3 takeaways from Syracuse Lacrosse's 10-9 win over North Carolina
Syracuse snapped a two game losing streak and virtually clinched a berth in next month's ACC Tournament, holding on late to defeat North Carolina 10-9 on a sunny and warm Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.
North Carolina raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, before the 'Cuse scored seven straight goals to take a 7-4 lead at halftime. SU then scored the first three goals of the second half to lead 10-4 with 9:34 to play, but that's when the offense went silent.
The Tar Heels scored the final five goals of the contest, the last with 1:48 to play, before Syracuse held on with a couple of defensive stops to put away the win and move to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.
Here are three takeaways from the close victory:
A goal explosion...followed by a shutout.
After a three quarter performance that resulted in 10 goals and put to rest any talk that the SU offense would struggle minus coordinator Pat March serving a one game suspension, SU did not score in the fourth quarter against Tar Heels goalie Collin Krieg . Before then, eight different Orange players scored goals, highlighted by another masterful performance from Joey Spallina.
The nation's leader in scoring and assists, Spallina time and again was left alone behind the cage to spot open teammates, finishing with five often beautiful assists along with one of the 10 goals. Owen Hiltz and Finn Thompson had two goals apiece.
In the fourth quarter, a couple of penalties and five of the 15 turnovers tilted the momentum to UNC which resulted in the Heels scoring the final five goals of the game, and no tallies for SU.
Will continues to be on the 'Mark'.
When Carolina came inching back in the second half, bringing unpleasant thoughts of the SU collapse against Cornell in its previous game April 2, Orange goalie Will Mark came up with the big save when he needed to in the closing 90 seconds.
As Carolina came down field looking to tie the game, attackman Trevor Deubner raced close to the cage and fired to Mark's right where he beautifully nabbed the shot in his stick to keep it a one goal margin.
Overall, Mark faced 33 shots, 22 of which were on goal, and finished with 13 saves. He entered the game 18th nationally in save percentage, and will be a big key for just how long the Orange season lasts into May.
Welcome back to postseason play.
While there is a chance of three ACC teams finishing tied at 2-2 with the mathematical tiebreaker being goals scored, something that could potentially keep Syracuse out of the four team ACC Tournament, at 10-4 with a home game to play against Virginia Saturday, the Orange are in good shape for at least an at-large NCAA invitation in Gary Gait's third season.
A win over the Cavaliers could give the 'Cuse no worse than the second seed in the ACC Tournament, the event returning this season after a two year absence and will be held May 3-5 at its new long term home of Charlotte.
The Virginia lacrosse game Saturday (2:00 pm.) is part of a big doubleheader day in the Dome with the Spring Football Game (7:00 p.m.).
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