Contact: Dave Lohse P: F:

Transcription

1 Contact: Dave Lohse P: F: Tar Heel Men s Lacrosse Team Faces Marist and Maryland This Week: The University of North Carolina men s lacrosse team faces its second successive week with two games on tap as the (No. 4 USILA/No. 5 Nike-Inside Lacrosse) Tar Heels (5-1) meet Marist (0-4) Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field before hosting No. 9 Maryland (5-2) Saturday at 6 p.m. at Fetzer Field. Live stats will be available for both games on TarHeelBlue.com courtesy of CSTV Gametracker. Last Week For the Tar Heels: North Carolina split its two games last week, leaving it with a record of 5-1 heading into this week s contests against Marist and Maryland, both games to be played in Chapel Hill. Last Tuesday, the Tar Heels rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Providence 8-6. Last Saturday, the Tar Heels fell at No. 1 Duke ATV Game for the Tar Heels: North Carolina s Saturday game with Maryland will be nationally televised by ESPNU. It will be a live telecast beginning at 6 p.m. and will be UNC s first TV appearance since the 2007 NCAA quarterfinals against Duke. UNC s game at Johns Hopkins March 29 will be televised in the Baltimore area on WMAR-TV. UNC will again be featured on ESPNU when Virginia visits Fetzer Field onapril 5 for a 4 p.m. matchup. North Carolina Versus Marist: Tuesday s matchup at Fetzer Field between Marist and North Carolina will be the first ever meeting between the two schools. North Carolina Versus Maryland: Maryland leads the all-time series with North Carolina by a margin. The Terrapins have held a decided advantage in the rivalry since Maryland has won 12 of the past 13 meetings between the two schools, including the last five meetings in a row. Prior to 1997, the Tar Heels had a long period of dominance in the series as Carolina won 10 in a row from and 12 of 13 from Carolina s last win over the Terrapins came on March 22, 2003 when the Tar Heels upset a Maryland team that was ranked No. 2 in the country by a 10-6 score at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. A 5-0 Start: Prior to UNC s loss at Duke last Saturday, the Tar Heels started the season with five successive wins for the first time since The 2002 campaign began with a 6-0 mark before the Tar Heels fell to Maryland in the seventh game of the season, a 7-5 loss at Fetzer FIeld. AOne-Goal Win: North Carolina s 6-5 victory at the University of Denver on February 23 marked UNC s first win in a game decided by one goal in almost four years. It also broke a five-match losing streak for the Tar Heels in onegoal decisions over the past four seasons. Carolina s last one-goal win had come on March 20, 2004 when the Tar Heels defeated Duke 10-9 in overtime at Durham, N.C., on a goal by redshirt junior midfielder Lance Zimmerman of Cockeysville, Md. Since that win over Duke, UNC had dropped one-goal games to Maryland and Johns Hopkins in 2004, to Hofstra and Maryland in 2006 and to Virginia in 2007 prior to breaking that bad luck streak against the Pioneers. Zimmerman Named ACC Player of the Week on February 25: North Carolina junior goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman, a redshirt junior from Cockeysville, Md., was named the ACC Co-Men s Lacrosse Player of the Week for games played February Behind Zimmerman s outstanding play in the goal, UNC overcame Denver s well-known home field advantage, leading the Tar Heels to a 6-5 win over the Pioneers and avenging an 11-8 loss to Denver two years ago on the same field. Zimmerman made 10 saves and allowed only five goals in 60 minutes of play, while also sharing the team lead in ground balls with four. Carolina s Face-Off Unit Dubbed Nation s Best In The Preseason: Inside Lacrosse Magazine named UNC s face-off unit the tops in the nation going into the 2008 campaign. The unit is led by junior Shane Walterhoefer, one of the teams top sparkplugs and a 61 percent face-off average winner in 07. Walterhoefer ranked 12th last year in percentage as the Tar Heels played what was the nation s most difficult schedule. He has also shown the ability to score goals against good teams with career scores against Johns Hopkins, Virginia and Duke. Walterhoefer has already broken the single-season record for face-off wins at North Carolina. Among the wing players with long poles that UNC employs with Walterhoefer are Tim Kaiser, Ryan Flanagan, Michael Jarvis and Kerry McCormick. Fletcher Gregory, Michael J. Burns and Mike Munnelly handle short-stick wing duties on face-offs. The Attack Unit; Inside Lacrosse s No. 3: Inside Lacrosse Magazine labeled the North Carolina attack unit the nation s third best going into the season behind only Duke and Virginia. The magazine cited not just the numbers of the Wagner, Petracca, Burns combination but also the trio s scoring balance.

2 Inside Lacrosse Dubs Tar Heels Both Experienced and Young: In a preseason analysis of the nation s top programs, Inside Lacrosse made an observation of UNC s unqiue mix of youth and experience. They (UNC) return almost the entire team from last year s NCAA quarterfinal run -- with the attack and the midfield first lines almost exactly the same. And although they are still a young team -- mostly sophomores and juniors -- many of the Tar Heels have the bitter taste of the 4-10 season in 06 left in their mouths. That will be integral to keeping this team grounded and focused as they attempt to make another dent in the NCAA Tournament. Referencing the Inside Lacrosse analysis, the Tar Heels return all three starting attackmen from 07 redshirt junior Michael B. Burns, junior Bart Wagner and resdshirt sophomore Gavin Petracca; all three starting close defensemen from 07 senior Tim Kaiser, senior Brian Burke and junior Jack Ryan; the starting first midfield unit from 07 senior Nick Tintle, junior Ben Hunt and sophomore Sean Burke; and the starting goalkeeper from 07 redshirt junior Grant Zimmerman. North Carolina in the Preseason Rankings: After finishing ninth in the final 2007 USILA coaches poll, UNC began the 2008 season ranked No. 10 by Lacrosse Magazine and No. 5 by Face-off Yearbook/Inside Lacrosse. In the Polls This Week: After dropping to 5-1 on the season after a loss at No. 1 Duke last Saturday, North Carolina dropped in both national polls this week, but not very far. Carolina was ranked No. 3 in the nation in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse poll and the USILA coaches poll on March 10. This Monday, UNC checked in at No. 4 in the USILA coaches poll and No. 5 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media poll. Trio of Tar Heels Named 2008 Preseason All-ACC by Face-Off Yearbook: The 2008 North Carolina men s lacrosse team had three players named to the preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team named by Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse Magazine. Senior close defenseman Tim Kaiser, senior midfielder Nick Tintle and junior face-off specialist/midfielder/athlete Shane Walterhoefer were all named to the team. Six UNC Players Named Preseason All-Americas: Six North Carolina players were named 2008 preseason All-Americas by Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse Magazine. Junior face-off specialist Shane Walterhoefer of Ellicott City, Md. was tapped for the first-team All- America as the best at that position. Senior close defenseman Tim Kaiser and senior midfielder Nick Tintle were both preseason second-team All- America choices. Junior attackman Bart Wagner was flagged for the third team. Redshirt sophomore attackman Gavin Petracca and junior midfielder Ben Hunt were both chosen for the preseason honorable mention All-America Team. Tar Heels Showed 5-Game Improvement in Record in 2007: Purely on the basis of its final season record, the North Carolina Tar Heels ranked as the third most improved team in NCAA Division I men s lacrosse in The Tar Heels exhibited a plus five game improvement in their record, going from 4-10 in 2006 to 10-6 in Holy Cross ranked first with a +6 improvement while Albany was second with a +5.5 game improvement in its record. North Carolina was tied for third with Drexel and Siena, teams which also had +5 improvements. UNC s 2007 Schedule was Amongst the Nation s Best: In achieving a 10-6 record in 2007, the Tar Heels played 10 of their 16 games against teams which made the NCAA Tournament field. UNC was 4-6 against the NCAA field last season and was 6-0 against teams which did not qualify for the tournament. Carolina is 0-2 against Duke, 0-1 against Virginia, 1-0 against Johns Hopkins, 0-1 against Maryland, 1-1 against Navy, 1-0 against Notre Dame and 1-0 against Providence. Carolina played in the most difficult conference in the nation this year, the ACC. Despite going 0-4 inacc games, UNC still received the No. 8 seed in the 16-team NCAA Tournament. ACC teams were seeded No. 1 (Duke), No. 2 (Virginia), No. 7 (Maryland) and No. 8 (North Carolina). Tom Sears Becomes Third Tar Heel in Hall of Fame: Decorated University of North Carolina goalkeeper Tom Sears was one of 10 individuals inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame on November 17, Sears was the National Player of the Year as UNC s starting goalkeeper in 1982 and was a four-year starter from Sears led the Tar Heels to NCAA championships in 1981 and Sears was the third Tar Heel elected to the Hall, joining former Tar Heel head coach Willie Scroggs, who led UNC to a record from , and defenseman Tom Haus, younger brother of UNC head coach John Haus. Tom Haus was a three-time winner of the Schmeisser Memorial Cup as the nation s outstanding defenseman in 1984, 1986 and Haus won the Enners Award as the National Player of the Year in Shane s 2007 Improvement: One of the key factors a year ago in seeing thetar Heels improve from 4-10 in 2006 to 10-6 in 2007, was the work at the X by now junior Shane Walterhoefer. Walterhoefer improved his face-off percentage by six points last year, going from 55 percent as a freshman to 61 percent as a sophomore and providing the Tar Heels with several more possessions on a per game average. Leftovers from The Attack: Last year Bart Wagner emerged as UNC s scoring leader for the second successive season. The junior from Glen Arm,, Md., had 29 points as a freshman in 06 and then improved that

3 total to 44 points in 07 on 23 goals and 21 assists. Redshirt sophomore attackman Gavin Petracca of Manhasset, N.Y., was second on the team in points with 41 last year on 24 goals and 17 assists. Redshirt junior attackman Michael B. Burns of Garden City, N.Y., had his breakthrough year as a goal scorer for the Heels as he totaled 28 tallies to lead the 07 squad in that category. UNC had an extremely balanced total of 120 points from the starting attack with 44 from Wagner, 41 from Petracca and 35 from Burns. In its normal rotation, UNC plays six attackmen with junior Matthias McCall, sophomore Kevin Federico and freshman Billy Bitter all seeing plenty of playing time in relief of Wagner, Petracca and Burns so far in Shutout Minutes Versus Bellarmine: In North Carolina s 15-2 victory over Bellarmine on February 16, the Tar Heel defense and starting goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman held the Knights scoreless for the last 48:26 of the match. UNC trailed the Knights at 2-1 on a Bellarmine goal with 3:26 left in the opening quarter. That would prove to be Bellarmine s last goal of the game as thetar Heels went on to outscore the Knights 14-0 the remainder of the match.

4 2008 NORTH CAROLINA MEN S LACROSSE ROSTER No Name Ht Wt Position Class Hometown High School 1 Bart Wagner Attackman JR Glen Arm, Md. St. Paul's School (Brooklandville, Md.) 2 Ian Morrison Attackman SO Carmel, Calif. Stevenson School (Pebble Beach, Calif.) 3 Kevin Federico Attackman SO West Islip, N.Y. West Islip 4 Billy Bitter Attackman FR Manhattan, N.Y. Manhasset (N.Y.) '06; Deerfield Acad. (Mass.) '07 5 Brian Burke Defenseman SR Fort Salonga, N.Y. St. Anthony's (South Huntington, N.Y.) 6 Fletcher Gregory Midfielder SR Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte Latin School 7 Andrew Moss Goalkeeper SR Washington, D.C. Gonzaga College High School 8 Michael Jarvis Defenseman SO Richmond, Va. Collegiate School 9 Grant Zimmerman Goalkeeper RS JR Cockeysville, Md. Gilman School 11 Chris Madalon Goalkeeper SO Darien, Conn. Darien 12 Brian Connors Midfielder SR Manhasset, N.Y. Manhasset 14 Gavin Petracca Attackman RS SO Manhasset, N.Y. Manhasset 15 Colin Sherwood Attackman SO Greensboro, N.C. Grimsley 16 Pell George Defenseman JR Towson, Md. Gilman School 17 Tommy D'Alessandro Midfielder SO Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte Country Day School 18 Ben Hunt Midfielder JR Arnold, Md. Severna Park 19 Matthias McCall Attackman JR Manteo, N.C. Yorktown (Yorktown, N.Y.) 20 Chris Cortina Defenseman JR Pennington, N.J. Lawrenceville (N.J.) School 21 Andrew Pyke Defenseman JR Reisterstown, Md. Gilman School 22 Tim Kaiser Defenseman SR Timonium, Md. Loyola Blakefield (Towson, Md.) 23 Nick Tintle Midfielder SR Levittown, N.Y. MacArthur 24 Mike Munnelly Midfielder SR Garden City, N.Y. Garden City 25 Shane Walterhoefer Athlete JR Ellicott City, Md. Boys' Latin (Baltimore, Md.) 26 Michael J. Burns Midfielder RS FR Medford Lakes, N.J. Shawnee (Medford, N.J.) 28 Matt Davie Midfielder FR Syosset, N.Y. Syosset 29 Michael B. Burns Attackman RS JR Garden CIty, N.Y. Garden City 30 Joe Howard Midfielder SO Chapel Hill, N.C. Jordan (Durham, N.C.) 31 Mike Chires Defenseman FR Rochester Hills, Mich. Detroit Country Day School (Beverly Hills, Mich.) 32 Jack Ryan Defenseman JR Darien, Conn. Darien 33 Sean Jackson Defenseman SO Fairfax, Va. W.T. Woodson 34 Sean Delaney Midfielder SO Moorestown, N.J. Moorestown 35 Ryan Flanagan Defenseman FR West Islip, N.Y. West Islip 36 Jamie DeBole Midfielder SR Winston-Salem, N.C. Mt. Tabor 37 Chris Hunt Midfielder FR Arnold, Md. Severna Park 38 Kevin Piegare Defenseman FR Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Cold Spring Harbor 39 Emmit Kellar Defenseman FR Glyndon, Md. Loyola Blakefield (Towson, Md.) 40 Rob Driscoll Midfielder SR Massapequa, N.Y. St. Anthony's (South Huntington, N.Y.) 41 Kerry McCormick Defenseman SO Garden CIty, N.Y. Garden City 42 Sean Burke Midfielder SO Fort Salonga, N.Y. St. Anthony's (South Huntington, N.Y.) 43 Bobby McAuley Midfielder JR Hicksville, N.Y. Hicksville 44 Scott Bollert Defenseman FR Rancho Sante Fe, Calif. The Bishop's School (LaJolla, Calif.) 45 Tim McCall Defenseman SR Manteo, N.C. Yorktown (Yorktown, N.Y.) 46 Jamie Locke Goalkeeper FR Charlotte, N.C. Christ School (Arden, N.C.) 47 Hunter Meldman Defenseman SO San Francisco, Calif. Cate School (Santa Barbara, Calif.) 48 Cryder DiPietro Midfielder SO Ruxton, Md. St. Paul's School (Brooklandville, Md.) 49 Milton Lyles Defenseman FR Miami Gardens, Fla. Deerfield Academy (Mass.) Coaching & Support Staff John Haus - Head Coach Greg Paradine - Assistant Coach Judd Lattimore - Assistant Coach Pat Olmert - Assistant Coach Gary Burns - Friends of Carolina Lacrosse Coordinator Randy Cox - Official Timer Caralyn Duke - Manager/Statistician Walter Holt - Scoreboard Operator Yu Katoku - Team Manager Dave Lohse - Athletic Communications Director Willie Scroggs - Senior Associate Athletic Director Karen Tankersley - Graduate Athletic Trainer Nina Walker - Head Athletic Trainer PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Scott Bollert BOLL-ert Chris Cortina COR-teen-uh Tommy D Alessandro dahl-uh-san-dro Cryder DiPietro de-pe-eh-trow John Haus HAWZ Chris Madalon MAD-a-lon Mike Munnelly MUNN-ull-lee Greg Paradine pair-uh-dean Gavin Petracca puh-track-uh Kevin Piegare puh-garr-ee Shane Walterhoefer WALL-ter-hoff-er

5 2008 North Carolina Men's Lacrosse North Carolina Combined Team Statistics All games (as of Mar 15, 2008) RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL ALL GAMES... ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) CONFERENCE... ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) NON-CONFERENCE... ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) DATE OPPONENT W/L SCORE ATT ## PLAYER GP G A Pts Sh GWG UP DN GB Faceoff Feb 16 BELLARMINE W Bart Wagner Feb 23 at #20 Denver W Ben Hunt Mar 02 #5 CORNELL W Sean Delaney Mar 08 #5 NOTRE DAME W Billy Bitter Mar 11 at Providence W Rob Driscoll *Mar 15 at #1 Duke L Michael B. Burns Gavin Petracca TEAM STATISTICS NC OPP 48 Cryder DiPietro Nick Tintle SHOT STATISTICS... 3 Kevin Federico Goals-Shot attempts Matthias McCall Goals scored average Bobby McAuley Shot pct Sean Burke Shots on goal-attempts Joe Howard SOG pct Fletcher Gregory Shots/Game Michael J. Burns Assists Brian Connors MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES Kerry McCormick Goals-Opportunities Chris Hunt Conversion Percent Sean Jackson GOAL BREAKDOWN Matt Davie Total Goals Shane Walterhoefer Man-up Mike Munnelly Man-down Brian Burke Unassisted Milton Lyles Overtime Hunter Meldman GROUND BALLS Tim McCall TURNOVERS Scott Bollert CAUSED TURNOVERS Emmit Kellar FACEOFFS (W-L) Kevin Piegare Faceoff W-L Pct Ryan Flanagan CLEARS Jack Ryan Clear Pct Tim Kaiser PENALTIES Andrew Pyke Number Tommy D'Alessandro Minutes... 31:30 28:30 16 Pell George ATTENDANCE Chris Madalon Total Grant Zimmerman Dates/Avg Per Date... 3/1899 3/ Michael Jarvis Neutral Site #/Avg... 0/0 2 Ian Morrison Total Opponents GOAL AVERAGE- -SAVES- ## GOALTENDERS GP Minutes GA Avg Sv Pct W L T Grant Zimmerman 6 331: Chris Madalon 2 28: Total : Opponents : GOALS BY PERIOD 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total North Carolina Opponents SAVES BY PERIOD 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total North Carolina Opponents SHOTS BY PERIOD 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total North Carolina Opponents SHOTS ON GOAL BY PRD 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total North Carolina Opponents