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After Owen Seebold was called for slashing, North Carolina set up the perfect man-up opportunity. Attacks positioned themselves off the posts. Counterclockwise passes around the goal turned clockwise and back again. Then, Chris Gray found a weak spot. His defender slid too early, and Gray had an open shot to run from X to the front of the crease. 

Gray had a shooting lane, but he instead passed to an unguarded Alex Trippi on the other wing. He fired past Drake Porter, as the Tar Heels had done 15 times prior. UNC’s lead ballooned to nine goals with the effort, Syracuse’s largest deficit of the season at that point.

North Carolina’s offense showed on Saturday afternoon why it leads the nation in goals per game, notching the program’s first win in the Carrier Dome since 1991. The No. 5 Tar Heels (9-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) exploited a depleted No. 9 Syracuse (5-4, 1-3) defense, and the Orange gave up a season-high 21 goals en route to a 21-9 loss.

SU announced injuries to starting defender Nick DiPietro — who started all eight games prior to Saturday — and short-stick midfielder Brandon Aviles prior to the game. Furman transfer Cole Horan made his first start of the season in DiPietro’s place.

Porter saved the first shot on the game’s first possession, and Brett Kennedy caused a turnover just over a minute into UNC’s possession. But Syracuse’s clear failed, and the Tar Heels’ 5-0 first-quarter run began 30 seconds later with a point-blank shot. Another North Carolina faceoff win was followed by a quick goal, digging a hole the Orange would never get out of.

The Orange failed on three consecutive clear attempts during that five-goal run. On two occasions, an SU defender scooped up a ground ball but couldn’t bring it across midfield. In the first seven minutes of the game, the ball was on Syracuse’s offensive side of the field for a total of 74 seconds. 

SU only had one shot in that one possession: Peter Dearth scooped up a ground ball off the faceoff and fired over the top of the net. The offense spent the next minute trying — and failing — to find passing lanes. Eventually, Brendan Curry dropped the ball, and Carolina brought it right back to score.

“They win a faceoff and we get a stop defensively, then we go to clear the ball and we give it right back to them,” head coach John Desko said. “We can’t. Or else we’re going to be playing less offense every game and more defense.”

Jamie Trimboli scored on the next play to break UNC’s run, but the damage was already done. The Tar Heels scored twice more both before the quarter ended and when the second quarter started. The eight-goal deficit Syracuse faced just over a minute into the second quarter was its largest all season. Then, eight became nine, and nine became 10.

After the first quarter, Syracuse successfully cleared nine of its 11 for the remainder of the game. But SU struggled at the faceoff X, finishing 15-of-34, and the Orange struggled to adjust quick enough. 

Near the end of the third quarter, Zac Tucci won a faceoff, scooped the loose ball and drove toward the crease. He caught SU’s defense off guard — Dearth tried to make a move into his path, but it was too late. Kennedy held his stick out as a last line of defense, but Tucci already had a clear path to goal. He fired a shot past Porter’s right shoulder for a five-second possession that ended in a UNC goal.

“It is our recovery, leaving people open,” Desko said when asked about SU’s defensive issues. He said SU conceded other goals on missed and unnecessary slides, as well as on rebounds where SU made the initial save but wasn’t quick enough to the second ball.

Syracuse conceded a season-high 21 goals and scored a season-low nine goals. Courtesy of Rich Barnes | USA Today Sports

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Orange had played three of the four other teams in the ACC — and only came out with one win, a blowout over Virginia in the second game of the season. Four weeks later, they lost by one after nearly forcing overtime against No. 2 Duke. 

Syracuse’s season has since unfolded during ACC play. Against the Fighting Irish, Pat Kavanagh scored nine points and Porter gave up a career-high 18 goals for the second time this season. The Orange offense struggled. The defense struggled, too. They couldn’t put together runs and quickly let the game get away.

Saturday afternoon, the same Syracuse team that struggled against Notre Dame was back. After UNC’s 5-0 run, the Orange couldn’t do much. The defense gave up a season-high goals. The offense scored a season-low. 

A loss to UNC means Syracuse has just two regular season games remaining — at No. 3 Virginia and No. 2 Notre Dame — to find that one win to push it over .500 and avoid its first losing season since 2007.

Published on April 17, 2021 at 5:21 pm

aekaylor@syr.edu | @cincinnallie