Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991 TAG: 9104140128
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The Tar Heels never led until Dennis Goldstein scored his fifth goal with 28 seconds left to lift Carolina past Virginia 11-10 on a cold, rainy afternoon at Scott Stadium.
It was UNC's sixth straight victory at Virginia since 1983, but the streak appeared to be in jeopardy when the fifth-ranked Cavaliers took a 7-3 lead in the second quarter.
Although the Tar Heels scored the next four goals, Virginia scored twice in the first 44 seconds of the fourth quarter and took a 9-7 lead into the last eight minutes.
"I'd be concerned if we were down four goals with two minutes left," said Dave Klarmann, 8-0 in his first year as Carolina's coach. "But a lacrosse game can be very long. It's like basketball sometimes."
The last two minutes were an eternity for Virginia, which took a 10-9 lead with 2:22 remaining on an extra-man goal by sophomore Rob Falk, who had three goals and an assist for the day.
After UVa defenseman Greg Leder was called for holding with 2:08 left, it took the Tar Heels only 11 seconds to tie the score on a goal by Mike Thomas.
"I thought it was obvious [one of Carolina's attackmen] was holding my stick," Leder said. "The only way I could get free was to push him away. I thought it was a pretty tough call to make at that point in the game."
Still, it looked like the worst that could happen to Virginia was overtime when the Cavaliers took possession and then called timeout with 1:25 left.
"I thought it probably would go into overtime," Goldstein said. "Actually, I thought they would hold it."
Virginia aggressively pushed for another score in regulation, so aggressively, it turned out, that Andy Kraus' crossing pass was intercepted with 50 seconds left by Carolina midfielder Donnie McNichol, who streaked into the UVa zone.
It was not by design that Carolina worked the ball to Goldstein, Klarmann insisted, but that's what happened. Goldstein then remembered a tip Klarmann had given him earlier in the week.
"Last year, when we lost 14-13 [to Virginia], I shot low on a one-and-one and Tommy [Groeninger] stopped it," Goldstein said. "Coach told me he has a tendency to go to his knees, so I went high on that last one."
The Tar Heels ran their record to 3-0 in the ACC and clinched the top seed for the conference tournament April 27-28 in Durham, N.C. UVa fell to 2-1 (7-2 overall) despite a five-point afternoon by sophomore attackman Kevin Pehlke, who had two goals and three assists.
Goldstein had all five of his goals in the second half, victimizing UVa defenseman Mike Schattner, a second-team All-American in 1990. By his recollection, Goldstein took one shot in the first half.
"If I had thought he was going to score five goals, I probably would have made some changes to give Mike some help," Virginia coach Ace Adams said.
Adams said he never considered holding the ball and playing for overtime.
"We wanted to win," he said. "There's no guarantee you're going to win even if it goes to overtime."
It was the first victory for Carolina in nine one-goal games since the 1986 NCAA championship game, in which the Tar Heels defeated UVa 10-9 in overtime. UNC has won seven of the past eight games between the teams.
"We definitely had a chance here and there to put the game away," Leder said.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB