North Carolina
Virginia
No. 2 Cavaliers Hold Off UNC Rally To Win 10-9
April 6, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
April 6, 2002
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The second-ranked Virginia men's lacrosse team led from start to finish Saturday afternoon and defeated seventh-ranked North Carolina 10-9 before 2,185 fans at Fetzer Field.
The win was the sixth in a row for the #2 Cavaliers as they improved to 7-1 on the season and 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wahoos have won back-to-back ACC road games the past two Saturdays by one goal each. A win over #8 Duke next Saturday in Charlottesville will clinch the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament for the Cavs. A Duke win will give the Blue Devils the #1 seed in the tournament they host April 19 and 21.
For the Tar Heels, their luck lately has gone in the other direction as they have lost three straight games to Top 5 ranked teams after starting the year 6-0. Over the past three weekends, UNC has lost three games to Top 5 teams by a combined total of four goals. UNC is 6-3 on the year, 1-2 in the ACC.
Saturday's win against the Tar Heels was fueled by senior Conor Gill who had two goals and two assists. Midfielder Chris Rotelli had two goals and one assist and freshman Joe Yevoli has two goals.
Carolina was led by freshman attackmen Jed Prossner and Mike McCall. Prossner had three goals and one assist for UNC and McCall had two goals and two assists. Senior midfielder Pat Jackson added a pair of goals for the Tar Heels.
For the second successive game the Tar Heels dug themselves an early hole just as they had in their 12-11 loss at #3 Johns Hopkins March 29. The Cavaliers scored three unassisted goals in the first 4:33 of the game to put the Heels in a quick 3-0 deficit. Carolina battled back however and was able to cut the Virginia lead to 4-3 at the end of the quarter on Jackson's goal with 3:29 to play in the period.
The second quarter was disastrous for Carolina as the Wahoos went on a 3-0 scoring run to leave the Tar Heels behind by four goals at the break. Yevoli, John Christmas and Eric Leibowitz scored the second quarter goals for Virginia.
The Tar Heels got back into the game in the third quarter as Prossner, senior Tim Gosier and Andrew Lucas scored in succession to cut the Virginia lead to 7-6 with 2:46 to play in the third quarter. But Virginia stepped up its game and destroyed the Tar Heels' momentum as it scored three goals in a span of 58 seconds to go up 10-6. Rotelli scored off an assist by Gill with 1:20 left in the third quarter, Gill scored unassisted 30 seconds later and then A.J. Shannon scored an extra-man goal assisted by Gill 28 seconds after that. Virginia won the ensuing faceoff and threw the ball away on the fast break and UNC took over with 13 seconds left in the quarter. The Tar Heels capitalized as Austin Garrison found McCall for a goal with two seconds left in the third period to cut the lead to 10-7.
Just as it had in the previous three games the Tar Heels were the fresher team in the fourth quarter and almost came back to pull off the upset. In successive games against Duke, Maryland, Johns Hopkins and Virginia, all teams ranked in the Top 5 when UNC played them, the Tar Heels have combined to outscore those opponents 12-4 in the fourth quarter.
A goal by Prossner nine seconds into the final period cut the Virginia lead to 10-8. And Jackson scored his second goal of the game assisted by Kyle Bell with 4:07 left to cut the margin to 10-9. UNC won the faceoff and had a shot by Bryant Will blocked out in front of the goal. The Wahoos took possession with two and a half minutes left and were able to hold on to the ball until Carolina stripped it with less than 25 seconds left and cleared it with a ground ball by Matt Pessagno. UNC called timeout with 17 seconds left and set up a great play that had Steven Will alone on the crease with three seconds to play. But Bryant Will's pass to his brother was just inches too high and the turnover allowed the Cavaliers to escape with their second one-goal win in the past two games.
The win by the Cavaliers avenged last year's loss to UNC when the then 19th-ranked Tar Heels traveled to Charlottesville and upset a Virginia team ranked fourth in the nation at the time by a 7-5 score.
UNC will return to action next Saturday when it hosts unranked UMBC at 4 p.m. at Kenan Stadium. The game will be played immediately after the UNC spring football game. Virginia will return home to try to extend its winning streak to seven when it hosts #8 Duke at Klockner Stadium next Saturday. The Cavaliers will be looking to avenge a loss at the hands of the Blue Devils inflicted in Durham last season.
2002 NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE
#2 VIRGINIA vs. #7 NORTH CAROLINA
Fetzer Field, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Saturday, April 6, 2002, 1 p.m.
| SCORING SUMMARY | |||||
| Qtr. | Team Scoring | Time | Score (UNC-VA) | Goal | Assist |
| 1 | UVA | 12:32 | 0-1 | Joe Yevoli | |
| 1 | UVA | 11:04 | 0-2 | Nathan Kenney | |
| 1 | UVA | 10:27 | 0-3 | Chris Rotelli | |
| 1 | UNC | 8:14 | 1-3 | Jed Prossner | |
| 1 | UNC | 7:25 | 2-3 | Mike McCall (EMO) | Bryant Will |
| 1 | UVA | 5:23 | 2-4 | Conor Gill | |
| 1 | UNC | 3:29 | 3-4 | Pat Jackson | Mike McCall |
| 2 | UVA | 12:41 | 3-5 | Joe Yevoli | |
| 2 | UVA | 5:51 | 3-6 | John Christmas (EMO) | Chris Rotelli |
| 2 | UVA | 5:01 | 3-7 | Eric Leibowitz | |
| 3 | UNC | 13:58 | 4-7 | Jed Prossner | |
| 3 | UNC | 3:22 | 5-7 | Tim Gosier (EMO) | Jed Prossner |
| 3 | UNC | 2:46 | 6-7 | Andrew Lucas | |
| 3 | UVA | 1:20 | 6-8 | Chris Rotelli | Conor Gill |
| 3 | UVA | 0:50 | 6-9 | Conor Gill | |
| 3 | UVA | 0:22 | 6-10 | A.J. Shannon (EMO) | Conor Gill |
| 3 | UNC | 0:02 | 7-10 | Mike McCall | Austin Garrison |
| 4 | UNC | 14:51 | 8-10 | Jed Prossner | Mike McCall |
| 4 | UNC | 4:07 | 9-10 | Pat Jackson | Kyle Bell |
| BOX SCORE | |||||
| SCORING | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL |
| Virginia | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| North Carolina | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
INDIVIDUAL SCORING SUMMARY
Goals Scored
Virginia' Conor Gill 2, Joe Yevoli 2, Chris Rotelli 2, A.J. Shannon, Eric Leibowitz, John Christmas, Nathan Kenney
North Carolina' Jed Prossner 3, Pat Jackson 2, Mike McCall 2, Tim Gosier, Andrew Lucas
Assists
Virginia' Conor Gill 2, Chris Rotelli
North Carolina' Mike McCall 2, Jed Prossner, Austin Garrison, Bryant Will, Kyle Bell
| SHOTS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Virginia | 11 | 11 | 13 | 4 | 39 | |
| North Carolina | 11 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 34 | |
| SAVES | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Virginia | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12 | |
| North Carolina | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 12 | |
| GOALKEEPER SUMMARY | ||||||
| Virginia | Minutes | Saves | Goals Allowed | |||
| Tillman Johnson | 60 | 12 | 9 | |||
| North Carolina | Minutes | Saves | Goals Allowed | |||
| Paul Spellman | 60 | 12 | 10 | |||
| FACEOFFS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Virginia | 2 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 12 | |
| North Carolina | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 | |
| GROUND BALLS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Virginia | 7 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 39 | |
| North Carolina | 12 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 41 | |
| EXTRA MAN OPP. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Virginia | 0/0 | 1/1 | 1/11 | 0/0 | 2/2 | |
| North Carolina | 1/3 | 0/1 | 1/1 | 0/1 | 2/6 | |
| PENALTIES | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL/ | |
| Virginia | 3/2.0 | 2/2.0 | 1/1.0 | 1/1.0 | 7/6.0 | |
| North Carolina | 0/0.0 | 1/1.0 | 1/1.0 | 0/0.0 | 2/2.0 | |
| CLEARS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Virginia | 9/10 | 8/9 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 23/29 | |
| North Carolina | 5/7 | 5/9 | 6/9 | 4/5 | 20/30 | |
| TURNOVERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
| Virginia | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 14 | |
| North Carolina | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
OFFICIALS: Mark Goldsmith, Dave Casmarowski, Skip Cooper
ATTENDANCE: 2,185
RECORDS: Virginia 7-1 overall, 2-0 in the ACC, North Carolina 6-3 overall, 1-2 in the ACC
