Navy - 8
UNC - 9
Colgate - 9
UNC - 11
Squat control the ball pass to a teammate. Squat control the ball pass to a teammate.
That was Shane Walterhoefer's routine all weekend —and his mastery of faceoffs was a big reason the No. 5 Tar Heels (4-0) came away with two wins against ranked opponents.
To be exact he won 32 out of his 44 faceoffs giving the Tar Heels the first opportunity to attack along with putting opponents on their well heels.
The first game was a 9-8 come-from-behind victory against No. 9 Navy and the second was a relatively tame 11-9 victory on a Sunday matinee against No. 17 Colgate.
To beat out two ranked teams in three days" the team knew they had to play well both games.
""It's tough on this level to play two games in three days" attacker Bart Wagner said. But we knew that Colgate was a good team and coming off an especially tough game on Friday we had to be ready" and I think we were.""
The hero of Friday's match was Sean Delaney" as he scored two goals within 50 seconds of each other to tie and grab the lead against the Midshipmen in a game that went back and forth.
The game featured four ties and four lead changes.
Wagner and Delaney combined to score six of the Tar Heels' nine goals — including the team's last three.
The win provided a small measure of revenge to the team as Navy eliminated UNC from the NCAA Tournament last year.
The team went ahead for good when — after Walterhoefer's 15th faceoff win of the evening — senior Ben Hunt found Delaney on the wing and he squeezed it past the keeper for the clinching goal.
After goalie Grant Zimmerman's 10th save of the night as time expired the Tar Heels mobbed the field to celebrate their win.
The team showed no initial letdown Sunday coming out clinically and scoring the first six goals of the game.
The Red Raiders came out playing a defense that was packed into the middle hoping for North Carolina to force quick shots and stifle movement in front of the net.
The Tar Heels did not seem to fall into the trap instead swinging the ball around the perimeter until they found open men for shots on goal.
As time wore on UNC became sloppier rushing possessions and turning it over to Colgate" who responded with a six goal run.
""What they tried to do was control the tempo" coach Joe Breschi said of Colgate's run.
We kind of sat back. I'm not really comfortable with that decision that I made to let them dictate" and in the future we'll make that adjustment sooner.""
Both games featured the North Carolina opponents switching their primary faceoff people midgame"" a sign of Walterhoefer's dominance.
And how does that feel?
""It's really good" he said. It's satisfying for about five seconds" and then I have to realize that there's another faceoff to come and I have to calm down and stay focused.""
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
