CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Junior goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman made 15 saves and attackmen Michael B. Burns and Billy Bitter each scored three goals as No 7 North Carolina defeated No. 5 Cornell 13-8 Sunday afternoon before a sun-drenched crowd of 3,866 fans at Fetzer Field. UNC improved to 3-0 on the season while the Big Red fell to 1-1 on the campaign. The loss was only the third in the last 23 games for the Big Red.

The Tar Heels jumped out to a 6-1 lead, withstood a Cornell rally and then gradually pulled away in the second half to post the victory. Burns and Bitter had three goals apiece while attackman Bart Wagner and midfielder Rob Driscoll added two tallies each. Carolina's other goals were scored by midfielder Ben Hunt, attackman Gavin Petracca and midfielder Cryder DiPietro. Attackmen Kevin Federico and Bart Wagner and midfielder Nick Tintle each recorded two assists for UNC. For Cornell, John Glynn had two goals and two assists while Chris Finn and Ryan Hurley each tallied two goals.

Cornell outshot the Tar Heels 51-34 in the game, including 47-21 in the final three quarters of the match but Zimmerman's steady play in the net kept the Big Red at bay. The redshirt junior from Cockeysville, Md., finished with 15 saves in 60 minutes, including 13 in the final three quarters. The game was fairly even statistically in all other areas except for the shots and the saves. While being outshot 51-34, the Heels had a 15-7 edge in saves. UNC placed 20 of his 34 shots on goal while the Big Red missed the frame with 28 of its 51 shots.

The loss for Cornell was its first in a regular-season match since April 11, 2006 when Syracuse beat the Big Red 12-11 in Ithaca, N.Y. Cornell had won nine successive regular-season non-Ivy League games since that loss. A year ago, the Big Red went through the regular season undefeated before falling to Duke by a single goal in the NCAA semifinals.

The first quarter was all North Carolina as the Tar Heels built a 5-1 lead that would never dissipate to less than two goals the remainder of the way. Carolina went ahead 1-0 with 12:12 left in the opening quarter as redshirt junior attackman Michael B. Burns rolled the crease and went low to beat Cornell goalkeeper Jake Myers. The Tar Heels increased their lead to 2-0 just 57 seconds later as sophomore midfielder Cryder DiPietro drove right and then sent a shot into the lower right of the goal for an unassisted goal.

The Big Red got on the scoreboard with 8:39 left in the first quarter on a fast break goal by Chris Finn off an assist by Kyle Doctor. The Heels bounced right back, however, and ran off three goals in a span of 2:21 to claim a 5-1 lead later in the opening quarter. At 6:44, Bart Wagner fed Gavin Petracca at the top of the box and the sophomore attackman let fly with a rocket from 20 yards away that found the back of the net. With 4:55 left in the quarter, sophomore midfielder Sean Burke found himself closely defended but he threaded a pass to Wagner who was unmarked on the right side of the crease. Wagner pivoted, shot and scored to up the Tar Heel lead to 4-1. Just 32 seconds later, the Heels made it 5-1 on the first goal of the game by senior midfielder Rob Driscoll who took a feed at the top of the box from Kevin Federico and rocketed a shot past Myers.

The Heels upped their lead to 6-1 just 31 seconds into the second quarter on the first of three goals by freshman attackman Billy Bitter. Bitter received a pass from Nick Tintle, took two steps and dunked the ball to finish off a successful extra-man opportunity for the Heels. Cornell quickly got itself back into the game with a three-goal run, however. With 13:42 left in the first half, Chris Finn scored an unassisted goal for the Big Red, a score which was followed by another unassisted goal, this one by Max Seibald. Seibald launched a hard shot past Zimmerman at the 10:48 mark. With 9:57 left in the period, Cornell cut the lead to 6-4 on a goal by Ryan Hurley, assisted by John Glynn. Hurley's shot was initially saved by Zimmerman but the ball rolled across the line and Cornell was right back in the game.

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2008-03-02