Previewing No. 3 Syracuse’s road matchup with No. 2 North Carolina
No. 3 Syracuse looks to remain unbeaten in ACC play when it travels to Chapel Hill to face No. 2 North Carolina Saturday. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer
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Syracuse got off to a winning start in Atlantic Coast Conference play with a breathless 16-15 victory over No. 8 Duke Saturday. It continued a rich vein of form for the Orange, extending their win streak to six.
That run may be in jeopardy in SU’s next game. Syracuse travels to No. 2 North Carolina, which is coming off a dominant 17-7 win over No. 7 Harvard in Severn, Maryland, Sunday. The Crimson defeated the Orange 13-12 in Cambridge on Feb. 21.
The Tar Heels will be another litmus for SU as it continues its conference slate and rolls into the latter stages of its regular season schedule.
Here’s everything to know about No. 2 North Carolina (9-1, ACC) before it hosts No. 3 Syracuse (9-2, 1-0 ACC) Saturday:
All-time Series
Syracuse leads 20-13.
Last time they played
No. 11 Syracuse’s barnstorming comeback fell short in its 14-12 loss to No. 8 North Carolina on April 26, 2025. The Tar Heels extended their lead to six goals with 3:01 left in the fourth quarter. Then the Orange hit desperation mode, scoring four unanswered in under two minutes.
They were within two goals with 37 seconds left, and Finn Thomson looked to have drawn within one with 32 seconds to go. However, he was called for a crease violation and all of the Orange’s momentum escaped the balloon.
Faceoff struggles set Syracuse back in that defeat. John Mullen won 11 of his 26 draws, his second-lowest mark of the 2025 season, losing out to UNC’s great faceoff man Brady Wambach. UNC’s 10-man ride also suffocated the Orange into a lowly 58.8% clearing percentage.
The loss continued Syracuse’s spiral, sending it into the ACC Tournament with three straight losses. That didn’t matter; the Orange won the conference tournament.
The Tar Heel report
North Carolina entered the season full of promise. Its two-headed attack of Owen Duffy and Dominic Pietramala combined for 82 of UNC’s 192 goals last season. The two are now in their junior years and remain prolific. Duffy has 21 goals and Pietramala has 28 scores, making up nearly a third of the Tar Heels’ goals.
However, the best returner may be faceoff man Wambach. The nephew of legendary women’s soccer player Abby Wambach, Brady has similar dominance at the faceoff dot like Abby had when the ball was in the air in front of the goal. Brady leads the nation with a 71.8% winning percentage. Top of the stat sheet — just like Abby’s place atop the United States women’s national team’s all-time scoring list.
North Carolina’s sole loss was in an 11-9 defeat at No. 5 Princeton on March 1 after the Tigers beat the Orange two days earlier. Since then, the Tar Heels overcame No. 6 Penn State, No. 19 Army and beat the No. 7 Crimson on Sunday.
On top of unsurprisingly having the best faceoff winning percentage in Division I, the Tar Heels boast the third-best scoring offense (14.67 goals per game) and are tied for the eighth-best scoring defense (8.8).
How Syracuse beats North Carolina
Extra possessions afford more goal-scoring opportunities, so Syracuse can’t allow Brady to tip the scales heavily at the faceoff dot. In North Carolina’s sole loss of the year, while UNC won the draw battle 13-10, Princeton kept it close. Mullen will likely have to do the same to keep Syracuse in the game and allow SU’s own electric offense to go to work.
At the center of the Orange attack is Joey Spallina. He’s seven points away from setting the program record. Spallina logged five assists but no goals when SU met North Carolina last season. Another slight edge for SU is on the man-up. The Orange hold the 13th-best extra man offense in the country, while the Tar Heels sit in middling 45th, conceding on 62.5% of attempts.
Stat to Know: 88%
If I haven’t made it clear how good Brady is — that his faceoff wins match his aunt, Abby’s, trademark header, Mariano Rivera’s cutter and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook — then here’s the kicker:
He won 22-of-25 faceoffs in North Carolina’s 10-goal thumping of then-No. 3 Harvard Sunday. Eighty-eight percent. Against a Harvard faceoff corps that won 14-of-29 faceoffs against Syracuse. Brady Wambach is a force to be reckoned with.
Player to Watch: Owen Duffy, attack, No. 8
Duffy was the top-ranked class of 2023 recruit, and he made an immediate impact when he arrived in Chapel Hill, earning ACC Freshman of the Year with 32 goals and 22 assists.
The East Quogue, New York, native upped his production to 34 goals and 27 assists as a sophomore in 2025. So, entering this year, Inside Lacrosse listed Duffy as the fifth-best player in the country.
