BALTIMORE — Timmy Kelly wanted to honor his longtime coach Dave Huntley Friday night at Johns Hopkins. A number change in honor of the late Huntley, who died of a heart attack on Dec. 18, was only the beginning.
Kelly scored a career-high four goals while sporting No. 18 on his jersey to lead North Carolina to a 13-11 victory at Homewood Field, scoring three in a row in the fourth quarter to send the Tar Heels (4-0) home with their first road triumph of the season.
The idea for a number change was hatched a couple weeks ago when Kelly, who normally wears No. 15, approached North Carolina coach Joe Breschi about the possibility. Breschi checked with the NCAA, then alerted Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala to ensure the Blue Jays were all right with the switch.
Huntley helped Johns Hopkins win national championships in 1978 and 1979 as a midfielder and was a noted coach at several levels. Kelly played for him both in high school (at Baltimore’s Calvert Hall, where Huntley was a longtime assistant) and in club ball.
“He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever seen,” Kelly said. “One of the best mentors I’ve ever had. Played the game the right way. I’ve always looked up to the Huntleys. Wearing No. 18 for him today on Homewood was the greatest honor I ever had in lacrosse. Never had a better one. To get a win and really get going, it makes me emotional. That guy’s one of the best players ever. I’m so honored to be able to wear that today.”
It was a needed boost for North Carolina, which went to overtime in outings against Furman and Lehigh the last two weeks. It’s also the start of a crammed stretch of the schedule; the Tar Heels will play four games in 11 days, with a home game against Denver waiting at the end.
The Tar Heels played from behind much of the day, but their defense allowed just six goals in the final three quarters. Sophomore Jack Pezzulla made a career-best 13 stops after entering the day with a .423 save percentage.
North Carolina was also mindful of Hopkins’ knowns, holding Kyle Marr, Shack Stanwick and Joel Tinney to a combined three goals and three assists while mixing up man and zone in the early going before committing to man before the end of the first half.
“Our defense has been the brunt of a lot of conversation lately and it was just great to see those guys step up and play their tails off,” Breschi said.
The Tar Heels didn’t take their first lead until Kelly deposited Tanner Cook’s feed to cap an extra-man opportunity with 8:11 to go. On the ensuing faceoff, Carolina pole Jack Rowlett snagged a ground ball out of a scrum, started a break and found Kelly to make it 11-9.
Kelly scored again with 5:09 to go to cap his career day.
“I just kind of took my opportunities and my teammates made me a lot better today,” Kelly said. “It wasn’t me. Going back to Coach Hunts, he would say, ‘Be the best teammate you can be. Don’t be the best player you can be. Be the best teammate.’ I was trying to find open spaces all day and luckily my teammates found me. I had three assisted goals and only one unassisted. I just tried to be the best teammate I could be.”
GAME! @UNCMensLacrosse comes back to beat @jhumenslacrosse 13-11 thanks to three straight 4Q goals from Timmy Kelly, who wore No. 18 in honor of former coach Dave Huntley. pic.twitter.com/tXa2wEuqIQ
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 24, 2018
Cook finished with four goals and an assist for North Carolina, which has won 10 of the teams’ last 12 meetings. The Tar Heels have won five in a row at Homewood, last falling on Hopkins’ home field in 2006.
For Hopkins (1-2), it was a better showing than Saturday’s sloppy 12-5 loss at Loyola, but it was easy to find costly moments throughout the game. Sophomore Cole Williams completed a hat trick late in the second quarter, but was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for flipping his stick in the air. The Tar Heels quickly scored on extra-man to get the goal back.
The Blue Jays also picked up a holding penalty with a second left on the timer to lead to another Carolina goal, and failed to pick up Tar Heel attackman Andy Matthews on a switch in the fourth quarter. Matthews easily deposited his open shot to tie it at 9.
“I just thought we did some undisciplined things that really hurt us in the end,” Pietramala said. “I liked our fight. I felt we played a lot harder than we did in the last game. That’s an improvement. I was glad to see Cole Williams break out of his shell. I just don’t think we were disciplined enough to win that game, and that’s something we have to work on and correct.”
Hopkins made progress. North Carolina made progress and earned a victory, constructing a more complete and consistent performance than the last two weeks. It was a welcome result for a team whose schedule offers few breathers the rest of the way.
“I kept telling the guys, ‘We’re going to get better. We just have to get better one step at a time each week,’” Breschi said. “We got better last week. We played really well against a very good Lehigh team. Everybody’s like, ‘Ah, it’s Lehigh.’ They’re good. Everybody’s good now, as we know looking at the scores out there. We took another step forward without question this week.”
Friday Scoreboard
No. 13 North Carolina 13, No. 15 Johns Hopkins 11
Mount St. Mary’s 16, UMBC 7
UDC 16, Hampton 6
Cleveland State 8, Air Force 7