March 28, 2009

Virginia Outlasts Maryland 10-9 in 7-Overtime Thriller
Midfielder Brian Carroll’s goal one minute into the seventh overtime lifted the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers to a 10-9 come-from-behind win over Maryland in the longest game in NCAA men’s division I lacrosse history.

The win in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener is the Cavaliers’ 11th in a row to open the season. Maryland entered the game in first place in the conference but now is 2-1 in the league and 6-3 overall.

The OT winner is the third of Carroll’s career; he beat Syracuse and Johns Hopkins with extra-session goals last season and is the first player in school history with three winners in a career.

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Howell Guides No. 10 Duke Past Dartmouth
Duke sophomore Zach Howell tallied a career-high five points from three goals and two assists to push the 10th-ranked Blue Devils to a 12-6 victory over Dartmouth in the first game of the Lacrosse For Autism double-header at Stony Brook University. Duke is now 12-0 all-time against the Big Green.

The Blue Devils (8-3) outscored Dartmouth 4-1 in the final 18:14 of the contest to secure their eighth victory of the year. Senior Brad Ross added three scores, while Ned Crotty had a game-high four assists. Junior Max Quinzani produced four points from two goals and a career-high two assists. Duke had nine different players with at least one point in the game. Jimmy Mullen led all Big Green scorers with three goals.

Duke scored on its first possession just 2:23 into the game when Steve Schoeffel found Ross on the left side. Ross rifled a shot past Dartmouth goalie Fergus Campbell for the 1-0 lead. Just over a minute later it was Quinzani picking up a ground ball on the doorstep and dropping it in the cage to make it 2-0. 

Tar Heels Reward Joe Breschi With 100th Career Coaching Victory
Sean Delaney took a pass from Billy Bitter and rifled a low shot past Michael Gvozden with 1:31 left in the first overtime period as the No. 12-ranked North Carolina men's lacrosse team upset No. 6-ranked Johns Hopkins to give Carolina head coach Joe Breschi his 100th career coaching victory. The game was played before UNC's largest home crowd in seven years despite a driving rainstorm that made the field a slippery adventure with every possession and it marked the Tar Heels' first victory in an overtime game since March 20, 2004.

After Johns Hopkins won the opening face-off in overtime on a ground ball pickup by Brian Christopher, the Blue Jays took a timeout with 3:39 to play. Hopkins was not able to get a shot off and the Tar Heels forced a turnover with 2:21 left in period as Mark Staines stripped Christopher of the ball and Chris Hunt claimed the ground ball and successfully executed the clear for the Heels on his own. UNC called a timeout with 2:07 left in the period to organize its offense. Ben Hunt started the sequence and fed the ball to Delaney who slipped to the turf but was able to keep possession. Delaney fed Jimmy Dunster behind the cage who then passed off to Bitter. Bitter spun to his left and fed the ball to Delaney who was along 10 yards in front of the cage. The junior midfielder rocketed his low shot into the right side cleanly past Gvodzen to provide the winning margin.

Breschi, who came to Chapel Hill last June after 11 seasons as the head coach at Ohio State, saw his career record improve to 100-66 with the triumph over the Blue Jays. UNC has now upset higher-ranked Johns Hopkins' teams three years in a row after losing to the Blue Jays 13 time in a row before that. The game was played before a crowd of 4,535 fans, the largest home crowd for a UNC game since 6,235 fans watched the Tar Heels beat UMBC 15-11 on April 13, 2002 at Kenan Stadium as part of a spring football game/men's lacrosse game doubleheader.