Third Quarter Surge Lifts #7 North Carolina Over #19 Brown, 18-12

Chapel Hill, NC – Seventh-ranked North Carolina utilized a 7-4 third quarter surge to earn an 18-12 win over 19th-ranked Brown at Fetzer Field before a national television audience on ESPNU. The Tar Heels extend their record to 6-2 for the season, while Brown had its five game winning streak stopped, falling to 5-2 overall.

Bears’ freshman attackman Henry Blynn (Villanova, PA), a two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week, led the Bears with five goals against the Tar Heels, while sophomore attackman Nick Piroli (Black River, NY) netted four goals. Freshman goalie Jack Kelly (West Islip, NY) made nine saves in three quarters of play, while junior Will Round (Mt. Lebanon, PA) made two fourth-quarter saves for Brown.

The Bears were able to match the Tar Heels offense-to-offense throughout the game, but lost the game of possession, with North Carolina winning 20-of-34 face-offs, including 11 of 15 in the first half.

Joey Sankey led North Carolina with four goals, while Jimmy Bitter and Davey Emala registered three goals each. Kieran Burke registered 14 saves in net for the Tar Heels.

Brown trailed 3-2 after one quarter with Piroli scoring twice for the Bears and Marcus Holman, Sankey and Emala scoring for the Tar Heels.

Brown tied the game, 3-3, on a goal by senior George Sherman (Greenwich, CT), but North Carolina took a 4-3 advantage on a goal by Patrick Kelly with 10:22 left in the quarter.

Piroli scored his third goal of the game to tie the score once again, 4-4, with 8:20 remaining in the quarter. North Carolina scored four consecutive goals to pull ahead by an 8-4 margin with 3:21 left in the opening half.

The Bears got back in the game, first on a goal by senior defenseman Sam Ford (Reisterstown, MD) to cut the Tar Heel lead to 8-5 at the half, and then by Blynn to open the second half to cut Carolina’s lead to 8-6.

The Tar Heels put together an explosive third quarter, scoring seven of the game’s next 10 goals to grab a 15-9 advantage heading into the final quarter. Blynn’s three goals in the quarter kept the Bears within striking distance.

A Blynn goal to open the fourth quarter cut North Carolina’s lead to 15-10, but that was as close as Brown would get down the stretch.

Brown returns to Ivy League action on Saturday, March 30, traveling to Princeton, NJ to face the 10th-ranked Princeton Tigers. Face-off is scheduled for 1 pm.

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