Box Score

The #15 Fairfield University men's lacrosse team dropped its first decision of the season, falling 10-9 to #9/12 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. Saturday afternoon.  The loss drops the Stags to 2-1, while the Tar Heels improve to 2-1.

After a pair of Carolina goals in a 96 second span in the second quarter gave UNC a 3-2 lead, the Stags rolled off five consecutive goals through the remainder of the first-half and into the third quarter.  Sam Snow, who netted scored his second of the game with 5:57 to play before the break to start the run and knot the score, 3-3.  Marshall Johnson followed 18 seconds later with his first of the campaign and gave the Stags a 4-3 lead.  Nick Guida struck with 3:01 to play before the break and Tristan Sperry scored with 96 ticks left in the half for a 6-3 break at the intermission.

Jordan Greenfield pushed the Fairfield lead to four, 7-3, with an unassisted tally 4:29 into the third quarter. Carolina struck back quickly, netting three goals in a 30-second span.  Joey Sankey began the run at 9:18, putting a pass from Greg McBride. Marcus Holman, scored his first of three second-half goals at the 9:05 mark and Jimmy Bitter ended the run with an unassisted goal at the 8:48 mark.

Sperry finished the third quarter scoring for Fairfield with an unassisted goal to push the lead back to 8-6. Carolina strung together another three-goal run to start the final period.  Chad Tutton scored at the 10:44 and Holman tied the score at the 9:27 mark, 8-8. Sankey put the Tar Heels ahead for the first time, 8:48, 9-8 with his second of the game. Guida tied the score again with man-up tally at the 6:51 mark, but 65 seconds later Holman netted the eventual game-winner.

Guida, Snow and Sperry all scored twice for the Stags, with Snow leading the way with three points.  TJ Neubauer had a coal and an assist while Colin McLinden assisted on two Fairfield goals.

Jack Murphy stopped 14 shots in the game in net for the Stags, with 10 coming in the first-half.  Andrew O'Connell took over in net for the Tar Heels at the break and stopped three shots, against three goals, to earn the win.  Kieran Burke started in net and allowed six goals against four saves.

Michael Roe finished 9-22 at the face-off X for the Stags, going 5-10 in the first-half, and picked up five ground balls. Murphy had a team-best eight ground balls for the Stags.

Fairfield hosts Hofstra on Tuesday at Alumni Field.  Game time is set for 4 p.m.