Lehigh heads to defending National Champion, No. 2/3 North Carolina for Saturday matchup

Saturday, February 18

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1 PM

Lehigh University

North Carolina

Photo by: Brinn McClennan '17

Lehigh heads to defending National Champion, No. 2/3 North Carolina for Saturday matchup

2/17/2017 10:16:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

Game Notes | Watch Live (WatchESPN) | Live Stats

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Owning a 2-0 record for the first time since 2014, the Lehigh men's lacrosse team will face a challenging opponent on Saturday when the Mountain Hawks head to defending National Champion North Carolina. Opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen live through ACC Network Extra (WatchESPN). Lehigh and UNC will square off the first time since the 2013 NCAA Tournament and first time in the regular season since the Mountain Hawks stunned the then No. 4 Tar Heels, 9-8.

In each of the previous two meetings, North Carolina stood in the top four in the national rankings (No. 4 at the time of the 2012 regular season meeting and No. 1 in the polls during the 2013 tournament). The Tar Heels currently stand No. 2 in the USILA Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the Maverick Media Poll.

Lehigh is coming off a hard-fought 13-12 win over Jacksonville last Saturday. The Mountain Hawks used a 9-3 run over the middle 37:27 to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 13-8 lead. The Dolphins did charge back down the stretch, pulling as close as one with 4:08 still remaining. However, Lehigh's defense stood tall to not allow the equalizer, which included making a defensive stop after Jacksonville gained one final possession with 19 seconds remaining, helping the Mountain Hawks win their first road game of the season for the fifth time in the last six years.

Several Mountain Hawks had career games, led by senior Matt Raposo who dished a career-high five assists, to go with one goal for a career-high tying six points. Sophomore Andrew Pettit recorded his first-career hat trick, finishing with a career-high four points on the afternoon. Sophomore Lucas Spence recorded a career-high two points behind a goal and his first-career assist, while senior Casey McAdam posted a career-high two points (one goal, one assist).

Freshman Conor Gaffney won 12-of-24 faceoffs against Jacksonville's Hunter Forbes, who won 56 percent of his draws last season. Gaffney added seven groundballs and was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week for a second straight week. Sophomore Craig Chick led the defense with six groundballs and three caused turnovers as Lehigh caused 10 of Jacksonville's 15 turnovers on the afternoon. Sophomores Mickey Fitzpatrick and Tristan Rai each set new career highs with three groundballs apiece. Classmate Chris Kiernan was strong in goal, making 12 saves, including a number of timely stops. He made seven saves, allowing just three goals, during Lehigh's long 9-3 run.

On Saturday, senior Ian Strain scored a goal and posted two groundballs to eclipse 50 GBs in his career. Rai is up to 45 career points while Raposo has reached 43 points. Kiernan's 12 saves helped him eclipse 100 in his career. Through two games, Lehigh's starting attackmen have combined for 24 points, led by Raposo who has nine (three goals, six assists). Rai owns eight points (three goals, five assists) while Pettit has tallied seven (five goals, two assists). The Mountain Hawks' defense has been strong in stretches; at Jacksonville, Lehigh held the Dolphins scoreless for a stretch of 14:33 from the end of the first quarter to the end of the second. That stretch helped the Mountain Hawks turn a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 lead. Lehigh then held Jacksonville scoreless again for the next 14:47 from the end of the second to the end of the third

On Saturday, the Mountain Hawks will be searching for their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent since last season's 8-7 thriller at No. 20 Boston University. The team's last win over a top five team came against the same Tar Heels, winning 9-8 on Mar. 3, 2012.

Defending National Champion North Carolina is 2-0 early in the 2017 campaign, defeating UMBC, 17-6 and Furman, 7-3. Last season, the Tar Heels beat Maryland in the championship game for their first national title since 1991. So far this year, Justin Anderson leads the team with five goals and six points. Chris Cloutier owns five points (four goals, one assist) while Timmy Kelly (four goals) and Luke Goldstock (two goals, two assists) each have four points. Stephen Kelly has been stellar at the faceoff X, winning 22-of-30 draws with a team-leading 19 groundballs. Brian Balkman has seen the majority of time in goal, recording a stellar 2.67 goals against average and .750 save percentage.

North Carolina holds a 7-3-1 edge in the all-time series. In the last regular season meeting between the two sides, Lehigh earned a hard-fought 9-8 victory at the No. 4 Tar Heels, helping spark the Mountain Hawks' breakout 14-3 season which ended with their first Patriot League Tournament Championship and first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Lehigh won the first two meetings in 1950 and 1951 by 6-5 and 6-3 finals, respectively. The squads tied in 1952. The first meeting in 43 years saw North Carolina win 12-11 (in three overtimes) in 1995. The Tar Heels won five more in a row after that, in 1996, 2000, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

The Mountain Hawks will open Patriot League play next Saturday (Feb. 25) when they travel to Holy Cross for an 11 a.m. opening faceoff against the Crusaders.

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