Saturday, March 2, the 9th ranked Tarheels took on the 2nd ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. As can be expected, the early polls had the Irish picked well over the Heels. The game started following the overall consensus, with Notre Dame jumping out to a two goal lead. Carolina returned the favor as Jimmy Bitter fed Joey Snakey on the fast break, to cut the Irish lead to one. Again, Notre Dame pushed back as they took advantage of the two man advantage on a goal by Will Corrigan from Matt Kavanagh, remember that name. Carolina pulled it back within one to end the period, as Marcus Holman netted a quick stick from Greg McBride.
With the second quarter underway, the Heels took the lead netting two goals, the first from Steve Pontrello, followed up by Jimmy Bitter hooking up with Holman for a 10 yard net burner. Short lived it was, however, as the Irish tallied two more to close out the half.
North Carolina entered the second half with a fire, as they dropped four on Notre Dame. With tallies from, Steve Pontrello, Jimmy Bitter, Joey Snakey and Pat Foster that put the Heels up 8-5 with the third quarter winding down. The Fighting Irish were not done, however as they netted one more in the closing seconds of the third quarter.
As the fourth quarter began, the Tarheels again showed their talent with Spencer Parks tallying an unassisted goal. The Irish, not to be out done, poured two on in a total of six seconds. One off an intercepted pass by Matt Kavanagh which he took in for an easy open netter, Sean Rodgers put the other one in off an assist from Kavanagh. With the score 9-8 and under a minute to play the Irish need something to send the game to overtime. They got just that play from Matt Kavanagh as he netted an assist from Conor Doyle with 11.8 seconds to play.
Two overtime periods and 15 seconds later, Matt Kavanagh scored the game winner after a wild face off to open the third overtime period. The Irish topped the Heels in a hard fought battle, with the score ending 10-9 in triple overtime.
Do not worry Carolina fans, yes, the Heels may be 2-2, and yes they may look like they are hurting on the attack, but there are bright sides. Carolina still got great production from Bitter and Holman. And they just held the #2 team in the country to three overtime periods. Also Carolina’s schedule looks smoother in the near future. So, never fear Tarheel fans the future looks brighter.
