University of North Carolina 6, Georgetown 4.

On Sunday, February 22, 2009, during the consolation game for third place in the ACCHL tournament, the Tarheels of the University of North Carolina defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 6-4. Similar to the semi-final game against Duke, the Hoyas outshot their opponent by a considerable margin--43 to 22. But the Tarheels seized the moment by scoring 4 power play goals, and 1 shorthanded, to secure the victory and bronze medal.

After UNC jumped out to a surprising 3-0 lead in the first period, the Hoyas started a comeback when Dan Lechner (Jr-Rockville, MD) scored from the left of the crease off a nice pass from Alex Yale-Loehr (Fr-Ithaca, NY), further assisted by Richie McGinniss (Fr-New Canaan, CT). Early in the second period, UNC scored on a power play to stretch the lead to 4-1. Georgetown quickly answered to cut the deficit to 4-2 when Hugh Manahan (Sr-Skillman, NJ) powered a rebound through three defenders and into the goal, assisted by Charlie Beller (Soph-Chappaqua, NY) and Pete Black (Sr-Bethesda, MD). Just when it seemed that the Hoyas were gaining momentum and on the verge of taking control, the Tarheels scored on another power play toward the end of the second period to take a 5-2 lead heading into the final intermission.

The Hoyas were weakened in spirit but refused to give up. During the first 5 minutes of the final period, Lukas Autenried (Fr-Wallisellen, Switzerland) scored on a nice twisting turn-around goal from the slot, assisted by Hugh Manahan and Justin McNamara (Soph-Wrentham, MA). The score was now 5-3 and everyone was ready for Georgetown to make its move. UNC, however, was the team that made the next move. The Tarheels scored at the 13:31 mark to take a 6-3 lead. This goal gave the Tarheels the cushion they needed, and they proceeded to pack the defensive zone and dump the puck at every opportunity. During the third period, Georgetown outshot UNC by the margin of 16 to 2. Finally, with 21 seconds remaining in the game, Senior Captain Adam Willner (Montclair, NJ) scored on a rebound, assisted by Hugh Manahan and Gus Thompson (Soph-New Canaan, CT) to make the final score 6-4.