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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There would be no more waiting around for Gary Gait. Syracuse’s head coach crafted the regular-season schedule with an exact science, as if he were Dr. Frankenstein creating his eponymous monster, and it was time to see the results of his handiwork.

He stacked it chock-full of top-20 teams that could boost his team’s Rating Performance Index, the all-important metric deciding which squads can compete for a national championship. He designed that 15-game slate intending for his team to be battle-tested for postseason play.

On Tuesday, when asked how he’d evaluate his team’s regular-season performance — particularly how it has prepared them for the playoffs — Gait noted that it’s been a good year for SU. His schedule helped the Orange figure out their strengths and weaknesses.

But he couldn’t possibly give a complete answer to that question yet.

“Now, we’ll find out how that pays off,” Gait said of Syracuse’s schedule on Tuesday. “Because it’s all in prep for the playoffs, and it all starts with the ACC.”

The answers he searched for arrived Friday evening. Against No. 2 seed North Carolina (12-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) in the ACC Tournament Semifinals, No. 3 seed Syracuse (11-5, 2-2 ACC) looked prepared to play in the postseason for a solid stretch of time. But the Orange ultimately watched what was once a 6-4 halftime lead evaporate, allowing the Tar Heels to control the second half in their 12-10 victory.

But it makes sense. It’s hard to keep Owen Duffy — and by extension, the Tar Heels — off the board. The junior attack got started early with a pass to Luke Bair on the wing. Then, Bair rifled his shot past SU goalie Jimmy McCool to make it 1-0.

John Mullen responded by winning the ensuing faceoff against UNC’s star specialist Brady Wambach, giving Syracuse an immediate chance to answer. It did so with aplomb. After receiving a pass, Joey Spallina sauntered to the middle of the field, luring Cole Aasheim away from Luke Rhoa.

The senior midfielder, unguarded in front of the net, had all the space he needed to receive a pass from Spallina and slot his close-range try past Josh Marcus, tying it up at 1-1.

That’ll do it in terms of first-quarter scoring. Syracuse locked in on the defensive end, forcing a second UNC shot clock violation and killing its man-up opportunity shortly after that. North Carolina, on the other hand, allowed just one shot on goal to Bogue Hahn after Rhoa’s goal. Marcus saved it with little difficulty.

In a matchup of two high-octane offenses, it was the defense that shined early. Each team finished the opening frame with seven turnovers, and neither could generate much sustained offense after their opening goals.

Both sides entered the second frame finding little difficulty getting on the board, but it didn’t last long. After Wambach won the opening faceoff, Brevin Wilson received the ball at X from Duffy. Getting marked by Tyler McCarthy, he ran around the short-stick, dove away from net and found enough space to get his shot past McCool.

And just like that first UNC lead, the second didn’t last the Tar Heels very long. Fighting through repeated stick checks from Kai Prohaszka at midfield, Michael Leo bulldozed his way to the net, equalizing the game at 2-2 not even a minute after Wilson’s goal.

The following eight minutes more closely resembled the first quarter, with neither side getting clean looks off on goal. But with just over five minutes to go until the half, North Carolina’s Parker McDonald picked up a penalty, with the Tar Heels having too many men on the field.

For a time there, the thirty-second man-up period looked as if it would go to waste. Rhoa ripped a few long-range shots, but neither looked close to the net. The Orange just weren’t creating easy looks.

At least until Finn Thomson slithered around the net, unmarked, and finished a pass from Rhoa with a close-range bouncer. The goal made it 3-2, and it was as if Thomson gave the rest of Syracuse’s offense permission to reintroduce itself into the game, because it only served as a harbinger for more to come.

The next possession, Spallina doubled the lead with a behind-the-back assist to Payton Anderson. Not even a minute later, Rhoa dodged around the net — running past short-stick midfielder Ty English — and bounced a close-range try past Marcus to extend the lead to 5-2.

Though Wambach looked human for a time before that, he showed why he’s the nation’s best faceoff specialist with two wins and two goals in a 13-second span, cutting that SU advantage to 5-4. But then, Leo found Thomson before the half closed, and the Canadian sniped his effort past Marcus’ outstretched arms to expand Syracuse’s lead to two.

After a brief intermission, the Tar Heels began the third quarter the same way they opened the previous two: an early goal. Caden Harshbarger ran around SU long-stick midfielder Vincent Bolognino, and with plenty of space, he rifled a mid-range score.

Duffy followed it up with a goal, and Dominic Pietramala reintroduced himself to the scoreboard on the next possession. Just as quickly as Syracuse found its lead, North Carolina had erased it and claimed its own 7-6 advantage.

Imagine where SU would’ve been without Rhoa. As he had several times throughout the night, the midfielder hit the scoreboard right when the Orange needed it, this time with a stepdown to even the game up.

It was a game of hot potato. Once the Tar Heels decided they had enough of winning, Leo took the burden off their hands, firing a long-range shot past Marcus to make it 8-7 with just over six minutes left in the third.

Thomson opened the fourth quarter with a goal to make it 9-7, but Wilson managed to battle through an illegal Billy Dwan check to trim SU’s lead to one again. Anthony Raio quickly capitalized on that man-up opportunity, tying it at 9-9 with an assist from Duffy.

It was anyone’s game once again, as it had been for the entirety of the contest. It was only a matter of which squad was willing to make it their game.

The answer, as it turns out, was North Carolina. Bair got the Tar Heels ahead in the fourth with a wraparound shot, and Mason Szewczyk put them in cruise control with a snipe past Dwan to make it 11-9. The Orange would never approach the lead again. The game, in effect, was over.

On Tuesday, Gait was asked what it would take for his team to play a complete four quarters. His answer was that it’s all mental. Gait wanted his team to put a full physical effort for all four quarters, and he said it was the staff’s responsibility to motivate them and put them in the right mindset.

In Charlotte, Syracuse sure had a nice three quarters. Gait can only hope it discovers the fourth in time for the NCAA Tournament.

Published on May 1, 2026 at 10:32 pm
Contact Mauricio: mjpalmar@syr.edu | @mpalmarDO