Johns Hopkins Friday night before 5,667 fans at Homewood Field but the Blue Jays got a game-winning goal from Bobby Benson with less than four minutes to play to beat the Tar Heels 12-11. The Blue Jays improved to 5-1 with the win while the Tar Heels lost their second in a row and are now 6-2. Carolina has played in hard luck the last two games, losing to #5 Maryland 7-5 and to #3 Johns Hopkins 12-11. The game appeared to be a blowout in the first half as the Blue Jays jumped off to a 3-0 lead and then stretched the margin to 6-2 with 11:24 before the half. But Carolina rallied to get back into the game before intermission as Kyle Bell scored with 10:27 to play before the half and then freshman Mike McCall scored back-to-back goals to cut the Hopkins lead to 6-5 at the half. Tar Heel freshman goalkeeper was the big difference in the first half for Carolina. Despite the fact the Blue Jays outshot the Tar Heels 25-14 in the first half the Heels were able to stay in the game because of Spellman's 12 first half saves. The two teams traded goals early in the third quarter before Hopkins went on a 4-0 run that appeared to put the game away. Four different Blue Jays scored in the run with included two extra-man goals and left Hopkins ahead 11-6 with 1:27 to play in the third quarter. But UNC midfielder Tim Gosier scored with 30 seconds left in the third quarter to cut the lead to four goals and set the stage for a frenetic fourth quarter rally by UNC. The Tar Heels outshot the Blue Jays 18-3 in the fourth quarter and Nick Murtha's nine saves for Hopkins helped prevent further damage by Carolina. UNC's Steven Will scored his second goal of the game 1:19 into the fourth quarter and Andrew Lucas followed with a goal with 10:50 to play to cut the lead to 11-9. Gosier got his second goal of the game with 7:24 to play and Pat Jackson scored his second goal of the contest with 4:57 to play off an assist by Johnny Seivold to tie the game at 11-11.
The Blue Jays won the ensuing faceoff and Benson scored his second goal of the game with 3:29 to play as he was alone on the crease and Kevin Boland found him for the winning goal. Hopkins regained possession on the following faceoff and Carolina had several good shots but could not get the game-tying goal by Murtha. Hopkins eventually gained possession and killed off the final minute after Carolina was called for two penalties and had to play two men down in the waning seconds of the contest. UNC will be back in action again on Saturday, April 6 when the Tar Heels host second-ranked Virginia at Fetzer Field at 1 p.m.
2002 NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE SCORING SUMMARY
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