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iOjp Sailg aor Hrrf Tar Heels tear it up in pool BY JESSE BAUMGARTNER STAFF WRITER In a perfect world, North Carolina swimming coach Frank Comfort would have this much excitement at every meet. Crammed into Koury Natatorium with six other teams for three days of intense competi tion, the Tar Heel women and men finished off the annual Nike Cup by capturing first and second place in their respective divisions Saturday night. “This meet is almost like a cham pionship, a practice for the cham pionship,” Comfort said. “There’s a better crowd, there’s more excite ment, there are a whole lot of different teams I mean, it’s an exciting gig.” SOCCER FROM PAGE 10 a few kicks, but the five shots they ended up with paled in comparison to UNC’s 42, anew school record for shots in a tournament match. The only rival that the Tar Heel attack faced was the UNC defense. Pepperdine came into the game boasting three upperclassman for wards who had combined for 29 goals. The trio combined to take one shot. “We don’t concede a staging area,” Dorrance said. “The three (defenders) are stepping forward at every opportunity. This disrupts the rhythm of most teams. It’s dif ficult for teams who aren’t accus tomed to playing against our style to effectively navigate it.” The Tar Heels (23-1) proved they were ready for the danger ous Waves (15-4-3), who had a tie against No. 1 overall seed Portland and a win against second-seeded Santa Clara on their resume. But the near-capacity crowd of 4,411 had to wonder if Pepperdine was ready for the Tar Heels. The Waves came in riding high with five consecutive victories and two shutouts to start the tourna ment, but the Tar Heel scoring out burst was by far the most shots and goals Pepperdine had seen this year. And the final score could have been more lopsided without a career performance by Pepperdine goalkeeper Anna Picarelli. Picarelli finished with 14 saves, a career high, and rebuffed several promising attempts with diving stops. “The save she made on Jaime Gilbert’s shot is the best save I’ve ever seen an opponent goalkeeper make on that field,” Dorrance said. • “She was actually moving to her left and managed to almost ‘Matrix’-like stop in the air, re organize her body and throw an arm up to hit it over the bar.” UNC now advances to the round of eight where they are 22-0 all time to face Florida State on Friday at 3 p.m., once again at home. And if they turn in another effort like Saturday’s, it will take a Neo like performance to stop them. Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu. FOOTBALL FROM PAGE 10 Richardson. “That got us out of our game plan, out of our mind-set. They had us fussing at each other because we were trying to get each other under control.” Even when North Carolina seemed to reverse the game’s momentum with a big defensive play, it backfired. Three times twice on interceptions, once on a fourth-down stand at the goal line the defense, handed the ball to the offense on its own 1-yard line. And when injuries to defensive UNC 24, Duke 21 Puke 14 0 0 7 21 UNC 7 10 0 7 24 Scoring Summary First Quarter UNC Baker 1 yd. run (Barth kick), 11:29 Duke Asack 2 yd. run (Surgan kick), 7:35 Duke Boyle 1 yd. run (Surgan kick), 0:57 Second Quarter UNC Mitchell 38 yd. pass from Baker (Barth kick), 11:16 UNC Barth 24 yd. field goal, 0:00 Fourth Quarter Duke Drummer 24 yd. wn (Surgan kick), 5:02 UNC McGill 3 yd. run (Barth kick), 1:38 Attendance 50,000 Duke UNC First Downs 11 26 Rushes-Yards 38-81 46-163 Passing Yards 163 238 Comir-AtMnt 11-30-3 15-34-0 Total Yards 244 401 Punts-Avg. 7-42.3 7-40.3 Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-2 Penattles-Yards 11-90 8-68 Time of Possession 29:10 30:50 Individual Leaders Rushing: UNC-McGill 28-146. Duke—Boyle 10-46. Passing: UNC-Baker 15-34-0 238. Duke—Asack 10-26-1 155. Receiving: UNC-Pollock 4-82. Duke —Roland 2-71. The additional teams and their fans provided lots of noise all weekend via team chants and encouragement, reaching a fever pitch at times. “I just love before the relays,” Comfort said. “I just love stand ing there, and I’ve been doing this for a while. But I get excited about it.” In second place after the first two days, the women’s swimming and diving team stormed back Saturday to pass Virginia Tech and win the Cup with a score of 883.5 points. “We really needed to have a lot of energy left the last day in order to catch up, and keep consistently coming fast the whole time,” said sophomore Lindsey Marck. Luckily for the Tar Heels, many of their strongest events came on the last day, providing the oppor tunity for a comeback. Marck played a large part in UNC’s success with victories in the 100- and 200-yard butter fly events, and freshmen Nicole O’Donnell and Whitney Sprague garnered much-needed points in their respective freestyle races. O’Donnell won the 1,650-yard free in a team-record time of 16:13.88, while Sprague won the 200 and broke the team record in the 500, with a time 0f4:44.25. Marck, O’Donnell and Sprague all qualified for the NCAA Championships with their times. On the men’s side of the com GARDNER-WEBB FROM PAGE 10 The Bulldog guards, on the other hand, didn’t miss much. Senior starters T. J. McCullough and Tim Jennings and backup freshman Ricky McPhee, who had a team-high 21 points in just 20 minutes, combined to go 9-for-l6 from beyond the arc. And G-W, which hit close to 60 percent from the floor in the first half, just might have shot the Tar Heels right out of their own building if not for the solid inside play of freshman sensation Tyler Hansbrough. He had 15 of his team-high 21 points by halftime and generally lived, up to the enormous hype that has been bestowed upon him. Still, Hansbrough was reluc tant to take all the credit for North Carolina’s inside play. “I wouldn’t say I carry the load,” he said. “With David and Byron (Sanders), I think we all do it equal.” That might be true except for the Sanders part, of course —and against G-W, the Tar Heels were extremely fortunate that both Hansbrough and Noel came up big. And while it was the freshman who provided the most points, it was the senior who provided the ones that proved most impor tant. “I’m extremely happy for David Noel, because he’s done a great stalwarts Chase Page and Tommy Davis threatened to decimate a. depleted defensive line, the Tar Heels had every opportunity to fold. But quarterback Matt Baker who threw for 238 yards and one touchdown in the game wouldn’t let it happen. Trailing 21-17 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the offense began to drive with no alternative but to score a touchdown. “It was like, We’d better get in the end zone, or this isn’t going to be pretty,”’ Baker said. “Everyone in that huddle knew we were going to do it.” But with the way the Tar Heels had struggled to that point, the final drive certainly couldn’t be smooth. On the fourth play of the drive, an apparent touchdown pass to Jesse Holley went instead as an offensive pass-interference pen alty and left the Tar Heels back in their own territory. Three plays later, with the Tar Heels facing a do-or-die fourth down in Duke territory, tailback Ronnie McGill found a sliver of daylight on the right side of the line and stretched for the first down by the slimmest of mar gins. “At first, I thought he had defi nitely gotten it, and then I looked at the chains from the sideline and looked at the ball spot, and I knew it was going to be pretty close,” said offensive tackle Skip Seagraves. But the tide-turning play of the drive came when Baker, having thrown two straight incomplete passes, put the game in the hands of his feet. With Duke linebacker Jeramy Edwards hot in pursuit, Baker sprinted to the left side line and slid safely for a 19-yard gain. “I thought I had beat him to the corner, but you never know Sports petition, UNC claimed second place, finishing 190.5 points behind Clemson with a score of 862.5. Sophomore Ryan Funderburk dominated the diving portion of the Cup, winning both the 1- and 3-meter events, and senior Chad Ames tied that’s right, tied Virginia Tech’s Gus Calado in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:47.71. Comfort said he was pleased with the team’s performance, hint ing that he expects to see a differ ent result when the men meet the Tigers head-to-head in mid- January. Junior swimmer Tristan Davidson also saw the perfor mance as a step in the right direc tion. “This meet we were definitely looking to make progress with our time, just to be faster in general,” he said. “And we did a good job of that.” The Tar Heels will next meet N.C. State on Nov. 30 before enjoy ing a blank schedule in December, but Davidson pointed toward the ACC Championships in February as the team’s major goal. “You know (the ACC Championship) has eluded us for a couple of years,” he said. “But we’ve definitely got a lot of talent, a lot of good depth —we’ve done some hard work.” Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu. job of leading this team through preseason practice,” Williams said. “Overall, you just feel as lucky as you can possibly be and just get the heck out of town.” Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu. UNC 83, Gardner-Webb 80 Gardnei-Webb 46 34 80 North Carolina 46 37 83 Gsrdner-Wobb (80) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Bender 34 M 0 0-2 3-6 2 4 3 Gash 31 2*B 3-4 2-4 4 1 7 Corm 36 6-8 4-4 1-3 2 4 16 McCulfgh 36 5-8 0-0 2-6 3 4 13 Jennings 37 9-15 0-0 0-6 4 3 20 * McPhee 20 6-8 5-5 00 1 3 21 Jones 4 00 OO 0-0 0 2 0 Saddle 2 01 00 00 0 0 0 Total 200 29-58 12-15 10-27 16 21 80 Percentages —FG ,600, FT 800. 3-point goals 1027 370 {Bender 1-7. Jennings 2-8. McPhee 4-6. McCullough 3-4, Gash 03. Siddle 01). Team rebounds 2. Blocked shots - 0 Turnovers 23 (Jennings 9. McCullough 6, Gash 4, Bender 3, McPhee) Steals l4 (McCullough 4. Jennings 4, Bender 2. McPhee 2, Gash. Conn) North Carolina (83) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Noel 32 6-7 3-7 3-5 2 1 17 Hansbrgh 28 9-12 34 14 1 2 21 Terry 27 5-8 3-6 3-5 5 2 13 Gmyard 26 4-9 OO 1-3 2 1 8 Frasor 21 I*6 0-1 02 7 1 2 Thomas 19 03 OO 02 4 1 0 Green 13 4-6 6-6 M 1 1 17 Mitter 14 01 0-0 OO 0 t 0 Sanders 18 24 ' 1-2 1-3 0 2 5 Copeland 2 OO OO 00 0 0 0 Total 200 31-56 16-26 11-28 22 12 83 Percentages FG .554, FT .615 3-point goals 5-15 .333 (Green 3-5, Frasor 04, Noel 2-2, Terry 02, Gmyard 0- 1. Miller 01) Team rebounds —3. Blocked shots O. Turnovers 2O (Frasor 5, Ginyard 3, Thomas 3. Noel 2, Hansbrough 2, Terry 2, Sanders 2, Miller). Steals l4 (Ginyard 4, Noel 3, Terry 3, Frasor. Thomas. Green. Miller). Technical fouls None Attendance - 19,781 where they are, if they’re going to dive and get you,” he said. “I felt something hit my shoulder pad, and I was waiting for my feet to get clipped.” It never happened. Two plays later, McGill scored the game winning touchdown from three yards out, capping a 28-carry, 146-yard day, his most prolific output of the season in both cat egories. All that remained was for Richardson to intercept a pass from Blue Devil replacement quarterback Mike Schneider Richardson’s first career inter ception. “He’s been dying to get a pick all season,” Davis said. “It was a great way to end his home career.” The early struggles with disci pline, however, left a sour taste in the mouths of those Tar Heels who saw an opportunity to decide the game well before the fourth quar ter. “We’re still a much better team than Duke,” Baker said. “I’m not afraid to sit here and tell you that. The score shouldn’t have been as close as it was. ... It’s going to be a tougher game, always, than what it should be, but it still shouldn’t have been that close.” Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu. Take 15/501 South towards Pittsboro Exit Main 5t./Southern Village HARRY POTTER 4 THE GOBLET OF~ FIRE 101 1:00-4:00-7:00-10:00 WALK THE LINE ®! 1:15-4:15-7:15-10:05 ZATHURA 8 1:16-4:00-7:15-9:30 DERAILED i 9:35 CHICKEN LITTLE Bl 1 00-3 00-5 00-7 oo 9.10 SB.BO DIGITAL SEATING Tarpley, White lead the waves of UNC offense BY DANIEL MALLOY SPORTS EDITOR Pepperdine goalkeeper Anna Picarelli looked like she had been in a fight. She walked into the interview room of the McCaskill Soccer Center with a dazed look on her face and sat down at the podium with one sleeve covered in grass stains, the other rolled up with an ice pack taped to her shoulder. Though Picarelli had turned in arguably the finest game of her career, she had just been the victim of a relentless Tar Heel attack keyed by two record-setting seniors, who led the team to a 6-0 victory that wasn’t even as close as the score. News flash: Kacey White and Lindsay Tarpley are good. Real good. White took her usual sidekick role to anew height Saturday, set ting an NCAA Tournament record with five assists by masterfully man ning the right midfield and humbly setting up her talented forwards. “It’s a tribute to the great finish ers we have on this team,” White said. “I try to put the balls in the DAVIDSON FROM PAGE 10 already had engineered an 11-1 run, and it entered the break with a 48- 24 lead despite being outrebounded by the Wildcats (O-l) by four. “We were trying to get to the offensive end without the basket ball,” Hatchell said. “You have to get the basketball first before you can get to the other end. We have to block out and get the rebound before we can fast UNC 86, Davidson 48 Davidson 24 24 48 North Carolina 48 38 86 Davidson (48) fg ft rb maf m-a m-a o-t 0 pf tp Kelly 26 24 4-6 5-10 1 3 8 Hemerka 29 2-10 3-5 2-2 2 2 7 Crayton 20 5-12 2-3 '24 0 3 13 Mitchell 21 04 OO 2-3 0 10 Wshngtn 37 3-3 3-5 1-2 2 0 9 Robinson 9 0-1 OO 0-1 0 2 0 Gassie 15 03 00 18 0 2 0 Housley 22 1-14 OO 14 2 2 2 Halbrslbn 21 3-7 34 7-8 1 3 9 Total 200 16-58 15-22 2446 8 18 48 Percentages FG 276. FT .682. 3-point goals l-16 .0® (Housley 0-7. Mitchell 04, Hemerka 0-3. Crayton 1-2) Team rebounds l. Blocked shots 2 (Crayton. Gassie). Turnovers 26 (Housley 8. Washington 6, Hemerka 3. Keify 2. Crayton 2, Mitchell 2. Robinson 2, Gassie). Steals 8 (Kelly 2. Hemerka 2, Washington 2. Crayton, Mitchell). North Carolina (86) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Little 21 2-7 36 3-6 4 1 7 Larkins 17 6-8 06 3-6 11 12 Atkinson 15 16 00 2-3 1 12 Sell 15 1-3 OO 0-2 1 13 Latta 26 7-12 2-2 0-2 7 0 20 McCants 21 . 4-15 0-0 56 4 1 9 Miller 19 26 OO 0-1 1 15 Pringle 17 1-3 2-5 4-7 1 2 4 Dewitt 16 4-7 0-2 4-9 1 3 8 Mcfarlnd 8 1-2 00 OO 1 0 2 Ciaytor 9 2-5 1-2 1-2 10 7 Nelms 8 1-1 00 1-1 2 0 2 Austin 5 1-1 OO OO 0 0 2 Woods 3 1-2 1-1 OO 0 4 3 Total 200 34-77 9-18 244 826 15 86 Percentages FG .442, FT .500. 3-point goals -9- 25 .360 (Latta 4-7, McCants 1-6, Claytor-2-5. Atkinson 0-3, Sell 1-2, Miller H Little 0-1). Team rebounds 6. Blocked shots 6 (Pringle 4, Larkins, McCants). Turnovers l6 (McCants 5, Latta 4, Atkinson 3. Dewitt 2, Pringle, Ciaytor) Steals l3 (Larkins 4. Latta 2, Nelms 2. little. McCants. Miller, Dewitt, Ciaytor). Technical fouls Davidson, team Attendance 1.676. D-LINE FROM PAGE 10 defensive end getting ready to play his first snap. “When I saw Tommy go down, I wds like ‘Oh my goodness, I have really got to step it up now,’” Brown said. “I said to him, ‘Let’s go man, you can’t leave me out here by myself.’” Judging by the events lead ing up to and during Saturday’s contest, it’s no wonder Brown felt deserted. The preceding week of practice saw injuries slow starting defensive linemen Brian Rackley, Hilee Taylor and Shelton Bynum, leaving their playing status in doubt and forcing Brown into the role of prominent reserve. • And after Kentwan Balmer was ejected in the first quarter and defensive tackle Chase Page sus tained a sprained right knee on the play before Davis’ injury, Brown was virtually on his own. But Brown responded. With Duke trailing, 17-14, and threatening on first down at the UNC 20-yard line, Brown hurried Blue Devil quarterback Zack Asack into an incompletion, and Brown’s continued pressure led to an Asack interception two plays later. “Coach (John Bunting) told me Adv. Tlx on Sale CHRONICLES OP NARNIA (PG) * Adv. Tlx on Sale KING KONG (PG-13) * Adv. Tlx on Sale YOURS MINE & OURS (PG) * HARRY POTTER & THE GOBLET OF FIRE (PG-13) DIG* (11501210325 345)700 720 1035 WALK THE LINE (PG-13) OIG (1230 400)715 1015 CHICKEN LITTLE (G) (130 445) 710 920 JARHEAD (R) - ID REQ'D (120 410) 725 1005 ZATHURA (PG) (110435)705 930 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2005 right areas but ultimately it’s up to them to finish it.” In her four years in Chapel Hill White now has put the ball in the right area 58 times, tying her for third on UNC’s all-time assist list. No. 56 came when White col lected the ball on the right side, biding her time until she found just enough of an opening to slip the ball to a wide open Heather O’Reilly 5 yards in front of the goal. Picarelli had no chance. It’s those kinds of plays that make White, in UNC coach Anson Dorrance’s eyes, worthy of a national team spot. “I’m hoping this is a platform for her to get to play for her country,” Dorrance said. “Because I can’t think of a flank player in the United States right now that’s playing bet ter soccer than Kacey White.” The other player with 58 career assists is one more known for her scoring Tarpley. She netted a hat trick for the second straight game, earning the UNC record for career NCAA Tournament goals that was previously owned by someone named Mia. After the match, Pepperdine head “ They’re ranked (seventh) in the nation, and they certainly played like it. ...We were kind of rattled there a little.” ANNETTE WATTS, DAVIDSON COACH break, and I think maybe we for got that.” The Tar Heels corrected the rebound margin in the second half, besting their opponents on the boards 28-22, and they quickly put the game away as well. By the first media timeout, they led by 30. Less than four minutes later, the lead had ballooned to 39. “They’re ranked (seventh) in the nation, and they certainly played like it,” said Davidson coach Annette Watts. “They tried to trap and press us... and we were kind of rattled there a little.” The lopsided score allowed the Tar Heels to empty their bench, with all five freshmen on the roster playing for at least three minutes each. Rashanda McCants led the rook ies with nine points though she struggled with her shooting, mak ing only four of 15 from the floor for a dismal field goal percentage of .267. Fellow freshman Christina Dewitt also contributed eight points and led the team with nine rebounds in 16 minutes on the floor. The contest against Davidson was Dewitt’s first after being sus pended for UNC’s final exhibition game against Athletes in Action for an unspecified violation of team rules. “(The freshmen) just have to relax and play,” Hatchell said. “They’re reacting instead of antici pating or being there ahead of time they’re not sure about every during pregame to give him some confidence to put me in the game, because I’ve been out for a while,” Brown said. “I guess I gave him that confidence, because he kept me in there. Also, I was thinking this game was for the seniors, so I had to play at the top my game.” And in the fourth quarter, Davis returned the favor. Duke was threatening to take the lead again, and on fourth down the Blue Devils were separated from the end zone by just a few inches —and a determined North Carolina front four. Davis penetrated through the Duke offensive line to stop tailback Requan Boyette short of a touch down and create another game saving turnover. Davis’ resilience is one rea son why fellow senior Tommy Richardson never was fazed by the dire state of the defense and Duke’s shocking ability to hang with the Tar Heels. “I was really calm during that goal line stand and throughout the whole game, because I know our team is quite capable of stop ping anybody, no matter who is out there,” Richardson said. But the same peace that settled his linebacker never fully pene trated Bunting’s soul until game’s PFPFiPflilf Specializing in pre-arranged transportation to: ■ Bftfcfcs, AIRPORT * AMTRAK j BWSfe. APPOINTMENTS m* V Major credit cards accepted coach Tim Ward sounded more like a fan than an opponent as he gushed about Tarpley’s ability. “She’s better than most guys I’ve played against,” Ward said. “So I can’t say she plays like a guy because she plays better than a lot of guys. She’s more sophisticated.” Fittingly, Tarpley’s final two goals came from the foot of White, the first a cross from the right side of the box, the second a perfectly placed through ball. “Up front, their understanding of where their teammates are,” Ward said. “They can link up, one touch. It’s fantastic.” It’s that kind of quick passing and deft ball movement that has the Tar Heels back in the NCAA quar terfinals after a one-year absence. And has them playing some of their best soccer of the season. “The timing couldn’t be better.” Dorrance said. “If you want to play at your highest level, I think if you pick the NCAA Tournament as your time to peak, you’ve picked wisely.” Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu. thing. The tempo of the game is much, much faster than how they played in high school.” Considering the fact that the five first-year players contributed a total of 29 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists in only their first game of the season, however, things could be worse. And if Friday is any indication, it could be a long season for North Carolina’s opponents if the fresh men can adjust to college-game speed. Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu. DTH/BRANDON SMITH North Carolina freshman forward Rashanda McCants elevates for one of her 15 shots in UNC's 86- 48 win against Davidson on Friday, end. “The guys that started and fin ished, we owe them an awful lot of credit,” he said. “We went in with a defensive end situation that was really difficult. With Kentwan gone, you’re dealing with a situation where we don’t have anyone else to go to. “But Melik Brown comes back after and gives us some significant snaps. I’m going to give those kids a heck of a lot of credit. Those kids really, really toughed it out. If there are any guys who deserve some credit for courageous play, it’s that defensive front.” And while it is a wonder how the “rotation” sustained the energy and drive needed to tri umph in Saturday’s defensive battle, Richardson alluded to the idea that Brown, Davis, Page and Kyndraus Guy might have received relief from one other source. “The defensive line situation never bothered me, because I knew we had capable backups to fill in,” he said. “We’ve been favor ing our line all week in practice, and Brown stepped in there to play great. God definitely showed His presence out there (Saturday) as well.” Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu. 9