BALTIMORE, MD – In a game of runs, it was ninth-ranked North Carolina that got the final spurt as the visiting Tar Heels used a three-goal run midway through the fourth quarter to turn an 11-10 deficit into a 13-11 lead and the 'Heels held off host Johns Hopkins, 13-12, Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.  The win improves North Carolina's record to 3-0, while the Blue Jays slip to 4-1.
 
Johns Hopkins had used a three-goal run of its own to turn a 10-8 deficit into the 11-10 lead early in the fourth quarter.  After a Dominic Pietramala goal midway through the third quarter gave the Tar Heels the 10-8 lead, the Blue Jays answered with back-to-back Russell Melendez goals in a 28-second span to pull even at 10-10 with 4:36 on the third-quarter clock.

The tie held until early in the fourth quarter when the Blue Jays turned a failed North Carolina clear into a Matt Collison goal.  Working behind the goal, Melendez found Collison at the top and he blistered home a 12-yarder to give the Jays their first lead of the game.
 
After UNC won the faceoff after the Collison goal, the Blue Jay defense got a stop, but a failed clear led to a Ryan Levy goal and the Tar Heels scored twice more over a 90-second span with Pietramala and Caden Harshberger adding strikes in that time to give UNC at two-goal lead.
 
Johns Hopkins would get a Luke Staudt save and force a UNC shot clock violation on the 'Heels next two possessions before Quintan Kilrain scored in transition with 2:08 remaining to make it a one-goal game.  The Blue Jays won the ensuing faceoff, but Michael Gianforcaro was equal to a Melendez offering with 75 seconds remaining and the Tar Heels were able to run out the clock to seal the win.
 
The game of runs began early as UNC struck three times in the opening minute of the game and answered a pair of Melendez tallies with three more before the end of the first quarter to grab a 6-2 lead.
 
Johns Hopkins would net the first three goals of the second quarter on tallies from Dylan Bauer, Brooks English and Collison, only to have Owen Duffy score twice in a 71-second span late in the period to push the UNC lead to 8-5.
 
The first career goal from freshman Sean Crogan and a Stu Phillips goal in the final minute of the second quarter accounted for an 8-7 halftime score before the Blue Jays pulled even for the first time on a Melendez extra-man goal at the 10:57 mark on the third quarter.

The 8-8 tie was short-lived as back-to-back Pietramala goals in a 65-second span midway through the period gave UNC the 10-8 lead.  That set the stage for the matching three-goal runs that eventually gave the Tar Heels the lead for good.
 
Melendez paced the Blue Jays with five goals and two assists for seven points, while Collison (2g, 1a), English (1g, 1a), Kilrain (1g, 1a) and Hunter Chauvette (2a) also recorded multi-point games.  Staudt finished with 10 saves and Logan Callahan was 15-of-27 at the X with seven ground balls.
 
Pietramala (6g,) and Duffy (4g, 1a) combined for 10 of UNC's 13 goals and the pair fired off 31 of the Tar Heels' 40 shots in the game.  Gianforcaro posted seven saves in goal and Brady Wambach was 13-of-27 on faceoffs with 11 ground balls.
 
Notes of Interest
• Johns Hopkins had its nine-game regular season winning streak snapped with today's loss.
• The Blue Jays cashed in on 2-of-3 extra-man chances; the Blue Jays are now 4-of-5 (.800) on the year.
• Melendez went over the 100-point mark for his Johns Hopkins career.  He now has 70 goals and 32 assists for 102 points.
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, March 1 when the Blue Jays welcome Virginia to Homewood Field. The teams will once again play for the Doyle Smith Cup, which has been presented to the winner of the Hopkins-Virginia regular season game since 2006.