Men's Lacrosse Championships
November 14, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
1981 Men's Lacrosse Championship Team
With just over a quarter remaining in the 1981 NCAA men's lacrosse championship, the University of North Carolina Lacrosse team trailed by three against the undefeated, number one ranked and three time defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. But just as it had done in the two rounds leading to the championship, the Tar Heels poured it on and captured the victory, securing the program's first ever national championship.
efore a crowd of 13,943 at Princeton's Palmer Stadium UNC scored six straight goals in the third and fourth quarters en route to a 14-13 victory. The Tar Heels were lead in the game by four goals from sophomore attackman Michael Burnett, whose 31 assists on the year rank him fourth all-time at Carolina. The Tar Heels come from behind victory snapped a three-year winning streak by Johns Hopkins.
The Tar Heels used a similar formula to cruise to victories in the semi and quarterfinals. In the semifinals North Carolina outscored Navy nine to two in the fourth quarter to turn an eight-six contest into a 17-9 triumph. In the quarterfinals UNC rode a five to nothing fourth quarter to turn another two-point advantage into a 13-6 win over the Syracuse Orangemen.
Heading into the tournament the Tar Heels were ranked #2 behind Johns Hopkins following an undefeated regular season that included an ACC championship after wins over Virginia, Duke, Maryland and North Carolina State. The perfect regular season included a two goal victory versus NC State and a double overtime victory at Maryland.
The championship was a crowning achievement for a program on the rise since 1978, when UNC hired longtime Johns Hopkins assistant Willie Scroggs as the program's new head coach. Scroggs was named USILA National Coach-of-the-year. The decision to pursue Scroggs was made by then athletic director Bill Cobey, whose philosophy was that you go to the best program in the game and recruit a top assistant to build your program around.
For the season Carolina was lead by first team All America selections Michael Burnett and goalkeeper Tom Sears. Sears' single season save percentage of .675 is good for fourth all-time at Carolina. Midfielder Peter Voelkel was awarded the program's Turnbull trophy as the team's most valuable player.
1982 Men's Lacrosse Championship Team
Under the direction of head coach Willie Scroggs the North Carolina Tar Heels returned to the NCAA championship in 1982 after completing a second consecutive undefeated season. The title game would be a rematch of the 1981 championship final against Johns Hopkins.
It may have been the same two teams competing in front of 10,283 at Virginia, but unlike the previous year when Carolina came from behind in a game where the two teams combined for 27 goals, this championship would be dominated by defense.
The Tar Heels jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, and behind five goals from junior attackman David Wingate, who lead the team in goals for the season with 40, the Tar Heels defeated the Blue Jays 7-5. Pete Voelkel and Jeff Homire scored the other two goals as North Carolina completed back to back championships.
Carolina cruised to victory in the quarterfinals against Navy by a score of 16-2. UNC out shot the Midshipmen 55-20 in the win. The semifinals saw the Heels defeat Cornell 15-8. In the three games of the NCAA tournament Carolina was paced by 11 points apiece by Dave Wingate and Mike Burnett. Wingate scored 11 goals for the tournament, while Burnett chipped in with three goals and eight assists. The 11 points were the most scored by any player in the tournament that year.
North Carolina goalkeeper Tom Sears was named the most outstanding player for the tournament. Sears made 18 saves to preserve the Tar Heel lead in the final. Sears graces the UNC record books as one of its most decorated players between the pipes in the school's history. Sears was named Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, and his career save percentage of .645 is good for fourth best all-time at Carolina.
The 14-0 1982 Tar Heels were one of the schools most decorated squads. Five members of the team were named as first team All Americans. Attackman Michael Burnett earned the honor for the second consecutive year. He was joined by midfielders Jeff Homire and Peter Voelkel, as well as defenseman John Haus and goalkeeper Tom Sears.
1986 Men's Lacrosse Championship Team
The North Carolina men's lacrosse team powered its way to two undefeated national championships in 1981 and 1982. Despite these dominating seasons many Carolina supporters view 1986 as the Tar Heels sweetest, if not its most dramatic, NCAA title run.
The Tar Heels entered the NCAA tournament seeded fifth, carrying a record of 8-3. The three losses came at the hands of first Maryland, followed by Johns Hopkins, and finally Virginia. En route to winning the NCAA title UNC would avenge all three of those losses... and they would do it in the very same order they lost to them in the regular season.
The Heels were seeded fifth going into the tournament. No team seeded lower than fourth had ever made it to the championship game, and no team lower than third had ever won the title.
Carolina opened their previously unprecedented run with a 12-10 quarterfinal victory against Maryland, a team that had defeated the Tar Heels at home early in the season. The win propelled Carolina to Delaware, site of the first ever true NCAA Lacrosse Final Four. Never previously had four teams competed at the same location on the same weekend to crown a national champion.
The Heels semifinal opponent would be the two-time defending National Champions, Johns Hopkins University. Carolina had been on the losing end of a lopsided 16-4 score at Johns Hopkins earlier in the season, but this time the Heels would not be denied. The Tar Heels broke a nine all regulation tie with senior Mike Tummillio's goal off a Gary Seivold assist two minutes into the extra session.
Fittingly, the title game two days later provided the drama indicative of the Tar Heel title run. UNC and Virginia traded the lead throughout the contest, with neither team establishing more than a two-goal advantage at any time. Another overtime period was required to settle the issue and Gary Seivold, the tournament's most outstanding player, came through for the Heels with a score 1:50 into the extra session.
The win earned Carolina and Head Coach Willie Scroggs a third national championship, at the same time avenging Carolina's most recent regular seasons loss, an 11-9 defeat to close the regular season.
1991 Men's Lacrosse Championship Team
The University of North Carolina Lacrosse program had made themselves a national power under Willie Scroggs throughout the 1980's. The 1990 season saw a change in head coach for the Heels, but the end result was a similar looking Carolina championship run.
When Scroggs announced his retirement in May of 1990, the University turned to Dave Klarmann, who had been the top assistant to Scroggs for 11 seasons. The move paid off in instant results as Klarmann's first season the at the helm for the Tar Heels saw the squad go 16-0 on their way to both the ACC and NCAA championships.
Carolina took the title with an impressive 18-13 victory over surprise finals opponent Towson University, which was making its first trip to the finals. The Tar Heels opened up an 11-4 lead at the half, and went on to win the game after holding off a furious second half rally by the Tigers.
National Player of the Year and tournament most outstanding player Dennis Goldstein led UNC to the championship. The senior attackman posted four points in the final game, part of the tournament leading 16 points he would amass in the competition. On the season Goldstein scored 47 times, the most times one man has found the back of the net in one season in Carolina history.
To make it to the championship the Tar Heels first defeated a tough Loyal squad 11-9 at a rain soaked Fetzer Field. Less than a week later UNC took on and defeated the Orangemen of Syracuse 19-13 at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse's home field. The loss stands as Syracuse's only NCAA home playoff defeat in the school's rich lacrosse history.
On the season only Virginia would come within a goal of the undefeated Tar Heels, an 11-10 UNC victory at the home of the ACC rival. During the regular season Carolina tallied the second most goals in school history with a 29-4 drubbing of Radford that was the first of 16 victories that now stand as the most victories in the history of the program.
Defenseman Graham Harden's 95 takeaways for the season was the most in school history, a statistic indicative of his play, which would earn him ACC player of the year honors as well as a selection to the All America first team alongside teammates Goldstein and goalkeeper Andy Piazza.