Raleigh, N.C. – The top-ranked and defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels sprinted to a big early lead and defeated UMBC, 17-6, at Cardinal Gibbons High School on Saturday after in the opener for both teams.

The game marked the debut of new Retriever head coach Ryan Moran. It had to be moved from the UNC campus due to a major water main break in Chapel Hill.

UMBC senior attackman Max Maxwell (Hamburg, N.Y.) led UMBC with three goals and an assist. Junior long-stick defensive midfielder Billy O'Hara (Davidsonville, Md./South River) also had a strong game with seven ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.  

Sophomore attackman Jack Andrews (Arnold, Md./St. Mary's) added a pair of assists for the Retrievers and sophomore defender Jason Brewster (San Diego, Calif) caused a career-high five turnovers.  

Carolina won 9-of-12 first quarter face-offs and capitalized by scoring twice in the first 61 seconds. They also took advantage of some early jitters and miscues in clearing by UMBC and bolted to an 8-0 advantage at the 4:32 mark of the first period.  UMBC junior Austin Mitchell (Laurel, Md./Reservoir/Howard Community College) recorded UMBC's first score and the first of his career when he converted a Maxwell feed with 2:50 remaining in the quarter.

UNC would lead, 10-1, after 15 minutes and 12-1 at halftime. But UMBC came out of the locker room after the break and played the Tar Heels evenly in the final 30 minutes.  Maxwell scored twice in the third quarter and freshman Ben Revak (Aston, Pa.) finished a feed from Andrews, as the Retrievers held a 3-2 advantage on the scoreboard in the third period.

Maxwell completed his fourth career hat trick by finishing after a feed from sophomore midfielder Billy Nolan (Croton, Md./Arundel) 65 seconds into the fourth quarter. Freshman attackman Ryan Frawley (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) became the third newcomer to record a goal as he scored the lone man-up goal of the game with 5:02 to play.

Carolina outshot UMBC, 41-24, and won 19 of 27 draws in the game. UMBC senior netminder Ruston Souder (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) went the distance and collected 11 saves.

UNC midfielder Justin Anderson led a balanced attack with three goals and an assist.

The Retrievers did not commit a penalty in the game, while UNC only was whistled twice and UMBC went 1-for-2 on man-up opportunities.

UMBC gets back into action on Sat., Feb. 11, when they travel to Homewood Field to take on No. 8 Johns Hopkins.