Albany Advances, Withstanding Wild UNC Comeback

North Carolina ran out of magic.

Trailing 14-3 at halftime, the Tar Heels nearly pulled off an unthinkable comeback, scoring nine unanswered goals. But North Carolina ultimately fell short in a 15-12 loss Saturday night at eighth-seeded Albany the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Some thought the Great Danes (15-2) deserved better than a first-round encounter with the defending NCAA champion Tar Heels (8-8), who made the tournament with an unexpected run through the ACC tournament. But for the first 30 minutes, Albany made North Carolina look pedestrian in a stunningly dominant first half at sold-out Casey Stadium.

Riding a masterful performance by faceoff maestro TD Ierlan (23-for-30, including 10-for-10 in the first quarter) and deadly marksmanship by senior midfielder Bennett Drake (five goals, all in the first half), the Great Danes looked invincible. Coach Scott Marr knew better.

"We talked about before the game that we had to navigate adversity," Marr said on ESPNU after the game. "We knew it was going to come."

Starting in the third quarter, the Tar Heels applied pressure at all points of the field, forcing Albany into 16 second-half turnovers as they mounted their comeback. North Carolina got an early goal from long pole Jack Rowlett, then scored five goals in a span of 7 minutes, 23 seconds to close the gap to 14-9.

The momentum carried into the fourth quarter, as Rowlett, Luke Goldstock and Chris Cloutier — whose team-high five goals included a pair of highlight-reel, one-handed finishes — connected to pull the Tar Heels within two.

The home crowd of 6,472, an NCAA tournament first-round record, collectively exhaled when Adam Osika netted Albany's lone goal of the second half to make it 15-12 with 5:49 remaining. The Tar Heels had a late extra-man opportunity, but Great Danes goalie made his 13th save on a Timmy Kelly shot with 2:01 left to seal the win.

"It was a tale of two halves," Marr said. "I'm proud of my guys for sticking with it, believing in each other. Our certainty was definitely better than everybody else's doubt, for sure."

Albany will play either top-seeded Maryland, which barely held off the Great Danes in a regular season game April 12, or, less likely, Bryant in the NCAA quarterfinals next Sunday in Newark, Del. The Terps and Bulldogs play tomorrow.

Division I First Round

Towson 12, (8) Penn State 8
Duke 19, (6) Johns Hopkins 6
(5) Denver 17, Air Force 10
(8) Albany 15, North Carolina 12

Merrimack Eliminates Le Moyne

North Carolina was not the only defending national champion to go down Saturday. Merrimack defeated its nemesis and reigning NCAA Division II champ Le Moyne 10-5 in the quarterfinals.

Kyle Stenberg and Michael O'Connell scored three goals apiece for the Warriors (14-3), who will play top-seeded Adelphi in the semifinals next week with a chance to advance to their first-ever championship game. The Panthers advanced with a narrow 10-9 win over Pace.

Merrimack had lost seven straight games to the Dolphins since 2014. Le Moyne eliminated the Warriors in the previous two NCAA tournaments and knocked them out of the Northeast-10 conference tournament last week. Merrimack was buoyed by going 4-for-5 in extra-man opportunities.

In the South, top-seeded Limestone and third-seeded Tampa advanced with 14-5 and 11-8 wins over Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne, respectively.

Division II Quarterfinals

North
(1) Adelphi 10, (4) Pace 9
(3) Merrimack 10, (2) Le Moyne 5

South
(1) Limestone 14, (4) Wingate 5
(3) Tampa 11, (2) Lenoir-Rhyne 8

Lynchburg an Unlikely Quarterfinalist; Bates Shatters Records

The Division III quarterfinals are set. North heavyweights RIT and Cortland will collide again, as will NESCAC darlings Bates and Wesleyan. In the South, defending NCAA champion Salisbury will take on Cabrini, and Denison plays Lynchburg.

All of those games will take place Wednesday, after seven of the eight teams advanced in blowout fashion Saturday. The one exception, and perhaps the surprise team of the quarterfinals, is Lynchburg.

The Hornets, who were 4-5 at the end of March, peeled off nine straight wins before falling to Hampden-Sydney in the ODAC championship game. Still, they qualified for the NCAA tournament as a Pool C selection, held off Sewanee in a second-round matchup twice delayed by thunderstorms and then on Saturday upset York for the second time this season.

Lynchburg jumped out to an 8-4 halftime lead and then held on for a 10-8 victory. Evan Lombardo scored three goals for the visiting Hornets.

The most eye-opening score Saturday; Bates 26, Amherst 14. Freshman Matt Chlastawa set an NCAA tournament single-game record (all divisions) with 13 points, surpassing the previous mark of 12 set by Ed Mullen of Maryland in 1976 and matched by Syracuse legend Gary Gait in 1988.

Chlastawa's nine goals also were an NCAA Division III tournament single-game record and tied the all-division record with Gait, Brown's Oliver Marti (1992) and North Carolina's Chris Cloutier (2016).

improbably, Bates senior Charlie Fay nearly matched Chlastawa with eight goals and four assists.

"I've never seen two performances in the same game like that in my life," coach Peter Lasagna said.

Bates and Amherst combined for 40 goals, an NCAA tournament single-game record in any division, and 130 shots, a Division III record.

Division III Round of 16

North
RIT 17, Stevenson 8
Cortland 20, St. Lawrence 10
Bates 26, Amherst 14
Wesleyan 17, Tufts 8