Chapel Hill, N.C. ? Feb. 7, 2009 - In a hard fought battle, The Robert Morris University Colonials dropped their season opener to the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels by a score of 16-4 on Saturday afternoon at Fetzer Field.

Five Colonials tallied points in the loss, with senior captain Dan Kerch (Chesterfield, Mo. / Desmet) leading the way with one goal, five ground balls and one caused turnover. Freshman Dave Morton (Orangeville, Ontario / Hill School) netted his first career goal, while sophomores Corbyn Tao-Brambleby (Coquitlam, B.C. / Western Reserve Academy) and Rob Marasti (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) added a goal each. Three of the Colonials four goals were unassisted, with freshman Kyle Buchanan (Nepean, Ontario / John McCrae) dishing out the lone helper for the squad.

The RMU defenseman held off the Tar Heel attack for the first seven minutes of action. UNC's Sean Delaney netted the first goal for the Tar Heels with 7:22 left on the clock. Nearly two minutes later they increased their lead to two with a goal by Ben Hunt and in the last two minutes of the first quarter North Carolina scored their third goal to go into the second quarter with a three goal advantage.

Within the first five minutes of the second quarter UNC added a pair of goals to their collection and with 8:02 left on the clock increased their lead to six with a goal by Billy Bitter.

During a man-up advantage, freshman Morton got passed Tar Heel goalie Grant Zimmerman on an unassisted play to put the Colonial's up on the scoreboard with 4:23 left on the clock. Unfortunately, before the second quarter ended Bitter and Galvin Petracca each recorded their second scores of the contest to end the first half 8-1.

The Colonial defenseman did an exceptional job in the third quarter, allowing only two goals by the Tar Heels, while also grabbing a goal of their own at 11:23, when Kerch found a pass from teammate Buchanan and hit the net to move the score to 10-2 going into the final quarter.

The Colonials entered the fourth quarter with two-straight unassisted goals by Marasti and Tao-Brambleby to cut in on the Tar Heels eight goal lead.

Despite an aggressive effort by the Colonials, UNC was able to amass six more goals in the final five minutes of action to end the game with a final 16-4 score.

Colonial goalie Sal Barcia (West Islip, N.Y. / West Islip) finished the game with an impressive 19 save performance and led the team with seven ground balls, while Zimmerman added 12 saves to the contest.

The Tar Heels were led by Billy Bitter and Gavin Petracca, who added six and five points, respectively, in the win.

The Colonials open up their home season on Feb. 14, when Penn State visits Robert Morris for the first time to take on the Colonial squad. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.