Mercer Falls to No. 1 North Carolina

Saturday, March 6

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2:00 PM

Mercer University

2-4

North Carolina

6-0

Mercer

North Carolina

Photo by: JEFFREY A. CAMARATI

3/7/2021 12:18:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Colin Kelley tied his career-high with 17 saves against the Tar Heels

By: Travis Rae

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Mercer men's lacrosse team returned to North Carolina this weekend to face top ranked North Carolina. Mercer battled but fell to the top ranked team in the USILA, 16-8.

The Tar Heels came out scoring early as they netted three goals in the first four minutes of the game, however, the Bears took the first two shots of the game. Mercer's Jack McGuire had a shot go wide and Collin Stewart had a shot saved early.

With North Carolina leading 3-0, the Bears continued to attack in the offensive third as Stewart had another shot saved. With 8:15 left in the first quarter, Parker Junod found Taylor Dooley for a goal putting Mercer on the board.

Two minutes later, North Carolina tallied its fourth goal of the game on Chris Gray's second goal of the day. Mercer did not go away quietly as Colin Kelley tallied a save and Mercer went back on the attack. Khory Reid found Daniel Shumake for a goal cutting North Carolina's lead down to two, 4-2. After Ashton Wood won a faceoff, Mercer went down and Michael O'Brien scored on an assisted by Nick Rockefeller putting Mercer down one, 4-3.

North Carolina added one more goal in the first quarter and led 5-3 after the first 15 minutes of action. Early in the second quarter, North Carolina added its sixth goal of the day on a goal by Tanner Cook.

After the Tar Heels were called for a cross check, the Bears took advantage of the ensuing man-up opportunity. Collin Stewart found a crease and scored, putting Mercer down two at 6-4. Stewarts' goal would be the lone goal for the Bears in the quarter and North Carolina scored the final three goals to take a 9-4 lead into halftime.

North Carolina continued to score as they tallied two goals in the 100 seconds of the second half. In-between the Tar Heel goals, Wood won a faceoff and went coast-to-coast to score a goal for Mercer.

About four minutes later, Mercer added its sixth goal of the game. Following two shots that went wide for Mercer, Michael Quinn scored his lone goal of the game putting Mercer down five, 11-6. Mercer had more scoring chances in the quarter but could not score as North Carolina took a 14-6 lead into the final quarter of play.

The top ranked Tar Heels continued to add goals and scored two more in the quarter but Mercer held North Carolina to four goals under their season average on the day. Mercer scored two of its own goals in the quarter. With a man advantage, Jack Parolin scored his first goal of his career. Late in the game Will McCarthy tallied a goal for Mercer. McCarthy's goal stretched his goal streak to 11 straight games with at least one goal.

NOTABLES

Mercer faced the top-ranked team in the USILA poll for the second time this season after playing No. 1 Duke on Feb. 13.
Colin Kelley tied his career-high with 17 saves against North Carolina. In his career, he has 116 saves, the fifth most in program history. The 17 saves is 10th most in a single game in Mercer history.
Freshman Jack Parolin scored his first career goal for the Bears.
Collin Stewart scored one goal in the loss to North Carolina. He has scored a goal in every game this season for the Bears.
Mercer had eight goal scorers in the contest. No player had a multi-goal game.
Will McCarthy continued to score this week as he had one goal. He now has a goal in 11 straight contests.
Over the Bears last four games, Colin Kelley has 10 or more saves. He has 17 saves in two of the last three games for Mercer.
Mercer has only been outshot twice this season, each one coming against an ACC opponent.

UP NEXT
Mercer returns to action on Sunday, March 21 when they open up Southern Conference play by hosting Jacksonville at Five Star Stadium. The game is set to start at 2 p.m.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerLacrosse (Twitter) and @MercerMensLacrosse (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com