North Carolina
Navy
North Carolina's Furious Rally Overcomes Navy 9-8
February 25, 2012 | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 25, 2012
Post-Game Comments From Coach Breschi (mp3) | Holman Talks About The Comeback (mp3)
ANNAPOLIS. MD. - Fourth-ranked North Carolina scored four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter, including the game winner by Thomas Wood with 1:16 to play, as it rallied past Navy 9-8 in men's lacrosse action before 1,801 fans at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon. The game marked the biggest fourth quarter comeback for UNC in the sport in 16 years.
Wood, a senior attackman from Dallas, Texas, saw his first action of the year and scored three times and team captain Marcus Holman, a junior attackman from Baltimore, had two goals and four assists as Carolina took the best shot from a Navy team coming off a 13-7 loss at Jacksonville last Sunday and survived to go to 4-0 on the season. It was UNC's second successive win over Navy in Annapolis and its fourth in a row over Navy overall. UNC now leads the overall series 15-12.
The last time UNC rallied from as much as a three-goal, fourth quarter deficit to win was April 13, 1996 when the Tar Heels won at Notre Dame 11-10. The Fighting Irish led 10-7 in that match before UNC ran off four goals in a row, the first coming with 11:01 left in the game. The eventual game-winner in that contest was scored by Merrill Turnbull with 33 seconds to play.
Carolina trailed by four goals on three occasions on Saturday and rallied to overcome its biggest deficit in a game since May 8, 2010 when the Tar Heels were down to Ohio State four goals in the first half of a game in Chapel Hill before eventually winning 19-13. The win was also the first time Carolina has trailed at halftime of a game and come back to prevail since May 9, 2009 when the Heels were down to UMBC 8-6 at halftime of an NCAA Tournament first round game. Carolina rallied in the second half of that game to triumph by a 15-13 count.
Wood and Holman led the way for UNC with nine combined points and Davey Emala had a goal and an assist. Joey Sankey, Pat Foster and Duncan Hutchins had UNC's other goals and Jack McBride, who started in the midfield, had an assist. R.G. Keenan was huge again for Carolina in the face-off circle as he won 18 of 20 draws. That was one win shy of his personal high of 19 in a game set against Penn State on February 11, 2012. Keenan's 90 percent tally at the X was the best percentage of his career in a game, besting the .889 percent performance he had last Saturday against Detroit.
Navy was led by Bryce Dabbs with three goals while Pat Durkin and Taylor Reynolds each scored twice. Sam Jones had a goal and two assists and Tucker Hull had three helpers for the Midshipmen (1-2).
The Tar Heels fell behind early with two Navy goals by Dabbs in the opening 4:08 of the game, the second coming in an EMO situation. With a goal by Reynolds at 1:17, the Mids led 3-0 after the first quarter as goalkeeper R.J. Wickham was dominant in the opening frame, making six of his total of 12 saves in the match and keeping UNC off the scoreboard.
Carolina finally got on the scoreboard at 12:59 of the second period as Wood scored off an assist by Holman. Navy got the next two goals, including Dabbs' third of the game and Reynolds' second, and led 5-1 with 10:35 left in the second frame, forcing a timeout by UNC. Duncan Hutchins scored his first goal of the season at 8:25 as his shot ricocheted off Wickham's shoulder and into the net. Navy answered that goal at 5:01 to retake a four-goal at 6-2 on Durkin's first tally of the game.
Holman's unassisted goal, this one on the man up, pulled the Tar Heels within 6-3 with 2:01 left before halftime. Jack McBride hit the pipe on the initial shot but Holman scooped up the ground ball and scored on the rebound.
With 19 seconds left in the second period, Pat Durkin's shot hit the cross bar denying the Mids a four-goal lead at that point. But UNC's Holman (slashing) and Wood (cross checking) were both called for penalties on the sequence and Navy went a man up for the last 15 seconds of the first half and the first 45 seconds of the third period.
Carolina killed off the two-man disadvantage situation when Kieran McDonald forced a turnover 22 seconds into the third quarter but the resilient Mids retook a four-goal lead on Durkin's unassisted goal with 12:20 to play in the third quarter.
The Tar Heels got the next two markers to stem the Navy momentum. Joey Sankey scored off Jack McBride's assist 34 seconds after Durkin's goal and then Pat Foster scored on an extra-man situation with 3:17 left in the third quarter off an assist by Holman.
Navy seemed to get a backbreaking tally with four seconds left in the third quarter after Wood turned the ball over with 14 seconds left. At the other end of the field Sam Jones scored on a fast break, assisted by Hull, to make it 8-5 Navy with four seconds left in the period.
North Carolina then awoke in the fourth quarter and played its best 15 minutes of the season to date, outshooting the Mids 15-1, winning the ground balls 9-3 and taking all five face-off wins in the final frame. Navy also committed seven turnovers in the fourth quarter to help out the UNC rally. Wickham had four saves in the final frame but Carolina continued to pepper the ball at him and it finally paid off in the winning rally.
After a failed clear by Navy, Greg McBride scooped up a ground ball and got the ball to Emala scored with 12:12 left in the game to cut the Mids' lead to 8-6. Wickham then saved a shot by McBride with 10:47 left, leading to a Navy possession at the other end. During a Navy extra-man after a pushing fall on Tyler Morton, UNC dodged a bullet when a shot by Erik Hoffstadt hit the cross bar with 9:17 left. Navy turned the ball over 30 seconds later and after the clear Carolina converted as Wood scored off an assist by Holman to make it 8-7 at the 7:44 mark.
Wickham made two big saves for Navy to help the Mids keep the lead. He stopped Wood at 6:47 and then stonewalled Holman at 6:17. After Matt Vernam was called for a slash with 6:08 to play, Wickham made another save, this one on an extra-man shot by Holman with 5:58 left as Navy clung to the lead.
The Tar Heels got the ball back after a turnover by Nikk Davis at 5:04 and the Heels scored on the other end with 4:33 to play with Holman getting the tying tally, assisted by Emala.
UNC won the ensuring face-off but turned the ball over with 3:57 to play. Navy's clear attempt failed when they were whistled for a 30-second violation with 3:27 to play after the Tar Heels went to a 10-man ride in a successful effort to get the ball back. After a shot by Emala went wide, UNC called a timeout at 2:19. Jimmy Dunster's shot at 1:41 was blocked but UNC got the ball back and Wood as he cut across the crease, assisted by Holman, with 1:16 to play.
Keenan won his 18th face-off on the next draw and UNC called time with 1:02 to play. The Tar Heels were then able to kill the clock and emerge with the win.
R.G. Keenan led UNC with 11 ground balls, just one shy of his career high of 12 set last year against Navy on February 25, 2011 and against UMBC on March 5, 2011.
Keenan has won 66 of 81 face-offs this season, a winning percentage of .818. He has won at least 70 percent of his face-offs in all four games this season.
The Tar Heels return to action next Saturday when they play host to Lehigh at 7:30 p.m. at Fetzer Field.
