March 10, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina's Grant Zimmerman was named this week's Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week for the period ending on Sunday, March 9. Zimmerman tallied career-highs in saves, ground balls and save percentage, helping the Tar Heels post an 8-6 win over fifth-ranked Notre Dame.

Zimmerman's 60 minutes of action gave North Carolina the defense it needed to pull off a victory over No. 5-Notre Dame, Saturday at Fetzer Field. The junior goalkeeper faced 41 shots as the Fighting Irish outshot the Tar Heels, 41-29. Zimmerman allowed only six goals, three of which came when the Tar Heels were a man-down, while making 18 saves. His 18 were a career-high, topping the 15 saves he had last year against Johns Hopkins and Virginia and the 15 he had last Sunday against Cornell.

Zimmerman's eight ground balls matched his career-high versus Johns Hopkins last year, while the Cockeysville, Md., native's .750 save percentage in the game was also a personal-best. Zimmerman shutout the Fighting Irish in the first half, making seven saves as UNC built a 4-0 lead. In the second half, Zimmerman went on to make 11 more saves (eight in the third quarter) as Notre Dame outshot the Heels 26-12 in the final 30 minutes. With Saturday's performance, Zimmerman improved his save percentage to .700 on the season.

North Carolina men's lacrosse travels to face Providence on Tuesday, March 11 for a 1 p.m. ET contest.