William Perry nets game-winner for UNC men's lacrosse in 9-8 victory

Thanks to a game-winning goal from William Perry the No. 10 North Carolina men’s lacrosse team (6-0) defeated St. John’s, 9-8, in a closely contested battle on Saturday afternoon.  

What happened?

In the first quarter, North Carolina raced out to a 4-2 lead. The Tar Heels spent the rest of the game trying to defend that advantage and keep St. John’s (2-2) at bay.

Offense from both sides led the way in the first half and North Carolina took an 8-6 lead into the locker room. Yet a game that looked as if it were going to turn into a shootout was dominated by defense in the second half.

St. John’s goalkeeper Matt Hanley kept the Red Storm alive. Hanley finished with 15 saves, including two crucial stops with the game knotted at 8 in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.

North Carolina’s offensive firepower proved to be too much for even Hanley to handle, as an overwhelming 45-28 shot advantage translated to one more game-winning goal for the Tar Heels in the final seconds.

Who stood out?

North Carolina was led by a balanced scoring attack on Saturday.

Eight Tar Heels scored on nine total goals, including attackman Chris Cloutier, who extended his remarkable streak of consecutive games with a goal scored to 26. Perry was the hero of the day. He was the only Tar Heel to score multiple goals, and his second came with less than ten seconds left and put the Tar Heels up for good.

When was it decided?

Midway through the fourth quarter, Ryan Schaeffer tied the game for St. John’s at 8-8.

The sea of red jerseys on the sideline exploded. They sensed the importance of that goal. St. John’s had just tied the game for the first time since 1-1, and the momentum had swung in its favor.

For seven minutes, both defenses held strong and the score was still tied with 18.5 seconds to go when North Carolina called a timeout.

Out of the timeout, first-year Alex Trippi saw two defenders run at him, and he passed the ball to Perry who was open on the left side of the goal. Perry received the pass and took advantage. He knew that Hanley had been smothering shots that were fired at the bottom of the net, so he went high.

With seven seconds left on the clock, Perry rifled the game-winning goal from a seemingly impossible angle to the top right corner of the net.    

Why does it matter?

North Carolina’s victory over St. John’s marked UNC’s sixth of the season, and head coach Joe Breschi’s 200th of his career. Breschi is in his 11th season at North Carolina and previously spent 11 seasons as the head coach at Ohio State.

When do they play next?

North Carolina next takes on No. 5 Denver on Monday at 4 p.m. in Kenan Stadum.

@holtmckeithan

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