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Regy Thorpe could see how close his team was to pulling off a monumental upset.

It’s been far from a perfect start for Syracuse’s first-year head coach. The Orange are 0-2 for the fourth time ever and the first time since 2001. In all fairness, SU’s first three contests are against Inside Lacrosse’s top three teams, though the slate barely gets easier after that stretch.

But in this particular moment, after Syracuse dropped its second game against No. 1 North Carolina, Thorpe looked at the positives, a challenge when there seemingly aren’t many.

“We were right there. It was a dogfight,” Thorpe said following SU’s 13-9 loss to the Tar Heels Friday. “I don’t think Carolina can just say they came in here and walked away with a W. They had to earn it. At the end of the day, if you give that type of effort all over the field and make teams earn it, you’ll eventually come out on the right end of the scoresheet.”

The Orange didn’t play the complete 60 minutes needed to snap UNC’s 23-game winning streak, which dates back to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Instead, SU delivered an unexpectedly polished 51 minutes and 33 seconds — pretty darn close.

Syracuse handed UNC its first deficit of the season and rode a 6-5 lead into halftime. The Orange were outshot by 21 yet still went toe-to-toe with college lacrosse’s juggernaut until midway through the fourth quarter. SU even held 2025 Tewaaraton Award winner Chloe Humphrey to one goal in the game’s opening 30 minutes.

So, regardless of what the record shows, Thorpe has several positives to take away. The Orange’s (0-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) four-goal defeat to No. 1 North Carolina paints a promising picture in the nascent moments of the Thorpe era.

“Obviously, we’re improving each game, and I saw a lot of fight,” SU midfielder Emma Muchnick said. “I think there was definitely 10-15 minutes where we took a little bit of a step back. We need to continue to fire each other up and keep each other on our toes for the entire 60 minutes.”

SU midfielder Emma Muchnick charges toward the net in Syracuse’s loss to North Carolina. Muchnick scored two goals and recognized the Orange’s offensive improvement. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor

Thorpe knows there’s no greater challenge than the Tar Heels. That’s why, when asked about the matchup that awaited him after Syracuse’s season-opening loss to then-No. 7 Maryland, his deflated expression turned into a faint smirk.

The Terrapins, two weeks after topping SU, have since jumped to No. 2 in the nation, just behind UNC. When Syracuse faced them, it was heavily outmatched.

The Orange held top UMD midfielder Kori Edmondson to just one point but allowed the Terrapins to lead 6-1 at halftime. Syracuse’s offense came out flat and misfired on 33 of its 38 shots. Molly Guzik, in her first game as SU’s draw specialist, held her own but never gave the Orange a clear edge. Maryland’s balanced attack caught SU goalie Daniella Guyette by surprise.

However, Syracuse made the top-ranked Tar Heels look unusually pedestrian. North Carolina’s 31.7% shooting percentage against SU was its worst since its 16-8 win over the Orange in February 2025. UNC’s 65.9% shot-on-goal clip would’ve been its third-worst mark last season, a campaign that ended in the program’s fourth national title.

SU’s strides from Game 1 to Game 2 were plain as day. The players felt it, too.

“(The improvement) is really promising and exciting,” Muchnick said. “Each game, we’re gonna get better and better.”

Thorpe gave his team a few keys entering the matchup: better shot selection, limiting runs and winning the draw battle. The Orange excelled in the first two, only faltering in the latter, with Guzik and Joely Caramelli failing to hit their stride in the circle.

Yes, SU’s offense tried 18 fewer shots and eight fewer shots on goal against the Tar Heels than a week prior versus the Terrapins. But its SOG% ticked up from 55.3% to 65%, and the Orange kept UNC goalie Betty Nelson without a save in the first half.

When asked what changes were made to open Syracuse’s offense up, Thorpe wasn’t all that enthused. He doesn’t consider nine goals to be much of an opening. The Orange scored nine or fewer goals just four times last season.

But after nearly doubling its five-goal output against UMD — with six SU players finding the scoresheet — Friday’s surge suggests others are finally carrying the load former Syracuse attack Emma Ward left behind.

“(Offense) was a huge priority at practice. A lot of us were disappointed in our individual performance, and we realized we needed to do better. Protect our house,” Muchnick said. “Everyone was honed in on that, and it made everyone else around them look a lot better.”

North Carolina craves scoring runs — its 10.59 average margin of victory paced the nation last season. The Tar Heels wouldn’t have hoisted the national title trophy without their unrelenting five or six-goal killshots that, as Thorpe says, can “take the heart out of the opponent.”

In UNC’s season-opening 19-11 win over James Madison, the Tar Heels had four runs of at least three goals, including a seven-goal burst that pushed their lead from four to 11. Thorpe was well-acquainted with the Tar Heels before Friday, too. In the 2025 Final Four, North Carolina trailed Thorpe’s Florida squad 4-2 in the first quarter before prevailing 20-4 behind a whopping 18-goal run.

On Friday, Syracuse shut UNC out — at least, relative to the Tar Heels’ standards. Guzik, Gracie Britton and Muchnick fueled SU’s three-goal flurry in the first quarter. The next 48 minutes didn’t see a scoring run greater than two goals, with seven ties across that span. North Carolina finally broke free in the fourth quarter with three straight scores.

“A team like (UNC) leans on you. It’s like a boxing match. Eventually, you’re going to give up a little bit,” Thorpe said. “Keeping that balance through 60 or more minutes is key. We played 40, 45, 50 good minutes. You can’t lapse against that team. But we limited their runs, and we answered their runs. And I think that’s the sign of a team that’s got a lot of potential.”

The draw was a forgettable part of SU’s game. Thorpe said last Wednesday that Syracuse had to keep its defense fresh, and Guzik’s performance would set the pace. But postgame, Thorpe recognized the Orange weren’t there yet.

The Tar Heels won the draw battle 15-8, including a 4-1 first-quarter disparity that prompted Thorpe to swap Guzik for Caramelli. She didn’t do much to help matters.

“We thought we had a good game plan,” Thorpe said. “A couple times we hit our marks, a couple times we didn’t.”

The vision of what Syracuse can become is still clear. The Orange already faced — and survived — their toughest challenge of the season. The defeat even boosted SU up a spot in the national rankings. That growth is already an encouraging sign for the future.

“At this point, playing this type of schedule, it’s about just building on the builds,” Thorpe said. “If we can do that, eventually we’re gonna come out on the right end.”

Published on February 17, 2026 at 9:57 pm
Contact Jordan: jordankimball28@gmail.com | @JordanKimball_