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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Syracuse shouldn’t be looking for moral victories. It’s a top-five team, per Ratings Percentage Index, with national championship aspirations.

Yet, here we are in the postseason of its 2026 campaign, and the Orange have now lost three of their last five games. Actual victories are hard to come by in the decisive stages of the season. So, SU has to resort to those of the partial and ersatz variety.

On Friday, in a 12-10 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Semifinal loss to No. 2 seed North Carolina (12-3, 2-2 ACC), No. 3 seed Syracuse (11-5, 2-2 ACC) received a welcome positive showing from its defense. SU allowed one goal in the first half and only four by halftime. However, like the story of the Orange’s season so far, it didn’t last. SU’s inability to compile a complete game continued. The defense, like the rest of the team, faded late with its bid to repeat as conference champions ending in the first game.

“If it was just 6-on-6 defense, I thought we played pretty well,” SU head coach Gary Gait said postgame.

The transition game, man-downs and repeated faceoff losses were where his team was exposed, Gait said. That’s what led to its defeat and elimination from the ACC Tournament.

Like when UNC’s star faceoff man Brady Wambach won two straight draws in the final minutes of the second quarter, marched down the field and scored. In the span of 13 seconds, a three-goal Syracuse lead had evaporated to just one.

Up to that point, with under three minutes left in the first half, the Orange had conceded just two goals. The marking was tight as the unit moved with synchronicity and acted with physicality, letting UNC know it’d be in for a gritty fight. North Carolina’s high-powered attack, which sits ninth nationally with 14 goals per game, was being stymied to the tune of four first-half goals.

However, those final two first-half strikes came from the faceoff dot and Wambach. One of the premier faceoff specialists in the game, Wambach stepped up to unlock SU’s defense in the latter stages of the second quarter. He easily grabbed a draw after Syracuse’s Luke Rhoa pinged home a third successive Orange goal that made it 5-2 at the 2:57 mark of the second period.

Wambach raced upfield into the teeth of SU’s defense. No one stepped until it was too late. The faceoff specialist leaped and looked to cannon his shot into the net from just outside the crease. SU’s Jordan Beck was there, but never raised his stick to contest the shot.

It was rinse and repeat for Wambach, who won 14-of-26 draws Friday. Win the clamp. Feed attack Owen Duffy, who also scythed through Syracuse with six assists. Duffy had one of those set-ups here when he found Wambach in front of the net, and the faceoff man showed some finishing touch.

Again, 13 seconds, two goals. Syracuse’s defense was beginning to collapse.

It got worse on the man-up, especially in the fourth quarter when SU had regathered itself and looked set to continue a streak of winning 24 straight games where it led heading into the final period.

A debilitating pair of simultaneous penalties in the final frame prevented it from becoming 25 games and halted Syracuse’s ACC Tournament run. After SU led 9-7 to start the fourth, the Tar Heel attack began with a flag being thrown when SU faceoff man Mullen — who compiled a commendable 50% against mighty Wambach during a season where his production had dipped — tripped UNC’s Luke Bair.

Then, as Brevin Wilson roofed his attempt into the top of the net, he was recklessly checked to the ground by Billy Dwan III. The referees called it an illegal body check. It was double jeopardy for Syracuse. It’d given up a goal and now played the ensuing possession down two men.

The ball went to the faceoff dot, and, you guessed it, Wambach claimed the draw. With its man-up advantage, North Carolina was destined to have open looks. It did, and Anthony Raio nailed a bullet into McCool’s net, who had a 42.95 save percentage, an improvement after he was benched the last time the two teams played.

“(North Carolina) just made plays,” Gait said. “I think a couple penalties in that fourth didn’t help us. That was a tough stretch.”

Yes, Syracuse defended better than it did when it lost 14-9 to UNC April 4. The urgency seemed to be turned up a notch. UNC’s star attack and one of the best shooters in the country, Dominic Pietramala, only had one goal rather than the five he poured when frequently left unmarked in Chapel Hill last month.

But Syracuse’s defense was still fallible. And, in the most vital part of the game, it crumbled to a state that’s become familiar for Orange fans this season.

“We just made too many mistakes to come on the top,” Gait said, longingly in front of a deserted field.

It’s been the same refrain amid SU’s struggles lately. Fourteen goals last time out at UNC in April. Sixteen at Notre Dame April 25. Then, 10 Friday versus UNC. It was an improvement, but not enough.

But it’s all Gait and Syracuse can take from their short trip down to Charlotte.

“We definitely performed a little bit better, and we didn’t quit,” Gait said. “And I was proud of that. And we’re on to the next one.”

The next one, of course, will be in the NCAA Tournament. There, a moral victory won’t suffice. If the Orange don’t win outright, their season will be over.

“We’re still alive,” SU attack Joey Spallina said. “There’s still much to play for. We’re not out. Plenty of teams are not playing any more. We’re just excited to have one more guaranteed full week together, and I think we just love playing with each other, so I think we’re just excited and just having that Game 7 mentality.”

Published on May 2, 2026 at 2:44 am
Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal