2014 Finish
Furman – 1-12
UNC – 10-5 – lost to Denver 9-5 in first round of the NCAA tournament
UNC took down Richie Meads inaugural Furman team 19-3 in last year’s meeting. Coach Breschi’s Tar Heels are returning an insane amount of talent on offense but lost key players to graduation in Pat Foster, Ryan Creighton, TJ Kemp, Greg McBride and, of course, RG Keenan.
Stephen Kelly and Brent Armstrong stepped into the X for Keenan a few times last year and will do so again in 2015 with his departure. Keenan won 52-128 faceoffs, finishing his senior year winning 40 percent of all the draws he took. Kelly battled to win 74 of his 121 faceoffs and Armstrong picked up 9-29 draws for a combined 83-148 (56 win percentage).
Foster leaves after finishing third in the Tar Heels with 18 goals and 19 assists (37 points overall). UNC returns their number one and two point getters in Joey Sankey and Jimmy Bitter. The two alone totaled 94 points. Add Chad Tutton (28 points), Steve Pontrello (17 points), Shane Simpson (17 points), Spencer Parks (14 points) and the 30 combined points from Pat Kelly, Like Goldstock and Michael Tagliaferri, and there’s a lot of dangerous offensive weapons wearing the Tar Heel blue.
Defensively, Breschi will have to become a lot stronger. Jordan Smith, Ryan Creighton and Mark McNeil are the only defenders who graduated. UNC returns their stud goaltender, Kieran Burke, and a decent defense with sophomore Austin Pifani and senior Jake Bailey, but have open slots at SSDM with Creighton and McNeill departing and one spot at close with Smith graduating.
UNC has the power to make a run to the NCAA Tournament again with only losing 6 seniors and returning a ton of talent on both sides of the ball.
Furman is returning everyone. Graham Dabbs finished 2014 with 31 points to lead the Paladins. Followed by Kenny Meinsen and his 21 points and Zach Coker’s ten goals and nine assists. JJ McDaid will be in the spotlight as well for the Palladins as he was elected as one of the three Captains for the 2015 season after finishing 2014 with four points.
Clay Adams (Captain), Matt Geran and Chase Hancock combined for 23 goals and 15 assists and with a season under their belt, Coach Meade could see them prosper and grow. Furman FOGO, Hil Blaze, went 153-279 in 2014 (9-12 against UNC) and will look to up keep a high win percentage come game time.
Defensively, Triston Stegall, Tommy Farnish and Lincoln Liesemeyer (Captain) will be in front of Jake Gavin at close. Along with them are LSM’s Ralph D’Agostino and Joe Stone and SSDM’s Danny Dorsett and Pat Reilly. They will be a busy defense with the quickness and decption of the UNC offense. Look for North Carolina transfer, Nick Fonte, to have an impact on this game as well.
Game start time is set for Noon today at Chapel Hill.
