April 2, 2005

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, NC -- Freshman midfielder Paul Rabil scored three goals and senior attackman Peter LeSueur added two of his own as the top-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team knocked off North Carolina for the 12th straight time, 7-5. The win improves the Blue Jays' record to 6-0, while the Tar Heels slip to 2-6. The 6-0 start is the first for Hopkins since 1995.

After a scoreless first quarter Rabil got the Blue Jays started with back-to-back goals in a span of less than two minutes. He opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at the 13:25 mark of the second period with a quick shot that beat UNC goalie Paul Spellman low to the off-stick side. Rabil pushed the lead to 2-0 at the 10:51 mark as he picked the top corner to the off-stick side.

The Tar Heels trimmed the deficit to 2-1 entering halftime as Rob Driscoll fooled Blue Jay goalie Jesse Schwartzman with a low shot just inside the far post. The three combined goals are the fewest in the first half of a Johns Hopkins game this season.

Senior Kyle Harrison pushed the lead to 3-1 with his eighth goal of the season just 46 seconds into the third quarter to give the Blue Jays some early second-half momentum, but that would be short-lived. Before the ensuing faceoff could be taken the teams were ordered off the field by the officials for nearly 45 minutes to wait out a thunderstorm.

Carolina's Kyle Henderson again made it a one-goal game as he scored off an assist from Ryan Blair just over three minutes after play resumed, but LeSueur answered with back-to-back goals in a span of 62 seconds to push the lead to 5-2. LeSueur's first goal at the 5:24 mark of the third quarter was a great individual effort as he drove to the net and beat Spellman while falling down. He beat Spellman high from a tough angle for his second goal a minute later.

Andrew McElduff and Nick Tintle scored late in the third quarter to make it 5-4 entering the final period, but the Blue Jays scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter to give themselves some breathing room.

Freshman Kevin Huntley's fourth goal in the last two games made it 6-4 with just under 10 minutes remaining, while Rabil capped the Blue Jays' scoring with an extra-man goal at the 5:28 mark. Mike McCall accounted for the final goal of the game when he scored off a broken clear with 1:24 remaining, but the Blue Jaya won the ensuing faceoff and Carolina managed just one shot in the final 90 seconds.

Schwartzman followed up last week's 20-save performance with a 12-save effort that included seven saves over the final 30 minutes. The five goals allowed match the season-low for the Blue Jays and Schwartzman.

The Blue Jays won 12-of-16 faceoffs, won the ground ball war, 33-29 and outshot the Tar Heels, 33-32. Junior Greg Peyser won 6-of-7 facoeffs and had four ground balls and one assist. Rabil's three points led the Blue Jays, who improved to 42-3 in their last 45 regular season games.

The Tar Heels did not have one multi-point scorer in the game and Prossner and Blair, who entered with 25 points apiece on the year, were held to a combined two assists. The Blue Jay defense of Chris Watson, Tom Garvey and Matt Pinto teamed to hold UNC's starting attack unit to a combined one goal and two assists.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Tuesday afternoon when the Blue Jays host Albany at 3:00 pm. North Carolina plays at Virginia next Saturday.