North Carolina
Butler
Men's Lacrosse Outlasts Butler, 12-10
March 17, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
March 17, 2001
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Sophomore attackman Steven Will and freshman attackman Andrew Lucas each scored a career high three goals to lift the 12th-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team to a 12-10 victory over Butler Saturday afternoon at Fetzer Field.
The Bulldogs, who were coming off a 13-goal loss at Georgetown on Wednesday, got 23 saves from goalkeeper Brendan Winkler and led for much of the game before the Tar Heels produced the winning plays in the third and fourth quarters. UNC outshot the Bulldogs 50-23 on the game but Winkler's magnificent play in goal kept the Bulldogs in the game until the very last minute.
UNC improved to 4-1 on the season with the victory as Coach John Haus' team won its third straight game. Butler lost its second in a row and is now 2-3 on the season.
utler drew first blood on the first of two goals by Greg Ruccia before Lucas and junior midfielder Pat Jackson scored goals for Carolina to lead 2-1 late in the first quarter. Chris Aitkin's first goal of the game with 1:33 left in the first quarter left the team's tied at the end of the period 2-2.
utler took a 4-2 lead in the first two minutes of the second quarter on back-to-back goals by Adam Cichostepski. Carolina answered with a three-goal run over 2:37 to take a one-goal lead as junior midfielder Tim Gosier's goal was sandwiched by a pair of goals from Will.
utler responded with its own three goal run to retake the lead at 7-5 before Lucas and Will both scored again before halftime to even the game at 7-7 at intermission.
Sophomore midfielder Austin Garrison took an assist from senior defenseman Bobby Gormsen early in the third quarter but that goal was answered by Ruccia's second of the game for Butler. Freshman midfielder Lance Zimmerman then scored on a rebound for the Tar Heels to give Carolina the lead for good in the game with 1:50 left in the third quarter.
Lucas scored his third goal of the game on a nifty move from behind the cage to give Carolina's its first two-goal lead of the contest with 12:29 left in the contest. The Tar Heels appeared to take an 11-8 lead along with gaining a one-minute man advantage on a Butler slashing penalty but an inadvertent whistle took the goal away from UNC's Johnny Seivold and the Tar Heels then turned the ball over on the extra-man opportunity.
utler took advantage and an extra-man goal by Aitkin cut Carolina's lead to 10-9 with 8:29 to play in the fourth quarter. Carolina junior midfielder Joel Miller scored on a fast break assisted by senior midfielder Mac Hammer with 5:07 to play to restore Carolina's two-goal lead but Butler simply would not die and Garrett Rosecrans scored his second goal of the game with 3:05 to play to again cut the margin to one goal.
ut just 34 seconds after Rosecrans' goal the Tar Heels got the insurance goal they needed as sophomore midfielder Kyle Bell took a feed on the crease from Hammer and scored easily past Winkler.
Having survived a scare from Butler the Tar Heels now face their biggest week of the season as they play host to #11 Duke on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Fetzer Field before traveling to Maryland on Saturday for a 1 p.m. game at Byrd Stadium. Butler has 11 days off before hosting Ohio State March 28 at 3 p.m. at the Butler Bowl.
