In a headliner matchup of elite men’s lacrosse teams, the No. 5 University of North Carolina (UNC) Tarheels rode an early lead past the No. 9 Hopkins Blue Jays despite several late comeback attempts and a myriad of scoring sprees.
After steamrolling three straight opponents to start their season 3-0, UNC remained undefeated by unleashing one of the best offensive units on the Jays with both teams combining for 80 shots and a final score of 13-11.
Hopkins hung in until the last minute, launching several comeback attempts mostly on the shoulders of junior attackman Ryan Brown whose offensive effort included a hat trick as well as a trio of assists.
It took a historic day on the attack for the Tarheels to take down Hopkins, who boast the 12th best scoring defense in the country.
Senior captains Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey each scored their 100th career goals and combined for seven goals and four assists to lead the charge for UNC while sophomore Luke Goldstock added a hat trick of his own.
The game started off with a flurry of goals. Goldstock began the action with an early goal followed by a quick retaliation from Brown who found the back of the net just 30 seconds later. The historic portion of the afternoon began after Tarheels attacker Michael Tagliaferri scored on a face-off win feed from teammate Evan Connell.
Sankey took charge from the left side of the goal netting his 100th goal and assisted his fellow captain Bitter two minutes later to give him the same milestone. The score stood 4-1 with Carolina riding an emotional wave of achievement.
Bitter had no plans of stopping at 100, adding his second of the contest off a pass from senior midfielder Chad Tutton who matched his career high for assists with two.
The captain combo struck again for another pair of respective goals after an extra-man goal from Hopkins sophomore John Crawley putting the score at 7-2 with four minutes remaining in the half.
Midfielder Joel Tinney tacked on a late-half goal to close out the second quarter that would turn into a four goal run for the Jays extending into the third quarter.
Both teams came out firing in the second half, landing 14 goals on a combined 19 shots.
Three quick goals for the Jays cut the deficit to only one as Brown and Crawley both landed their second scores while sophomore Wilkins Dismuke dodged from behind the goal for his first. The Tarheels answered quickly with their own trio to regain momentum and a steady four goal lead.
Effort never abated from Hopkins who found themselves down 12-7 with plenty of time for a comeback.
Brown capped off his hat trick heeding to a contribution from the Stanwick brothers with Shack and Wells bringing the score to 12-10 with eight minutes remaining in the game.
An unnecessary roughness penalty gave Hopkins a promising opportunity with an extra man on the field and down only two goals. Textbook execution from UNC coaching killed the penalty before drawing their own on Hopkins leading to a goal from Tutton.
Fighting to maintain the lead and win the victory, UNC played some aggressive defense as both teams traded turnovers and possession.
Shack Stanwick found his second goal on an assist from Tinney with three whole minutes still remaining, but several key clears turned it into the last goal of the game.
Carolina has now won three of four games with three attackmen recording a hat trick, a feat that has not been accomplished since 2009.
Both teams have players boasting incredible scoring streaks as UNC’s Bitter finds himself at 45 for the second longest current streak in D-I while Brown’s stands at 20 and also owns the second highest goal total in the country, only one shy of High Point’s star attackman Dan Lomas.
Hopkins (2-2) returns to action next Saturday, Feb. 28 as they host the Princeton University Tigers at Homewood field to begin their hosting stretch of six out of their next nine games.
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