M. Lacrosse: Tar Heels run away with win

If the first 19 goals didn't send the message to No. 14 Denver the last one certainly did.

With four minutes remaining on the clock attackman Matthias McCall netted the final goal for the North Carolina men's lacrosse team in a behind-the-back shot off an assist from junior Joe Howard.

The No. 5 Tar Heels (2-0) shot and scored at will en route to a 20-7 win" their most prolific effort in eight years.

""It was a total team effort to have 20 goals and to hold that powerful offense to seven"" coach Joe Breschi said. I am proud of the team.""

The Pioneers came to Fetzer Field on Saturday wielding a high-octane offense.

But the postgame statistics show a striking mismatch in offensive stats in favor of North Carolina.

UNC out-shot Denver 40-21" delivering a goal on exactly half of the team's attempts. The battle for ground balls was also dominated by the Tar Heels 47-19.

Gavin Petracca and Billy Bitter led the offensive charge with career highs in points as they combined for seven goals and eight assists.

The pair carved out personal bests in UNC's highest offensive output since April 26" 2001.

""I just got myself into good spots" Petracca said. We've been working really hard all week trying to get everyone on the same page. I passed to some people they scored" and they passed to me.""

The rest was history.

North Carolina began the game on a 6-0 run while embracing Breschi's urge to attack right out of the gate.

""We start early and start scoring fast" Bitter said. A lot of these guys we get in their heads and they don't know what to do. They put their heads down" and we run away with the score.""

The Pioneers rallied in the second period with a 5-0 run and entered halftime only trailing 8-6.

But as the team congregated at halftime"" Breschi noticed a calmness among his players.

""There was no panic" Breschi said. It was just" ‘Hey this is what we have to do: shut them down in the second half.'""

In the second half" UNC employed tight man-to-man defense and applied pressure  to force the Pioneers out of the backside.

The adjustments worked. The altered style enabled North Carolina to close the game on a 12-2 run.

And after only scoring 16 goals on 63 shot attempts against Robert Morris last week" Breschi was pleased with the team's scoring ratio.

""Coming off last week's performance … we knew we needed to shoot better" Breschi said. We worked on that. Defensively we focused on the team concept" and it paid off today.""



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