April 2, 2009

Photo Gallery From UNC's Win Overtime Win Over Johns Hopkins

UNC Heads To Big City Classic: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team will return to game action for the first time in seven days Saturday as the No. 10-ranked Tar Heels look to build on the momentum of an overtime win over Johns Hopkins when they play in the inaugural Big City Classic in East Rutherford, N.J. Hosted by Inside Lacrosse, the Big City Classic features a tripleheader of NCAA Division I games to be played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The Tar Heels' task at hand in the Meadowlands could not be more difficult as awaiting North Carolina is the nation's top-ranked team, the undefeated Virginia Cavaliers. The game will begin at 12 Noon and it will be televised nationally on ESPNU. The Tar Heels enter the game with a record of 8-3 overall and 0-2 in the ACC. Virginia is a perfect 11-0 overall and 1-0 in the ACC. In this week's Inside Lacrosse/Nike media poll, the Tar Heels are ranked in 10th place while the Cavaliers come in as the No. 1 team.

Last Week Versus The Blue Jays: On Senior Day at Fetzer Field last Saturday, the Tar Heels rewarded 11 seniors and head coach Joe Breschi with a heartstopping 10-9 overtime win over Johns Hopkins. It was Breschi's 100th career coaching victory. The Tar Heels trailed only once in the game at 2-1 and after taking a 3-2 lead with 5:40 left in the first half on a Billy Bitter goal they either led or were tied the rest of the way. Nevertheless, the Tar Heels were unable to shake the Blue Jays even after taking a 6-2 lead with 13:07 to play in the third quarter. Eventually, the Blue Jays scored the final two goals of regulation to force overtime and they had the first possession of overtime before UNC's Ryan Flanagan caused a turnover that gave the ball to Carolina. UNC cashed in on its first possession of overtime as Billy Bitter fed Sean Delaney for the winning goal with 1:31 left in the overtime period. Bitter, Delaney, Gavin Petracca and Bart Wagner each had two goals for the Tar Heels in the win. Bitter and Petracca each had two assists for the Tar Heels.

Three Straight Wins Over Hopkins: The Tar Heels have now recorded regular-season wins over Johns Hopkins in each of the last three seasons. The last time the Tar Heels won three straight over the perennial national title contenders came from 1990 through 1994 when the Heels won six in a row, five regular-season games as well as the 1993 NCAA semifinals. It was Carolina's first win over the Blue Jays at Fetzer Field since April 3, 1993 when No. 1 Carolina defeated No. 3 Johns Hopkins 14-9. UNC's home win over Hopkins in 2007 was in a game played at Kenan Stadium. UNC has now upset higher-ranked Johns Hopkins' teams three years in a row after losing to the Blue Jays 13 times in a row before that.

A Rare Overtime Win For The Tar Heels: UNC was only 1-6 in its last seven overtime games dating back to the 2003 season before emerging with the win last Saturday over Hopkins. The overtime win was the first in extra time since the Tar Heels beat Duke 10-9 on an overtime goal by Lance Zimmerman at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. on March 20, 2004. In the five years since then Carolina had only played two overtime games, losing to Virginia in both 2007 and 2008.

The Largest Crowd In Seven Years: The game against Johns Hopkins was played before a crowd of 4,535 fans, the largest home crowd for a UNC game since 6,235 fans watched the Tar Heels beat UMBC 15-11 on April 13, 2002 at Kenan Stadium as part of a spring football game/men's lacrosse game doubleheader.

Carolina In One-Goal Games This Year: Carolina is now 2-1 in one-goal games in 2009 after having lost seven of its last eight one-goal games heading into this season. UNC had been 1-7 in one-goal games beginning with a 10-9 home loss to Maryland on March 27, 2004 through an 8-7 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Navy on Fetzer Field on May 10, 2008. Carolina's only one-goal win in that span came on February 23, 2008 when UNC won at Denver 6-5. Sean Delaney has delivered the game-winning goal in both one-goal victories. The junior midfielder scored with 4:50 left in the fourth quarter to lift the Tar Heels past Navy 9-8 on February 20 at Fetzer Field. He then delivered again last Saturday with his goal with 1:31 left in the first overtime as UNC beat Johns Hopkins 10-9.

UNC Equals 2008 Win Total: Carolina improved to 8-3 with its win over Johns Hopkins, in the process equaling its win total from the entire 2008 season when UNC finished 8-6. This is the first Carolina team to have eight wins before the end of the month March since 1993.

Seniors End Home Season 7-1: Carolina's Class of 2009, which includes nine seniors and two redshirt juniors, ended their home campaign 7-1 with the only loss coming against Duke. UNC will host the ACC Tournament this year in Chapel Hill, April 24 and 26 in Kenan Stadium.

The Tar Heels On ESPNU: Saturday's match will be the fourth of four Tar Heel games in a row to be telecast nationally on ESPU. The March 14 game against Duke was UNC's ESPNU debut of the 2009 campaign, then the Tar Heels played Maryland on the network on March 21 and Johns Hopkins on ESPNU on March 28. The Virginia game will be UNC's final ESPNU game of the season until post-season play rolls around.

Tar Heels Reward Breschi With 100th Career Win Against Johns Hopkins: New UNC head coach Joe Breschi has started his Tar Heel career 8-3. Last Saturday, his first Tar Heel unit rewarded the 1990 UNC graduate with his 100th career coaching victory. Now in his 12th year as a head coach, including the first 11 campaigns at Ohio State where he was 92-63, Breschi is 100-66 overall as UNC prepares to meet the Cavaliers.

Carolina Beats A Top 10 Team: With the win over Hopkins, Carolina recorded a win over its high-ranked opponent since beating Cornell and Notre Dame when they were ranked fifth on March 2 and March 8 of last season.

Seeking An ACC Win: The Tar Heels will be seeking to end a 20-match losing streak against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents on Saturday against Virginia. Carolina's last ACC win came against Virginia on April 10, 2004 when the Tar Heels defeated the Cavaliers 11-9 at Fetzer Field. The 20-match losing streak started on April 23, 2004 when Virginia defeated the Tar Heels 11-9 in the semifinals of 2004 ACC Tournament at Fetzer Field. During the losing streak, UNC has gone 0-15 in ACC regular-season games, 0-5 in ACC Tournament games and 0-1 in NCAA Tournament games against ACC foes. Since the beginning of the 1997 season, UNC is 7-45 in games against ACC opponents, going 7-31 in ACC regular-season games, 0-12 in ACC Tournament games and 0-2 in NCAA Tournament games against ACC foes.

Tar Heels Were Off To Fastest Start Since 2002: With a win over Detroit Mercy March 3 by a 19-4 score, North Carolina started the 2009 campaign with a record of 6-0. The last time UNC started a season with six straight wins was 2002. The Tar Heels finished that season 8-5 after going 2-5 over its last seven games of the season. Notre Dame snapped the Tar Heels' winning streak by beating UNC 9-7 on March 8. The last time a Tar Heel team had opened its campaign with seven straight wins was 1993 when Carolina started at 9-0. That Tar Heel team went on to play in the NCAA championship game, the last time a UNC team advanced to the Memorial Day Weekend final 4 in men's lacrosse.

Zimmerman Named Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Finalist: Senior goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman has been named as one of 10 players tapped as finalists for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Classroom, Character, Community, and Competition. This is the second straight year the Tar Heels have had a finalist for the award. A year ago, Tar Heel senior midfielder Fletcher Gregory was one of the 10 finalists for the prestigious national award.

The Starting Attack: UNC's starting attack unit of senior Bart Wagner, junior Gavin Petracca and sophomore Billy Bitter is currently averaging 8.91 points per game as a unit in the season's first 11 games. Bitter leads the way for the Tar Heels will 36 points while Wagner has 32 points and Petracca has 30. Wagner leads the team in goals scored with 24 while junior midfielder Sean Delaney is second with 23 goals and Billy Bitter is third with 20 goals. Bitter has the team's lead in assists with 16 while junior midfielder Sean Burke has 15. Petracca is also in double figures in assists with 14.

Three 20-Goal Scorers In 2009: Three Tar Heel players has reached the 20-goal mark in 2009 and in only 11 games. Bart Wagner leads the way with 24 goals, followed by Sean Delaney with 23 and Billy Bitter with 20. In 14 games a year ago, UNC had only one player reach the 20-goal plateau, Ben Hunt with 21.

Wagner Reaches Season High Total For Goals: Bart Wagner was UNC's leading scorer in 2006, 2007 and 2008 as a freshman, sophomore and junior. Wagner's 24 goals this season are the most he has had in a single campaign in his career. Wagner's previous high was 23 goals in 2007. Wagner heads into Saturday's Virginia game with 80 career goals to his credit.

The Passing Game In High Gear As Wagner and Delaney Scorch Mountain Hawks: Playing against a zone defense February 28 versus Lehigh, UNC had one of its most successful passing games in years as the Tar Heels scored 14 goals on an amazing 13 assists. Bart Wagner had a career-high seven points in the game on four goals and three assists, exceeding his previous high total of six points in a game against Marist on March 18, 2008. Junior midfielder Sean Delaney had a career-high four goals in the game against the Mountain Hawks. Delaney has scored 23 goals so far in 2009. In 11 games this season, he has now passed the 22 tallies he had in 2007 and 2008 combined. Delaney's four-goal game was his best as a Tar Heel as he bettered the hat trick he had against Navy on February 20, 2009 and the three he had against Providence on April 21, 2007. Delaney also had another hat trick on March 21 of this season against Maryland. In the win over Navy earlier this season, Delaney scored back-to-back goals in the final six minutes of the game to rally the Tar Heels from an 8-7 deficit to a 9-8 win over the Midshipmen.

Howard, Locke and McCall Against Detroit Mercy: Carolina's 19-4 win over Detroit Mercy on March 3 allowed head coach Joe Breschi to play his reserves the entire second half. This resulted in some new career-high efforts for several Tar Heels. Junior attackman Joe Howard had the first hat trick of his career and he finished the game with a personal best four points. Senior attackman Matthias McCall also had a career-high four points with a two-goal and two-assist effort. Sophomore goalkeeper Jamie Locke saw the first-ever action of his career, playing the last 18:52 of the match. Locke proved himself worthy of his shot at playing time by turning in a six-save effort while allowing only two goals. He also had two ground balls.

Walterhoefer On The Career Charts: Shane Walterhoefer has now won a school record 611 face-offs in his career. He earned the 600th face-off victory of his career when he won the opening face-off of the second quarter against against Johns Hopkins last Saturday. He set the University record in the final game of the 2008 season versus Navy in the NCAA Tournament first round, passing Kevin Frew's previous career record of 446 face-off victories.

The Offensive Output: Through the opening 11 games of the 2009 season, North Carolina is averaging 12.23 goals per game. That compares to an average of just 9.96 goals per game scored by the Tar Heels in 14 games in 2008.

Walt Wins 20 Face-Offs Again Versus Friars: Shane Walterhoefer's 20 face-off wins against Providence March 11 marked only the fourth time in Tar Heel lore that a player has won as many as 20 face-offs in a game. Walterhoefer has done it two of the other three times as well. He set the school record with 23 face-off wins against Ohio State on April 12, 2008 and he also won 20 against Hofstra on April 19, 2008. The other 20-face-off win occasion came when Todd Oudemool won 22 against Towson on May 13, 1989.

Walterhoefer Ties School Record For Ground Balls In a Game Versus Providence: Shane Walterhoefer's 15 ground balls against Providence March 11 marked the sixth time in school history a player has achieved that school record total. Walterhoefer has accomplished it twice now. The following players have claimed 15 ground balls in a game: Michael Burnett against NC State on May 2, 1981; Todd Oudemool against Towson on May 17, 1989; Jude Collins against Duke on April 23, 1995; Jude Collins against Virginia on April 6, 1986; Shane Walterhoefer against Ohio State on April 12, 2008; and Shane Walterhoefer against Providence on March 11, 2009.

Walt's Career Total: Shane Walterhoefer has now won a school record 611 face-offs in his career. With 12 wins against Johns Hopkins on March 28 he passed Jack deVilliers of Virginia (2002-05) into ninth place in number of face-offs won in NCAA Division I history. Walterhoefer is within 13 face-off victories of moving into a tie for fourth place in NCAA history in face-off victories. Walterhoefer is currently 14th in NCAA history and second in UNC history in face-off winning percentage at .618. The school record for face-off winning percentage is held by Jude Collins (1993-96) at .668. He has attempted the 11th most face-offs in NCAA history with 989. He has attempted 250 more face-offs than any other player in UNC history.

Walterhoefer Now Second On The Ground Ball Chart: With his 10 ground balls against Maryland on March 21, Shane Walterhoefer moved past Ryan Wade (1991-94) and into second place in career ground balls at UNC. Walterhoefer currently has 326 ground balls in his career. Walterhoefer is now ranked 15th in ground balls in NCAA history. He is second in Carolina history behind only Jude Collins (1993-96) who had 412. Collins ranks sixth in NCAA history in ground balls. Walterhoefer ranks 11th in NCAA history in ground balls per game at 6.52. He is currently just behind Jude Collins' school record pace of 6.54 ground balls per game. Collins ranks 10th in NCAA history.

Riding And Clearing: Riding and clearing are an essential part of the game and the Tar Heels are doing a much better job of doing both in 2009 when compared with the past few seasons. This year's group is clearing successfully at an .845 clip compared to .728 in 2008. UNC has also limited opponents to success on only .712 percent of clear attempts. A year ago, opponents cleared at a .850 clip.

Clearing A Key To Win Over Johns Hopkins: One of the key factors in UNC's win last Saturday over Johns Hopkins was the team's ability to successfully clear the ball. The Tar Heels lost possession only one time on a failed clear in the match. UNC cleared successfully 16 of 17 times. The only failed clear came 21 seconds into the match when the Heels went offside on their first clearing attempt of the game.

Zimmerman In The Net: Senior goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman began the week with the nation's 10th best goals against average at 7.61. A year ago, Zimmerman had a 9.42 goals against average per contest.

Zim On The Career Saves Chart: With 99 saves this season, Grant Zimmerman has improved his career save total to 498. That is the fourth most in school history.

Tar Heels Explode For 20 Goals: The 20 goals UNC scored against Denver on February 14 were the most scored by UNC since a 27-7 win over Pfeiffer on April 26, 2001 at Henry Stadium. It marked the most goals scored by UNC against an NCAA Division I opponent since April 16, 1997 when UNC won at VMI by a 22-2 score.

UNC Versus Virginia: North Carolina and Virginia will meet for the 64th time on the lacrosse field Saturday, dating back to an 12-1 win by the Cavaliers in Chapel Hill, N.C. on May 19, 1949. Virginia has won five straight games over the Tar Heels, the most recent being a 12-11 victory in overtime at Fetzer Field on April 5, 2008. Dating back to 1993, Virginia has won 19 of the past 24 games against the Tar Heels. Virginia leads the overall series between the two schools 43-20.

Carolina On Cover Of Inside Lacrosse Magazine: Senior midfielder Ben Hunt was featured on the front cover of the March 2009 issue of Inside Lacrosse Magazine. The magazine included an eight-page feature on the Tar Heels with photography by Triangle area native Peyton Williams. It marked the first time in the history of the magazine that a Tar Heel player had been featured on the cover.

Bart Wagner Has Scored In All But Three Career Games: Bart Wagner has recorded at least one point in 52 of 55 career games at UNC. His only scoreless games have come against Air Force on February 25, 2006 during the second game of his Tar Heel career, against Ohio State on April 12, 2008 and against Notre Dame on March 8, 2009. Wagner led the Tar Heels in scoring in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He has 80 career goals and 59 career assists for a total of 139 career points heading into the Virginia game. Wagner needs four assists to move into a tie for 10th place in career assists at UNC. Wagner scored three or more goals in a game in five of UNC's 11 games this season.

Walterhoefer Wins 15 Or More Again: When Shane Walterhoefer won 17 face-offs against Maryland on March 21, it marked the 16th time in his career he has won at least 15 face-offs in a game. Walterhoefer has won 15 or more face-offs in a game five times this year. Walterhoefer has won 15 or more face-offs in a game in 16 of 50 games he has played in his career, 32 percent of his career appearances. The senior from Ellicott City, Md., won 15 in the season opener against Robert Morris in 22 attempts then followed that with stunning back-to-back performances against Navy and Colgate on February 20 and 22. Walterhoefer won 16 of 20 against the Midshipmen in a 9-8 win and 16 of 24 against the Red Raiders in an 11-9 win. Walterhoefer then won 20 of 23 face-offs against Providence March 11. He has also won 14 in a game three this season, going 14 for 26 against Denver, 14 for 23 against Lehigh and 14 for 24 against Duke.

Walt's Face-Off Winning Percentage Against Maryland: Shane Walterhoefer won 89.5 percent of his face-offs against Maryland on March 28. That was the second-best face-off winning percentage in a game for Walterhoefer in his career. His best performance came against Dartmouth on February 25, 2007 when he won 90.4 percent of his attempts, going 19 of 21.

Bitter and Petracca Start Out Hot Against Robert Morris and Denver: Attackmen Billy Bitter, a sophomore, and Gavin Petracca, a junior, started out the season on fire for the Tar Heels in their season opener. Bitter scorched Robert Morris for five goals and one assist and Petracca added four goals and one assist. Bitter set career highs for points and goals in a game against Robert Morris. He had scored three goals as a freshman against Cornell on March 2, 2008 and had three points as a freshman in both that Cornell game and against Duke on March 15, 2008. Against Denver just a week later, Bitter rang up three goals and four assists and Petracca had four goals and four assists. Bart Wagner and Ben Hunt also had three goals apiece in that game and Sean Delaney and Cryder DiPietro had two each. Against the Pioneers, Petracca set career highs for assists in a game with four -- he previously had three each against Bellarmine on March 7, 2007, Notre Dame on March 10, 2007 and Johns Hopkins on March 31, 2007. His eight points were also a career high, eclipsing the six he had against Vermont on March 13, 2007. Bitter's seven points versus Denver were one better than his previous career high of six against Robert Morris just a week before. His four assists were also a career high, bettering the three he had at Duke on March 15, 2008.

DiPietro Equals Career Goal Best: Cryder DiPietro equaled his career high for goals in a game with two against Denver on February 14 and two against Detroit Mercy on March 3. He also had two goals in a game against Bellarmine on February 16, 2008 and against Duke on April 25, 2008.

Petracca Named ACC Player Of The Week February 15: North Carolina's Gavin Petracca was named the first 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week for the period ending on Sunday, February 15, 2009. Petracca helped the fifth-ranked Tar Heels reach their highest goal tally in a single game since 2001 in a 20-7 victory over 14th-ranked Denver before a crowd of 1,243 at Fetzer Field. The junior from Manhasset, N.Y., tallied eight shots, including six shots on goal, scored four goals and had a career-high four assists in the Tar Heels' second victory on the young season. Petracca's eight points broke his previous career-high of six points versus Vermont in 2007. The attackman registered three of his goals and three of his assists in a 12-0 scoring run that broke open the game from an 8-6 Tar Heel halftime lead to a 20-6 advantage in the fourth quarter. After his breakout effort, the redshirt junior attackman was the featured men's lacrosse podcast on February 16, 2009 on NCAA.com.

Wagner Named ACC Player Of The Week: North Carolina's Bart Wagner was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, February 22. Wagner's six goals during the week propelled the fifth-ranked Tar Heels to wins over No. 9 Navy and No. 17 Colgate. The senior from Glen Arm, Md., registered six goals on only 12 shots in two games on the weekend. The attackman scored three goals on four shots and scooped up five ground balls in a tough 9-8 victory over 2008 NCAA quarterfinalist Navy. On the following Sunday, Wagner scored three goals on eight shots, added an assist and recorded four ground balls in an 11-9 victory over 2008 NCAA participant and 2008 Patriot League Tournament champion Colgate.

Five Tar Heels Named Preseason All-Americas: Five members of the 2009 UNC men's lacrosse team were named to the Inside Lacrosse/Face-Off Yearbook preseason All-America Teams. Senior face-off specialist Shane Walterhoefer was tapped for the first team with midfielder Ben Hunt on the second team and attackman Bart Wagner, close defenseman Ryan Flanagan and goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman on the honorable mention squad.

Preseason All-ACC Choices: Three Tar Heel players were named to the preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team named by Inside Lacrosse and Face-Off Yearbook. Senior Shane Walterhoefer (face-off specialist), Ben Hunt (midfielder) and Grant Zimmerman (goalkeeper) were all named to the team.

Hall of Fame Finalists: Two decorated Tar Heel alumni are currently on the ballot as finalists for selection to the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2009. Michael Burnett, `81, and Mac Ford, `85, both attackmen, were ACC Players of the Year and first-team All-Americas while playing for the Heels under US Lacrosse Hall of Fame coach Willie Scroggs. Burnett played at UNC from 1980-83 and Ford from 1982-85. Burnett played on NCAA championship teams in 1981 and 1982 and Ford played on the 1982 NCAA title-winning team.

Two Tar Heels On Tryout List For World Games: Two Tar Heel alumni have been invited to the United States Team tryouts for the 2010 World Lacrosse Games. Attackman Jed Prossner, `05, and defenseman Stephen McElduff, `06, are both candidates to make the squad.