No. 9/7 Syracuse Hangs On To Beat North Carolina

Saturday, April 13

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1 p.m.

Syracuse University

10-4, 2-1

North Carolina

6-6, 0-2

Syracuse

North Carolina

No. 9/7 Syracuse Hangs On To Beat North Carolina

4/13/2024 3:12:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A stretch of seven-straight goals in the first half gave the Syracuse men's lacrosse team the lead for good as the Orange outlasted the Tar Heels, 10-9, on Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field.

Syracuse (10-4, 2-1 ACC) held North Carolina (6-6, 0-2) scoreless for a span of 20:43 across the first and second quarters. The scoring drought marked the sixth time this season the Orange have held opponents without a goal for 20 minutes or longer. The Tar heels fought back late, scoring five goals over the final 20:12 of the contest, but it was not enough to overthrow the visiting Orange.

Joey Spallina directed the 'Cuse offense, scoring once and dishing out five assists, his third performance this season with at least five apples. Owen Hiltz and Finn Thomson each contributed two goals in the outing. Christian Mulé and Sam English had one goal and one assist each to round out the Orange performers with multi-point days. Mulé added a career-high three caused turnovers on the ride.

Owen Duffy paced the UNC offense with three goals and two assists. Trevor Deubner netted two goals while Logan McGovern tallied a goal and an assist as the other Tar Heels with multiple points in the affair.

Will Mark was a force in the cage, stopping 13 shots for a .591 save percentage. His save total marks his tenth consecutive game with double-digit stops. Collin Krieg was effective in goal for North Carolina, accruing 17 saves for a .630 save percentage.

How It Happened

The Tar Heels struck first 3:59 into the contest and proceeded to score the next two, taking an early 3-0 lead. Owen Duffy was first on the board, Ryan Levy netted one off a feed from Duffy, and Dominic Pietramala closed out the rally with a goal.
From the 5:14 mark in the first quarter to 3:16 in the second period, the Orange scored seven unanswered. Billy Dwan sparked the seven-goal Syracuse run when Spallina found him cutting after a successful clear and Dwan dove past the crease for the goal.
Hiltz got two goals of the remaining six during the rally. The others to notch a goal were John Mullen, Mulé, Jake Stevens and Spallina. Spallina added three assists during the stretch.
North Carolina scored the final goal of the first half as Matt Wrede finished a feed from McGovern. The squads went into the halftime intermission with 'Cuse in front, 7-4.
Out of the break, the Orange went on a three-goal tear. English scored 57 seconds into the second half off a dish from Spallina. Thomson netted the other two, giving Syracuse a 10-4 advantage with 9:34 to go in the third quarter.
The Tar Heels fought hard to comeback from a six-goal deficit, scoring the final five goals of the game and coming within one of the Orange with 1:48 left on the clock. Duffy and Deubner each racked two goals and McGovern added one during the five-goal rally. The comeback effort fell short as Syracuse held on to the lead for the win.

Behind The Numbers

Following his five-assist performance, Spallina tied John Zulberti with 47 assists for the eighth most assists in a single season in program history.
With four ground balls in the contest, Mason Kohn now has 100 ground balls on the season. He won seven of 13 attempts on the faceoff today.
'Cuse improved to 80 consecutive wins while holding its opponents to fewer than 10 goals.
The Orange let off 40 shots and landed 27 on goal, while the Tar Heels totaled 33 shots and 22 on cage.
Syracuse finished with a slight edge on the ground and at the X. 'Cuse grabbed 37 ground balls and won 12 faceoffs to UNC's 35 ground balls and 11 faceoff wins.
With today's victory, Syracuse is 75-35 in games following a loss during a season.
The Orange own a 20-12 advantage in the all-time series against the Tar Heels.

Up Next
The Orange are set for their regular season finale at home against No. 2 Virginia on Saturday, April 20. Faceoff is slated for 2 p.m. in the Dome and the game will be televised on ESPNU. Tickets for men's lacrosse home games can be found at cuse.com/tickets.