CAROLINA HEADS TO COLLEGE PARK LOOKING FOR FIRST ACC WIN OF THE SEASON: Fresh off a 9-5 victory over 10th-ranked Cornell on Wednesday night at Fetzer Field, the 19th-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team hits the road this weekend to meet Atlantic Coast Conference rival Maryland Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. Saturday's North Carolina versus Maryland will be televised by Fox Sports Net South. The victory over the Big Red of the Ivy League on Wednesday enabled the Tar Heels to break a four-match losing streak as the Carolina record improved to 2-4 overall on the season and 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tar Heels will be seeking their first ACC win of the season when they battle the Terps on Saturday. The next task will not be an easy one for North Carolina as Carolina will be playing a ranked team for the seventh game in a row. Maryland (4-2 overall, 0-1 in the ACC) is ranked No. 4 in this week's U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll. The Terps' two losses have come by a combined total of only two goals. Playing nationally-ranked teams has become de rigeur for the Tar Heels this season. In fact, UNC's first nine regular-season games are all against teams ranked in the Top 23 of this week's U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll. Few other teams in the nation are playing a schedule comparable to the one the Tar Heels are tackling this season.

HAUS REWARDED WITH 100TH COLLEGIATE COACHING VICTORY AGAINST BIG RED: When the No. 19 North Carolina men's lacrosse team defeated the Cornell Big Red 9-5 on March 23, 2005 on the grass of Fetzer Field, it rewarded Tar Heel Head Coach John Haus with his 100th collegiate career coaching victory. Now in his 11th season as a college head coach, Haus has mentored college teams which have compiled records totaling 100-54. In four seasons at Washington College from 1995-98, his teams went 47-21. Haus then coached at Johns Hopkins for two seasons in 1999 and 2000 where his squads were 20-7. Now in his fifth year at UNC, Haus has led the Tar Heels to a 33-26 overall ledger.

TAR HEELS SUCCESSFULLY END LOSING STREAK: Facing a near must-win situation, North Carolina ended a four-match losing streak with a 9-5 victory over No. 10 Cornell on March 23 at Fetzer Field. Jed Prossner led the Tar Heels offensively with five goals and an assist for a six-point effort against Cornell while Paul Spellman played his finest game of his senior season, making 11 saves while allowing only five goals. The UNC defense was outstanding against the Big Red, forcing 22 Cornell turnovers. Senior Lance Zimmerman won 11 of 18 face-offs while Hayward Howard scored his second careeer goal and scooped up seven ground balls from his rope position and starting close defenseman Stephen McElduff also gobbled up six ground balls. Mike McCall also played well in support of Prossner on offensive end as the senior attackman added two goals and two assists. Prior to the win over the Big Red, Carolina's losing streak had stretched to an uncharacteristic four games in a row. The last time UNC had lost four in a row was 2003 when the Tar Heels lost 11-10 to Johns Hopkins in overtime, 10-7 to Virginia, 10-8 to UMBC and 13-12 to Virginia in overtime in successive games.

TAR HEELS' STOUT DEFENSIVE EFFORT ITS BEST IN 22 MATCHES: When North Carolina defeated Cornell 9-5 on March 23, the Tar Heels limited the Big Red to the lowest goal total against UNC since the final game of the 2003 season, 22 games ago. The last time Carolina had limited a team to that few a number of goals was April 26, 2003 when the Tar Heels defeated Air Force 11-5 at Fetzer Field.

PROSSNER JOINS 100-GOAL CLUB, MOVES UP TO NO. 5 ON UNC CHART: Tar Heel senior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton, Md.) passed the century mark in career goal scoring at the University of North Carolina in the March 23 victory over Cornell. Prossner, a first-team All-America attackman in 2004, scored the 100th goal of his career with 10:16 to play in the second quarter of the match cutting Cornell's lead to 2-1. Mike McCall provided the assist on Prossner's historic goal. Prossner went on to score four more goals in the match against the Big Red to give him 104 for his career. Starting the night tied with Harper Peterson for seventh place on the all-time Carolina goal scoring list at 99, Prossner broke the tie with Peterson and also moved past Merrill Turnbull (101) and Jeff Sonke (102) on th Tar Heel chart. Prossner has now joined these other Tar Heels who have reached the century mark in career goals. They are Bert Fett (1972-75) with 128, Mac Ford (1982-85) with 111, John Webster (1990-93) with 109, Dennis Goldstein (1987-91) with 108, Jeff Sonke (1998-2001) with 102 and Merrill Turnbull (1994-97) with 101. Now standing at 104 career goals, Prossner has a reasonable chance of moving into second place in all-time Tar Heel goal scoring as the Tar Heels have a minimum of seven games left this season. He would need to average 3.5 goals per contest in the seven remaining games to catch Fett on the career chart.

TAR HEELS COMPETE AGAINST KILLER SCHEDULE IN 2005: North Carolina is playing what may be the toughest schedule in the nation during the 2005 season. Carolina faces another talented team in the No. 4-ranked Maryland Terrapins on Saturday. Altogether, UNC plays or has played eight of the top 13 teams in this week's U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association coaches poll and nine teams in the Top 23 of the USILA poll. Only three of Carolina's 12 regular-season opponents are not ranked this week in the Top 25 of the USILA poll and each of the first nine opponents on the Tar Heels' schedule are ranked teams. The Tar Heels have already played No. 23 Denver, beating the Pioneers 18-12 in the season opener. Following that match, UNC dropped four successive games against nationally-ranked teams with losses to No. 6 Navy 9-6, No. 9 Notre Dame 9-7, No. 13 Hofstra 12-8 and No. 3 Duke 12-10. Carolina broke out of its slump with a victory over No. 10 Cornell on March 23. Beginning Saturday, the Tar Heels face the following three ranked opponents in a row, a veritable Who's Who of the Nation's top teams as they finish up the opening nine-game stretch against ranked teams -- No. 4 Maryland on March 26 in College Park, Md., No. 1 Johns Hopkins on April 2 in Chapel Hill, N.C. and No. 2 Virginia on April 9 in Charlottesville, Va.

THE SERIES WITH THE TERRAPINS: The series between North Carolin and Maryland in men's lacrosse has been dominated by the Terrapins from a historical perspective. Maryland leads the all-time series by a 31-18 margin. Maryland won the opening 17 matches between the two teams beginning with the first meeting in 1964. Carolina's first win in the series came in 1981 when the Tar Heels beat the Terps 13-12 in overtime in College Park, Md. Carolina had some success against the Terps in the 1980s and 1990s, but the series has again turned in the favor of Maryland since 1997. The Terrapins have won eight of the past nine games between UNC and Maryland, including a 10-9 victory by the Terps in 2004 at Fetzer Field. Carolina's only victory over the Terps since 1996 came in 2003 when Carolina upset Maryland at Byrd Stadium 10-6.

CAROLINA LEADS NATION IN EXTRA-MAN OFFENSE: Despite the disappointing 2-4 start to the season, the Tar Heel men's lacrosse team has been effective in one important area. UNC leads the nation this week in extra-man offensive efficiency. Heading into the Maryland game, Carolina has scored 14 goals on 26 extra-man offensive opportunities, a percentage of .538.

BLAIR, McCALL, PROSSNER ALL AMONGST NATIONAL SCORING LEADERS: Carolina's starting attack trio of senior Jed Prossner (Easton Md.), junior Ryan Blair (Auburn, N.Y.) and senior Mike McCall (Yorktown, N.Y.) are all ranked highly this week in several NCAA offensive statistics categories. In points per game, Blair was tied for eighth at 4.00, McCall was tied for 14th at 3.80 and Prossner was tied for 18th at 3.60. In goals per game, McCall was tied for third nationally with 3.20 goals per game while Prossner was tied for sixth with 3.00 goals per contest. Blair was fifth in the nation this week in assists per game at 2.80 per contest.

SPELLMAN'S STONE WALL AGAINST CORNELL: Tar Heel senior goalkeeper Paul Spellman (Cockeysville, Md.) turned in the best performance of the season as the Tar Heels defeated Cornell 9-5 on March 23. Spellman made 11 saves in the match while allowing only five goals. Spellman was particularly good in the second quarter when he made five saveson six Cornell shots and the Tar Heels outscored the Big Red 6-1 in the 15-minute span to take a 6-2 halftime lead en route to the victory.

McELDUFF, HOWARD RECORD CAREER HIGHS AGAINST CORNELL: Junior Hayward Howard and Stephen McElduff led a stellar defensive effort for North Carolina against Cornell on March 23 as the two defensemen helped limit the Big Red to five goals, the fewest allowed by UNC in 22 games. Both players also recorded career highs for ground balls in a match as Howard had seven and McElduff six. The two were also responsible for a large number of the 22 turnovers forced by the Carolina defense. In addition, Howard scooped up a ground ball off the win on a face-off and went down and scored the second goal of his Tar Heel career with 8:34 left in the second quarter. Howard's goal gave the Tar Heels a 3-2 lead and they were never tied or headed thereafter.

PROSSNER NOW FIFTH IN CAREER GOALS: North Carolina senior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton, Md.) heads into the Maryland game in fifth place as the leading goal scorer in North Carolina men's lacrosse history. Prossner currently has 104 career goals at UNC. The all-time leader at UNC is Bert Fett who scored 128 goals from 1972-75. Prossner scored 41 goals during the 2004 season. That was the fifth most goals in a single season in Tar Heel history. The record output was 47 by Dennis Goldstein during UNC's national championship run in 1991. Prossner trails only Bert Fett (128), Mac Ford (111), John Webster (109) and Dennis Goldstein (108) in UNC career goal scoring.

McCALL & WILL PASS MILESTONES: A pair of Tar Heel seniors passed career milestones in the season's first half. Senior Mike McCall (Yorktown, N.Y.) has passed the 75 mark in career goals this season. In fact, McCall's 18 goals this season has pushed his career total to 87 as he moves closer to the century mark himself. McCall is now chasing the Top 10 list at UNC. Jason Wade currently ranks 10th in career goal scoring at UNC with 95 goals. Senior midfielder Bryant Will (Phoenix, Md.) has recorded seven assists this season to pass the 50 mark in his career. Will now has a total of 53 assists. He is aiming for the UNC Top 10 list which currently has Matt Crofton (1997-2000) and Chase Martin (1997-2000) tied for the No. 9 spot with 63 assists apiece. Will has the most career assists among active Tar Heel players with 53. Jed Prossner has 48 career assists, Ryan Blair 44, Mike McCall 36 and Lance Zimmerman 27.

SPELLMAN NOW THIRD IN CAREER SAVES: Tar Heel senior goalkeeper Paul Spellman (Cockeysville, Md.), who has started 46 of the 47 games the Tar Heels have played since he arrived on campus in 2002 while also playing in every game the Tar Heels have played in his time on campus, heads into the Maryland game with 594 career saves. That total ranks third in Carolina history. Ahead of him on the chart are Tom Sears (1980-83) with 629 and Dave Shreiner (1971-73) with 621. Spellman had a season-high 16 saves against Navy on March 5 while allowing only nine goals in a hard-fought game against the second-ranked Midshipmen in which UNC fell short 9-6.