North Carolina
Navy
Jackson's Empty Net Goal Gives Tar Heels Six-overtime Win
March 2, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
March 2, 2002
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - In the longest game in North Carolina men's lacrosse history and possibly the longest game in college lacrosse history the #13 Tar Heels defeated #14 Navy 11-10 in six overtimes at rain-soaked Fetzer Field Saturday afternoon on a spectacular empty-net goal by senior midfielder Pat Jackson after 83 minutes and 39 seconds of play. The win improved UNC to 3-0 on the season while Navy dropped to 2-1.
The game had enough subplots of drama to fill a novel. The result marked the third successive year that UNC has beaten the Naval Academy in men's lacrosse by an 11-10 score. Carolina beat Navy in Chapel Hill on a Jeff Sonke goal in the first overtime in 2000. In 2001, Sonke scored with one second remaining in the game to lift the Tar Heels to an 11-10 win over the Midshipmen in Annapolis. And on Saturday it was Jackson who took on hero status for UNC with 21 seconds to play in the sixth four-minute overtime period.
Jackson's goal came after the Tar Heels had gone 40:51 without a score. Carolina had built its largest lead of the game at 10-7 when junior attackman Steven Will scored with 2:12 to play in the third period. But Navy staged a furious rally in the fourth quarter and scored two extra-man goals in the last three minutes to force overtime. Dave Pittard had scored his third goal of the game for Navy with extacly three minutes to play to pull the Midshipmen within 10-9. Then with 13 seconds left Carolina defenseman Matt Pessagno was penalized for tripping and eight seconds later Navy?,s Eddie McKinnon picked up a ground ball on the edge of the crease and he finished the play for the 10-10 tie.
oth teams had numerous possessions in overtime and each team had an extra-man opportunity in the third overtime period. Carolina had been outshot in the game prior to overtime but the Tar Heels launched numerous shots on goal in the six extra periods only to be denied again and again by Navy goalkeeper Jon Higdon who had 11 of his 19 saves in the six overtime periods. But after his final save of the game Higdon came out his goal to lead the Navy clear attempt. His pass from about 15 yards outside of the goal however was intercepted cleanly by Jackson who jumped like a free safety and snared the ball with one hand. He brought the ball down and seeing the empty net ahead of him whipped the ball from 40 yards out on the left side perfectly into the middle of the goal to end the drama.
It was clearly a great game from the start for two evenly-matched teams. Navy led 2-1 at the end of the first quarter as Pittard and McKinnon sandwiched goals around Steven Will's first goal. After freshman midfielder Bryant Will and Jackson gave UNC its first lead at 3-2 less than three minutes into the second quarter the Midshipmen responded with goals by Eddy Holton, Ben Bailey and Pittard to forge a 5-3 lead with 7:05 left in the first half.
Carolina responded with a run of its own by scoring three goals in only 59 seconds to retake the lead at 6-5 with 2:59 left before intermission. Senior attackman Andy Jonas had UNC's only extra-man goal of the game to kick off the run and freshman attackman Jed Prossner and senior midfielder Tim Gosier followed with goals in quick order. Navy would knot things up again before halftime as Pittard fed McKinnon with 2:20 left in the period for the 6-6 deadlock.
The Tar Heels came out and dominated the third quarter by outscoring the Middies 4-1. Bryant Will gave the Tar Heels the lead 7-6 off junior midfielder Austin Garrison's third assist of the game and Gosier followed a little over four minutes later to make it 8-6. Greg Conklin responded for the Naval Academy with the first of the Midshipmen's extra-man goals with 5:44 left in the third quarter. But sophomore attackman Andrew Lucas and Steven Will scored later in the quarter to give the Tar Heels a 10-7 lead with 15 minutes left.
ut Navy would not go away and Joe Bossi?,s goal with 10:34 left in the fourth quarter off McKinnon's assist cut the lead to 10-8 and set up the aforementioned scenario that led to all the excitement and heroics down the stretch.
UNC goalkeeper Paul Spellman responded in overtime by making four of his nine saves on the game in the extra periods, two each in the fourth and fifth overtimes. Carolina outshot Navy 42-37 and won 15 faceoffs to 14 for the Middies. Navy won the ground ball battle 45-37. Carolina will host Delaware next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field while Navy will return home to Annapolis to play Massachusetts next Saturday at 1p.m.
Navy Midshipmen vs. North Carolina Tar Heels
Fetzer Field, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Saturday, March 2, 2002, 1:00 p.m. E.S.T.
SCORING SUMMARY
Qtr. Team Scoring Time Score of Game Goal By Assist By
1 USNA 6:34 0-1 Dave Pittard Dan Eddy
1 UNC 6:20 1-1 Steven Will
1 USNA 4:15 1-2 Eddie McKinnon Dan Neverosky
2 UNC 13:29 2-2 Bryant Will Jed Prossner
2 UNC 12:17 3-2 Pat Jackson Kyle Bell
2 USNA 10:59 3-3 Eddy Holton Dave Pittard
2 USNA 9:28 3-4 Ben Bailey
2 USNA 7:05 3-5 Dave Pittard
2 UNC 3:58 4-5 Andy Jonas (EMO) Jed Prossner
2 UNC 3:45 5-5 Jed Prossner Austin Garrison
2 UNC 2:59 6-5 Tim Gosier Austin Garrison
2 USNA 2:20 6-6 Eddie McKinnon Dave Pittard
3 UNC 12:51 7-6 Bryant Will Austin Garrison
3 UNC 8:26 8-6 Tim Gosier
3 USNA 5:44 8-7 Greg Conklin (EMO)
3 UNC 3:26 9-7 Andrew Lucas Bryant Will
3 UNC 2:12 10-7 Steven Will
4 USNA 10:34 10-8 Joe Bossi Eddie McKinnon
4 USNA 3:00 10-9 Dave Pittard (EMO) Ben Bailey
4 USNA 0:05 10-10 Eddie McKinnon (EMO)
6OT UNC 0:21 11-10 Pat Jackson
EMG= Extra Man Goal, SHG= Short Handed Goal
Shots: Navy 37, UNC 42
Saves: Jon Higdon (USNA) 19, Paul Spellman (UNC) 9
Faceoffs: Navy 14, UNC 15
Ground Balls: Navy 45, UNC 37
Extra-Man Opportunities: Navy 3 of 7, UNC 1 of 4
Penalties: Navy 5 for 3.5 minutes, UNC 7 for 5 minutes
Clears: Navy 22 of 35, UNC 31 of 41
Turnovers: Navy 23, UNC 17
Officials: Mark Goldsmith (Referee), Steve Dahl (Umpire), Peter Reichard (Field Judge)
Attendance: 347
