Senior Andy Matthews recorded a career-high five assists and freshman Zachary Tucci won the sixth most face-offs in a game in UNC history as the Tar Heels held off Furman 14-10 in the men's collegiate lacrosse action at Kenan Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Tar Heels built a six-goal lead early in the third quarter before the Paladins pulled back within three goals midway through the third period. UNC responded with five straight goals to gain its biggest lead of the game at 14-6 before the Paladins ended the game on a four-goal run. The game was the home opener for the Tar Heels after they started their season with a 20-9 win at Mercer last Saturday. UNC is now 2-0 on the season and Furman fell to 0-2 with losses to Duke and North Carolina. UNC has won all six games in the series against the Paladins since the two teams first met in 2014. Alex Trippi led the Tar Heels with three goals, the first hat trick of his career. Tanner Cook, William Perry, Brian Cameron and Ara Atayan each had two goals for the Tar Heels while Timmy Kelly, Nicky Solomon and Jacob Kelly each recorded single tallies. Cameron and Atayan both scored their first career goals for Carolina. Andy Matthews had five assists in the game, setting a new career high. His previous career high was four helpers against Lehigh on February 18, 2017. Freshman face-off man Zachary Tucci won 21 of 27 face-offs for the Tar Heels. He also led the Tar Heels with 10 ground balls. The 21 face-off wins by Tucci were the sixth most in a game in UNC history. The only individuals in Carolina to ever win more face-offs in a game have been Shane Walterhoefer, Stephen Kelly and Todd Oudemool. Furman was led in scoring by Jarrett Birch who tallied a game-high four goals. He also added an assist. Chad Kreuzer had a pair of goals for Furman and four other Paladins had single tallies. Jack Pezzulla matched his career high for saves in a game with 13 against the Paladins while allowing 10 goals. He matched the total of 13 saves he had against Johns Hopkins on February 23, 2018 in the Tar Heels' 13-11 win against the Blue Jays at Homewood Field. Alec Van de Bovenkamp was brilliant in the cage for the Paladins as he made 20 saves while allowing 14 goals. UNC outshot the Paladins 46-33 while Furman edged out the Tar Heels 35-34 in the ground ball battle. Carolina needed its 21-6 edge in the face-off circle as the Tar Heels committed an uncharacteristically high 18 turnovers in the game while the Paladins had just 12 miscues. Furman was 24 of 27 on clears while North Carolina was 17 of 20 in the clearing game. UNC scored two extra-man goals, both on the same penalty by the Paladins in the first quarter which was an unreleasable foul. Furman had all three of its extra-man goals in the second half, all aiding the Paladins in making runs that narrowed the Tar Heels' lead on a pair of occasions. North Carolina opened the scoring with a goal by Alex Trippi at 12:10 of the first quarter. Forty-one seconds later, UNC had a cousin-to-cousin goal as senior Timmy Kelly fed freshman Jacob Kelly to put the Tar Heels up 2-0. With 2:23 left in the first quarter, Furman's Matt Mahoney was sent off for a minute for cross checking, a penalty that was charged as unreleasable. UNC took advantage to score at 2:06 with Tanner Cook taking a feed from Andy Matthews. Carolina then scored its second man-up goal of the possession as William Perry scored off an assist from Matthews with 1:40 to play in the period. After Furman tallied to cut the lead to 4-2, Timmy Kelly snuck one past Van de Bovenkamp with six second left in the quarter to give UNC a 5-2 lead after the opening period. Carolina outscored the Paladins 3-1 in the second quarter to increase the lead 8-3 at the half. UNC's goals in the second quarter came from William Perry, Alex Trippi and Nicky Solomon. When Alex Trippi finished his hat trick at 10:39 of the third quarter, the Tar Heels appeared to be in control as they led 9-3. But Furman ran off three goals in just 1:30, the latter two extra-man goals to pull within three goals at 9-6 with 6:22 left in the third quarter. Carolina answered that run with five straight goals of its own. Tanner Cook scored off Matthews' fourth assist of the game with 1:51 left in the third quarter. Then sophomore midfielder Ara Atayan scored his first career goal on an incredible individual effort with four seconds left in the period. UNC tallied three goals in the opening 1:49 of the final period to take its biggest lead of the game at 14-6 with 13:11 left in the period. Brian Cameron had back-to-back goals at 14:41 and 13:44, the first two markers of his career. Atayan then scored his second goal of the game with 13:11 to go. Furman was able to crawl back in after the Tar Heels committed turnovers and penalties to help the Paladins score four times in just 5:31. Jarrett Birch scored twice in that run by Furman. But after an unassisted goal by Carson Sorrells with 3:06 to play, UNC was able to kill the rest of the clock to finish off a 14-10 win. UNC will be back in action again next Saturday at 12 noon, hosting Harvard at Kenan Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on ACC Network Extra. GAME NOTES • North Carolina improved to 6-0 all-time against Furman, including 4-0 in games in Chapel Hill. • Zachary Tucci's 21 face-off wins were the sixth most in a game in UNC history. The only individuals with more wins were 23 by Shane Walterhoefer versus Ohio State on April 12, 2008; 23 by Stephen Kelly versus Virginia on April 9, 2017; 22 by Todd Oudemool versus Towson on May 13, 1989; 22 by Shane Walterhoefer versus UMBC on May 9, 2009; and 22 by Stephen Kelly versus Duke on March 29, 2015. • Zachary Tucci had a game-high 10 ground balls, one more than the nine scooped up by Furman defenseman Cole Horan. • Both goalies played well in a game that had a lot of end-to-end action. Jack Pezzulla had a career-high 13 saves and career-high four ground balls. He matched his career high for saves in a game originally set against Johns Hopkins on February 23, 2018. Pezzulla's four ground balls exceeded his previous career high of three set against Mercer on February 28, 2018. • Andy Matthews had five assists in the game. That broke his previous career high of four set against Lehigh on February 18, 2017. • Andy Matthews had five points in the game. That equaled his career high of five points versus Dartmouth on March 18, 2017 and against Lehigh on February 17, 2018. • Ara Atayan and Brian Cameron each played in their second career games and each scored their first career goals. Both players had two tallies and they came over a span of just 1:53. Atayan scored with four seconds left in the third quarter. Cameron scored at 14:41 and 13:44 of the fourth quarter and Atayan finished the scoring on the day for UNC at 13:11. • Alex Trippi had his first career hat trick. He previously had two goals in a game three times in his freshman year against Denver, Syracuse and Notre Dame. • Andy Matthews now has 82 points in his career. He is tied with Neill Redfern for 56th place all-time at UNC. • Timmy Kelly now has 75 career points and is in 61st place all-time at UNC. • Andy Matthews now has 59 career assists and is tied with Jed Prossner for 22nd place all-time at UNC.