CHAPEL HILL, NC – Host North Carolina used a five-goal run that bridged the third and fourth quarters to turn a 10-8 lead into a 15-8 advantage and the Tar Heels went on to a 17--9 victory over Johns Hopkins at Dorrance Field on Friday night. The win improves the Tar Heels' record to 4-0, while the Blue Jays slip to 3-1.
Johns Hopkins trailed just 10-8 with 63 seconds remaining in the third quarter after
Charlie Iler polished off a lengthy Blue Jay possession off a quick feed from
Jimmy Ayers.
North Carolina would change the game in the final minute of the period with two goals that quickly turned the 10-8 lead into a 12-8 cushion.
Brady Wambach scored off the faceoff immediately after the Iler goal and
Luke Macaluso bounced home a 12-yarder off a skip pass from
James Matan with nine seconds remaining in the quarter.
Any hopes for a Blue Jay comeback were dashed in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter as the Tar Heels scored three straight push the lead to 15-8.
Owen Duffy came top side and spun back to spring the three-goal, quarter-opening spurt and he followed an
Andrew Preis goal with his fourth of the game to cap the five-goal run and extend the lead to 15-8.
A
Jimmy Ayers extra-man goal with 6:30 on the clock ended the Carolina run, but the Tar Heels would add two more in the final three minutes to account for the 17-9 final score.
Early on, the Blue Jays had grabbed a 1-0 lead as
Warry Colhoun intercepted a Tar Heel pass and jump-started transition that ended with a
Parker Sorenson goal just over two minutes into the game. UNC would answer with three straight to grab a 3-1 lead after the opening period.
Johns Hopkins would twice pull within a goal in the first eight minutes of the second quarter, once when Ayers used a great head fake to get inside a defender on the wing and then on a
David Disque 10-yarder from the top off a nice feed from
Erik Chick.
The Tar Heels bumped the margin to three at 6-3 and it appeared they'd carry that lead into the break, but
Chuck Rawson isolated from the wing, backed his way to five yards and the got his hands free to make it 6-4 at the half.
Rawson added his second of the game on a perfectly-executed hidden-ball trick to open the second-half scoring and draw the Blue Jays within one at 6-5. Back-to-back
Dominic Pietramala goals for UNC were answered by
Charlie Hazard and
Hunter Chauvette to make it 8-7 and Iler's goal with 1:03 left in the quarter made it a two-goal game (10-8), but Wambach scored 10 seconds after Iler to ignite the game-deciding five-goal run for the Tar Heels.
Johns Hopkins Notes of Interest
• Ayers paced the Blue Jays with three points on two goals and one assist. This is the third consecutive game that Ayers has totaled three or more points.
• Rawson added two goals for his third consecutive multi-goal game and his sixth consecutive multi-point game.
• The goal for Hazard is the first of his career.
North Carolina Notes of Interest
• Pietramala (5) and Duffy (4) combined for nine goals for the Tar Heels.
• Wambach won 20-of-29 faceoffs and had 13 ground balls to go along with his one goal.
• Josh Marcus posted 12 saves in goal to lead the way defensively for UNC.
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, February 28 when the Blue Jays travel to Virginia to take on the Cavaliers (3 pm). Next week's game will be the 100
th between Johns Hopkins and Virginia.
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Gallery: (2-20-2026) Men's Lacrosse vs. North Carolina
