COLLEGE PARK -- There is never a dull moment when Maryland and North Carolina meet in any sport.
Yesterday was no exception as Maryland lacrosse coach Dick Edell cried foul against North Carolina after his sixth-ranked Terrapins finally subdued the 14th-ranked Tar Heels, 13-7, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Byrd Stadium.
"We were getting pounded physically in the final minutes by North Carolina," said Edell. "They were going so hard at us I had to get my starters off the field as quickly as I could. They [Tar Heels] were obviously frustrated. They were coming off a big win like Princeton last week and wanted to follow it up with a win today."
North Carolina coach Dave Klarmann said, "I don't know what he is talking about. I didn't see anything unusual about the way we were playing at the end."
To which Edell answered, "I wish he would go in our training room and look at all of our banged-up and bruised players in there."
Edell called two timeouts in the final two minutes of the game to get his starters and other key players off the field, even though Maryland (6-1, 1-1) had put the game on ice by scoring five straight goals in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter for a 13-7 lead.
It was a long day for North Carolina (5-3, 0-1) and Klarmann. The coach got called for a 30-second misconduct penalty just nine seconds into the game and a one-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 51 seconds left in the third quarter.
Maryland needed only eight seconds to capitalize on the 30-second call for a 1-0 lead, with junior Marcus LaChapelle scoring off a nice feed from Chris Malone.
It was the beginning of a big day for LaChapelle, who had a career-high three goals along with two assists. The five points also equaled a career-high for the product of St. Mary's High in Annapolis.
LaChapelle played a major role in the game-breaking five-goal surge at the start of the fourth quarter, giving the home team an 11-7 lead with a little more than 10 minutes remaining on a nifty shot past North Carolina goalkeeper Jarron Harkness and coming right back to get the ball to Brian Zeller for a score and a 12-7 advantage.
Jason Carrier completed the 5-0 run for Maryland with a goal off an assist by Kyle Ranningan for the 13-7 lead with 5: 18 left.
It was an especially satisfying performance for LaChapelle, who missed two practices and the Dartmouth game last week due to shin splints.
"I hope it's not a stress fracture," said LaChapelle. "I just want to keep on playing. I knew the team needed a little offensive lift today so I just came out playing hard."
LaChapelle was one of 14 Terps yesterday who had a goal or an assist in the fourth straight victory over North Carolina.
It was also the largest margin of victory for Maryland over North Carolina since March 28, 1987, when the Terps racked up a 16-6 win.
Senior Maryland attackman Scott Hochstadt joined in the fun yesterday with three goals. He now has 134 points, tying him for 18th on the all-time list at Maryland.
Senior Maryland defenseman Chris Lamy also was outstanding yesterday, shutting down North Carolina's explosive attackman Chase Martin on just two shots.
Lamy said: "I stayed on his right hand and took it away from him. I know he wants to use his right hand and I wouldn't let it happen."
North Carolina 2 1 4 0 -- 7
Maryland 4 0 4 5 -- 13
Goals: NC--Bowman 3, Beard, Crofton, Mehm, Sonke; Md.--LaChapelle 3, Hochstadt 3, Malone 2, Watkins, Combs, Osberg, Zeller, Carrier. Assists: NC--Crofton 2, Sonke; Md.--Malone 2, LaChapelle 2, Shirk, Lamy, Kemezis, Combs, Burnham, LaMonica, Ranningan. Saves: NC--Harkness 8; Md.--Healy 13.