The North Carolina men’s lacrosse team dropped its first game of the young season in an 11-10 loss to Johns Hopkins at a rainy Kenan Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
What happened?
The No. 14 Tar Heels (3-1) got off to a slow start on the muddy field in Chapel Hill, allowing the first three goals of the game. The Blue Jays (1-2) found an early advantage, dodging from behind the cage and scoring twice after getting a step on their defenders and burying shots right on the doorstep. With only a minute between their second and third goals, Johns Hopkins took a 3-0 lead with 7:39 left in the opening period.
UNC managed to secure its first full possession after a faceoff violation by Matt Nareweski and immediately scored after Jacob Kelly set up fellow attackman Nicky Solomon for the goal to make the score 3-1. After 15 minutes, the Blue Jays outshot the Tar Heels, 16-3.
UNC turned the tide in the second period. Junior midfielder William Perry opened the scoring in the second frame with a massive strike from distance that whizzed by Blue Jay goalie Ryan Darby. Perry’s goal was the second of a 5-0 run by the Tar Heels that stretched back to the first quarter. The teams went into halftime with UNC leading, 5-4.
North Carolina opened the second half with an apparent goal, but a crease violation was called and waved the goal off. Just a couple minutes later however, some crisp ball movement from the Tar Heels freed Jacob Kelly on the crease who tucked it home easily to put UNC back up two.
The Blue Jays answered with a goal of their own after UNC went one man down after having too many men on the field. Moments later, they tied the game back up as Owen Colwell scored the second long pole goal of the game for Johns Hopkins on a fast break. Following Ara Atayan’s third goal for UNC to make the score 7-7, the Blue Jays tied the game and then took the lead on back-to-back goals from Kyle Marr, both assisted by Cole Williams.
Johns Hopkins took an 8-7 lead into the final frame. UNC started man up thanks to an offsides penalty on the Blue Jays, but could not convert and on the ensuing clear Hopkins scored to go up 9-7. UNC’s Tanner Cook responded and rifled a shot from distance into the top left corner of the goal.
Moments later however, Cook would commit a costly penalty with a hit to the head on a Johns Hopkins attackman. The Blue Jays would be a man up for the full two minutes, but a nice foot save from UNC goalkeeper Jack Pezzulla limited the damage to just one goal, and with 10:56 left the Tar Heels trailed,10-8.
