Observations from SU’s defeat to UNC: Turnovers galore, McCool pulled
Syracuse turned the ball over 10 times in the first half and went scoreless for 15 minutes, allowing UNC to score six straight goals Saturday. Courtesy of SU Athletics
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Regular-season matchups don’t get much better than this. No. 1 versus No. 2 in the Ratings Power Index. Two Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouses going at it, with two of the most dynamic offenses in the country duking it out. Elite faceoff men battling at the dot. Each squad riding a combined nine wins in a row and eight over ranked opponents.
On paper, Syracuse and North Carolina’s Saturday matchup had the makings of an all-time classic. However, the 34th all-time meeting between the two programs failed to live up to the hype.
The first quarter provided an exciting back-and-forth affair. Then, the Orange went nearly an entire quarter without scoring, allowing the Tar Heels to score six goals in a row. After that run, the Orange never got their deficit under three.
Here are some observations from No. 3 Syracuse’s (9-3, 1-1 ACC) 14-9 loss to No. 2 North Carolina (10-1, 1-0 ACC):
Wambach finds his rhythm
North Carolina faceoff specialist Brady Wambach’s numbers don’t seem real. A 71.7% win rate, with no game below 50% all season and just five in his entire career. 119 ground balls. Add in five goals and three assists and you get not only the best faceoff man in the country, but a generational one.
Wambach’s numbers rival legends like Trevor Baptiste and T.D. Ierlan, the only faceoff men ever to be finalists for the Tewaaraton Award. So, it was no secret Syracuse’s John Mullen was going to have his hands full Saturday.
UNC’s specialist threatened to run away with things early, easily winning the first two faceoffs, but Mullen responded with two wins of his own.
Mullen has struggled with faceoff violations this year, but he was clean until the fifth attempt, where he went early. He totaled three violations in the first half. Still, Mullen held his own, as did backup Drew Angelo.
If you had told someone SU would hold Brady Wambach to 50% in the first half, they might say Syracuse had a sizable advantage. Instead, the Tar Heels led by three.
Eventually, Wambach found his rhythm and produced a Wambach-type performance. He finished 16-for-26, while Mullen finished with a career-low 33% win rate.
North Carolina took a five goal lead into the fourth quarter. Due to Wambach’s proficiency, coming back from that was a near impossible task.
Turnovers galore
In big games like Saturday, taking care of the ball is paramount. Neither Syracuse nor North Carolina did a good job of that early on. Payton Anderson tried doing too much with the ball and dodged into traffic before tripping and falling, setting off a UNC counter attack.
Soon after, Jayden Kittelberger was leading a quick break for Syracuse after a Jimmy McCool save. Kittelberger had a step on his defender, but was checked from behind, fell down and let the Tar Heels regain possession.
A little bit later in the first quarter, Luke Rhoa gave it away by simply throwing it into a Tar Heel defender’s stick. None of Syracuse’s giveaways came back to bite it until the closing moments of the first frame. Anderson’s pass was deflected by Parker McDonald and caused an over and back violation. Breaking quickly, Owen Duffy found Ty English to give UNC a lead.
The second quarter was much of the same. Wyatt Hottle tossed an easy pass over Rhoa’s head. Joey Spallina followed Rhoa’s playbook by forcing a feed, which landed right in Peter Thomann’s stick during a Syracuse man-up chance.
The Orange’s sloppiness allowed North Carolina to score six straight goals, while SU went scoreless for 15 minutes. It was cleaner in the second half, with four giveaways, but the damage was done in the first half.
Spallina gets face guarded
Spallina is incredibly effective with the ball in his stick. He makes things happen out of nothing. Sometimes it’s impossible to guard. So, the so-called easy solution for opposing defenses is preventing him from getting the rock.
That’s what UNC did Saturday. Cole Aasheim followed Spallina everywhere, but the attack was typically camped behind the cage. Over his career, Spallina learned to move around the formation rather than behind stagnant at X. Spallina started to move around to the wing and work the pick game to draw a short stick midfielder.
It’s how Spallina got his first shot attempt, which came nearly 25 minutes into the contest. This time guarded by Chase Cellucci, Spallina worked to get leverage, but fired his shot wide.
UNC defensive coordinator Dave Pietramala was the defensive coordinator at Syracuse during Spallina’s freshman season. If anyone knows Spallina’s tendencies, it’s him.
Spallina’s absence continued. Syracuse initiated its offense through its midfield, and Spallina rarely touched the ball. Even when he set up Bogue Hahn perfectly from behind the goal, the freshman missed just wide.
In the fourth quarter, Spallina had another great setup for Anderson on the backside, but was thwarted by Josh Marcus. After UNC completed the clear, Spallina had his hands on his hips and looked up to the sky in disgust.
For the fourth time in his career and second time this season, Spallina was held without a point. He entered Sunday seven points shy of breaking Syracuse’s all-time points record, but he’ll have to wait another week (or maybe two) to accomplish that feat.
McCool gets benched
McCool has been a steady presence in net for the past two years for Syracuse. Seldom does he reach the lows he did Saturday. When UNC fired its 12th goal past McCool not even halfway through the third quarter, he was called to the bench and didn’t return.
Gary Gait decided to replace McCool with Michael Ippoliti. It was the first time Gait did so since SU’s regular-season loss to Harvard last year.
North Carolina’s offense was always a dangerous proposition for Syracuse’s defense and McCool. Dominic Pietramala is arguably the best shooter in the country and Duffy is as slick as they come.
Syracuse’s defense didn’t do its goalie any favors. Pietramala, Duffy and the rest of UNC’s supplementary options peppered McCool all game. Shots from distance found the top corner. Easy crease dumps inside were simple. Transition strikes also popped up.
It’s hard to tell which goals McCool was actually at fault for. Although, when you save seven shots on 19 attempts, the numbers sometimes tell the whole story.
Meanwhile, McCool’s counterpart Marcus came up with saves when the Tar Heels needed him to. He finished with 15 stops and a 62.5 save percentage.
With McCool out, Ippoliti stepped in. He denied the first three shots he faced, including a beautiful stuff of Anthony Raio on what looked like a sure goal from five yards out.
Ippoliti didn’t let one past him until Anthony Raio scored on a man-up chance. Seconds earlier, Ippoliti made a save, but Chuck Kuczynski was called for an interference penalty.
