GREENWOOD - On a rainy Saturday at Emerald High School, the Lander Men's Rugby team fought hard but eventually fell to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the conference opener for the Bearcats. With the loss, the Bearcats fell to 1-1 on the season and 0-1 in SCRC play.

Penalties and handling errors in the wet conditions kept the Bearcats from getting their attack established and allowed UNC to play in their attacking zone for the first part of the match. 

The Tar Heels would get on the scoreboard in the 12th minute following a well-placed penalty kick for touch to the 5m line. The conversion attempt was no good leaving us with a 5-0 score early on. UNC was able to get a second unconverted try in the first half and went into the break up 10-0. 

The Bearcats' defense was playing with a fast line speed, but a lack of discipline in the wet conditions while on attack kept the ball in the hands of the Tar Heels. In the 50th minute, UNC would expand its lead as they converted a penalty kick to make it 13-0. 

Despite the time of possession and scoring advantage, the Bearcats found themselves in the red zone multiple times only to turn the ball over. 

In the 60th minute, UNC scored another unconverted try off of a turnover to extend the lead 18-0. 

After that score, the Bearcats started to find their shape on attack and fixed the problems that had plagued them so far in the game. 

Lander struck twice quickly as Austin Johnson earned a hard-fought try on the far sideline. After a Tomas Mussi conversion, the score was 18-7. Then a few minutes later the Bearcat forwards were able to get the ball across the try line with Blaine Tomas scoring and Mussi converting to make it a one-score game at 18-14 

With their lead cut to four, the Tar Heels exploited a hole in the Bearcats' defense and score a converted try to end the comeback and seal the victory in the closing minutes. 

When asked about the loss, Head Coach Buck Billings said, "Hats off to [UNC] Chapel Hill, they played a good match, unfortunately, our handling errors in the wet conditions and our lack of discipline early cost us. This one is frustrating because our defense fought hard, but we gave them a lot of possession and we didn't capitalize on our many scoring opportunities. We'll learn a lot from this and these guys will come back better from it."

The Bearcats are back in action this Friday as they head to Blacksburg, Va. for a date with the defending national champions and top-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies. Kickoff for that match is scheduled for 6:00 PM.