Syracuse crushed 19-9 by No. 1 North Carolina in ACC Tournament Semifinals
Syracuse women’s lacrosse was crushed by No. 1 North Carolina in the ACC Tournament Semifinals Friday. UNC jumped on SU early, scoring 12 goals in the first half. Courtesy of Nell Redmond/theACC.com
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All Regy Thorpe could do was tip his hat.
The Syracuse head coach has used the expression numerous times this season to credit his opponents. After almost every game, actually. It’s easy to say after scraping by an opponent by a few goals, something Syracuse has done its fair share of this season. But the phrase feels a little more earnest when you play a team like North Carolina.
On Friday, in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Semifinals, all the No. 4 seed Orange (13-5, 7-3 ACC) could do was sit back and watch No. 1 seed North Carolina (15-1, 10-0 ACC) run rampant in its 19-9 win. Against the best team in the nation, Syracuse fell behind early and never stood much of a chance. The Orange conceded 12 goals in the first half and never caught up. UNC’s 19 goals are the most SU’s allowed in a game since 2018.
“I thought we showed up with good intensity,” Thorpe said postgame. ”Carolina hit their marks, and personally, we didn’t.”
When Syracuse hosted North Carolina in February, the Orange made the No. 1 Tar Heels look mortal, hanging around until late and even leading at halftime.
The story couldn’t have been more different Friday. SU was run out of the stadium in the first half and struggled to keep up in the second. Most of the damage was done in the first few minutes. UNC tallied seven goals in the opening seven minutes, including three in 48 seconds.
Reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Chloe Humphrey — who finished the day with a whopping nine points — got the scoring started on a free position look two minutes in, sticking her shot into the top corner to make it 1-0. Emma Muchnick gave a short-lived glimmer of hope by equalizing on SU’s next possession but things got ugly quickly.
The Orange opted to face-guard Humphrey to have any chance of limiting her offensively. But when it resorts to that, SU’s zone defense can be exposed. Especially against an offense as diverse as UNC’s.
Three of the Tar Heels’ offensive stars — Darcy Felter, Eva Ingrilli and Eliza Osburn — took advantage of the attention on Humphrey with three goals in rapid succession after Muchnick’s score. UNC went up 4-1 quicker than you can say “Tar Heel.” Each of its first four shots found the net.
“They blitzed us in that first period,” Thorpe said. “They played unbelievable.”
Syracuse needed something to stop the bleeding. But, as has been the case all season, the Orange couldn’t control the game in the draw circle.
Molly Guzik and Joely Caramelli alternated reps, and freshman Ireland Mistretta even saw some time on the draw, but ultimately, SU lost the draw battle 21-9. The Tar Heels’ unit, spearheaded by Sarah Gresham and Kaleigh Harden, won seven straight draws in the first quarter, allowing their attack to find an unbreakable groove.
“(The draw is) an area, obviously, we’ve been struggling all year,” Thorpe said. “We’ve been getting stops, we’ve been managing and out-ground-balling teams and doing well on the clear. Unfortunately those other areas weren’t great today.”
With SU unable to keep the ball out of UNC’s possession, Addison Pattillo promptly made it five with an eight-meter try. Felter scored again a minute later. Fifty seconds passed before Osburn tacked on another. The Orange couldn’t catch a breath until Bri Peters finally controlled a draw with seven minutes remaining in the first. Muchnick capitalized on the rare possession by slotting home her second goal.
From there, the teams were more even for the remainder of the first half. UNC’s three-minute make-it-take-it rampage was really the only difference.
SU inched closer after some defensive adjustments in the second quarter, answering two Humphrey goals with scores of its own.
UNC couldn’t get much going for the next five minutes, but back-to-back two-minute non-releasable penalties put the Tar Heels on the power play for four minutes. Caroline Godine buried a free-position shot before Pattillo tacked on two more goals, including a ridiculous backhand shot through traffic in the final seconds.
The second quarter was more of a slow burn, but UNC still dominated. Syracuse entered the break trailing 12-4, a far cry from the halftime lead it held in February’s matchup.
Syracuse would’ve needed a miracle to make the game even moderately interesting in the second half. Despite two early goals from Alexa Vogelman and Muchnick in the third, Humphrey, Kate Levy and Godine scored three more goals in a minute and a half to restore the nine-goal lead.
The Orange never got back within seven.
“We had some good fight there towards the end of the second period and had some good opportunities in the third period,” Thorpe said. “But unfortunately, it wasn’t our day. It was Carolina’s day.”
It was never going to be easy to contend against UNC, but, for how much SU has grown since that February matchup, the ACC Tournament Semifinal felt like a step back. The Orange played the Tar Heels closer two months ago than they did Friday.
Sure, some questions will be asked of this SU squad as it prepares for the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse has beat some of the best teams in the country. But, clearly, there’s still work to do to beat a team of UNC’s caliber.
In a game like Friday’s, though, when you’re outmatched from the get-go, all you can really do is sit back and admire the opposition’s unrelenting efficiency. Scoring 19 goals on a team that allows just 7.40 a game isn’t easy. UNC’s offense runs better than any team in the country. It put the Orange on the back foot instantly, and SU exited the ACC Tournament because of it.
Hats off.
