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It felt like North Carolina held possession for two minutes, maybe three. Wave after wave of attack tried and failed, but the Tar Heels kept coming.

UNC briefly dropped the ball at X but Coco Vandiver couldn’t capitalize by scooping up the loose ball, allowing the opposition to retreat and set up its offense again.

Reilly Casey picked out Caroline Godine right near the crease. She had emerged from behind the cage. Avoiding pressure from Delaney Sweitzer, Godine scored to increase North Carolina’s lead to 15-7.

For the second time in two weeks, Syracuse faced the Tar Heels, only this time, drastically different outcome. Coming off of a 10-goal win over Clemson in the tournament quarterfinals, North Carolina dominated from start to finish, handing the Orange their biggest loss this season. Six goals from Godine and 11 saves from Alecia Nicholas stifled SU on both ends of the field in UNC’s 15-9 win. On Sunday, UNC will attempt its title defense and seventh straight ACC Tournament title.

Before the game, Syracuse head coach Kayla Treanor mentioned the Tar Heels’ commanding presence in the final third. “I thought their offensive sets were great and they had lots of players step up and score,” Treanor said. “And their freshmen played great again last night.”

Treanor’s words ended up becoming a mirror image of what was to come. Less than a minute into the contest, the Tar Heels opened the scoring. Olivia Adamson won the game’s first faceoff and the Orange quickly moved the ball upfield to an unmarked Emma Ward. Stepping forward into the 12-meter, Ward unleashed a powerful shot from the left that rang loud against the upper pipe and flew right back into play. During the game’s first possession, Syracuse pushed most of its squad into the forward third meaning it had few reinforcements protecting Sweitzer in net.

Caitlyn Wurzburger picked up possession and ran into Syracuse territory. Katie Goodale was the only one back and Wurzburger had Melissa Sconone to her right. Taking advantage of the 2-on-1 opportunity, Wurzburger dished to Sconone near the crease for a simple score from point-blank range.

On April 15, when Syracuse traveled to Chapel Hill, NC, for its final road game of the regular season, the Tar Heels struggled to find the net in the first quarter, missing all six of their free-position opportunities. Today, they remained almost perfect, notching three goals from four chances at the 8-meter to build a slim one goal lead into a four-score cushion — SU’s largest deficit all season. Just a few minutes after going 1-0 up, Casey netted, sandwiching herself between two Marissa White free-position goals.

For much of the opening period Syracuse looked startled, unnerved and powerless. The Orange couldn’t muster anything on the offensive end. North Carolina prevented Meaghan Tyrrell from receiving the ball and stopped intruding runs from Ward, Emma Tyrrell and Maddy Baxter. For the first time this year, SU didn’t tally a single goal. On the defensive end, the Tar Heels got whatever it wanted. Despite trailing in draw controls, UNC was efficient in both its forward passing and its efficiency in front of the net. Before the end of the first, Godine recorded two more goals — one a solo effort and another off of an assist from Wurzburger — to enter the second with a dominant 6-0 advantage.

White registered her hat trick at the 12:33 mark. Then, Sconone made it 8-0. UNC’s goal came after Syracuse’s best look all afternoon, when Emma saw her effort parried away by Nicholas’ outstretched leg. Recovering quickly to spark another transition play, the Tar Heels found Wurzburger, at X, who looked up for any incoming runs. She found Sconone on the right side of the 8-meter and passed. Facing an unsuspecting Swetizer, Sconone shot towards the near post to score.

“Moving into tournament play, you’re not guaranteed the next one,” Meaghan said after SU’s win over VT in the tournament quarterfinals, a sentiment that resulted in eerily accurate truth.

Syracuse finally got on the board, by way of Sierra Cockerille, with 9:12 left in the first half. Starting behind the cage on the left flank, she was met by UNC’s Olivia Dirks. Cockerille moved left, attempting to enter the middle, and Dirks kept her stick up in anticipation. But, Cockerille wasn’t bothered by the pressure and continued her run. Entering space just a few paces away from the crease, Cockerille shot low and hard to slot the ball into the bottom left of the North Carolina goal, closing the deficit to a still-daunting seven.

“She’s [Cockerille] been awesome,” Treanor said after Syracuse’s quarterfinal win over Virginia Tech last time out. “I think she’s playing with a lot more confidence and a bit more killer instinct and she doesn’t want to be done.”

Operating from X, Sconone dished to Godine right in front of the crease for her fourth goal. The move was swift and precise, a similar execution to that of Wurzburger’s pass to Sconone, from almost the identical area, a few goals prior. Godine received the ball and pump-faked once, then twice, before placing the ball with ease past Sweitzer. Heading into the third quarter, UNC led 10-2.

Two weeks earlier, Sweitzer tied a career-best 15 saves versus the Tar Heels in a victory. Even after letting in 12 goals against the Hokies, Treanor still said that Sweitzer has “been great” and that “cleaning up her clearing game is going to help her a lot and give her a lot of confidence.” Today, with a trip to the ACC Tournament final on the line, Sweitzer mustered a 34.8% save rate.

The Orange struck first in the second half. Working from behind the cage, Ward moved into the middle while simultaneously holding off Livi Lawton. After losing Lawton with a half-spin, she rifled a shot into the upper left corner to beat Nicholas for the third time. Yet just like it had been all throughout the opening 30 minutes, North Carolina’s response was swift. The Tar Heels worked possession from left to right around the 12-meter. Alyssa Long spotted Casey and passed. Moving to her right, Casey shot across her body to find the back of the net for her second of the afternoon two minutes into the third.

Adamson’s give-and-go link up with Ward gave Syracuse its first consecutive scoring stretch of the contest. Then, Megan Carney made it three straight. Cockerille beat her defender at X and played a pass to Carney on the left elbow of the 8-meter. The North Carolina defense had mistakenly allowed the attack some breathing room. Lowering her body and stepping forward to gain power, Carney ripped a shot into the top left corner.

Ward made Lawton fall. She had started left, turned back to go right, then faced her defender, stutter-stepped, and rushed to her left again. Lawton lost balance and buckled behind the cage. With no one in front of her, Ward circled the crease, emerging from the left. She teased Nicholas with a couple of fakes before scoring, trimming North Carolina’s lead to five.

After overcoming a slow start to progress to the ACC Tournament semifinal, Meaghan chalked it up to more disciplined play. “I think coming into the game we were a little bit slower, a little rusty, so just making those adjustments, and really dialing in for the game, helped.” The brief SU scoring run embodied Meaghan’s key to success, yet, was quick to dissipate in Charlotte.

An onslaught of UNC efforts toward goal led to a Nicole Humphrey score with 11:40 remaining in the game. Humphrey netted from another assist by Sconone. In the build-up, the Tar Heels registered three shots on goal prior to lucky number four. North Carolina drew two free-positions, bringing its total to 10 on the game, but missed one and opted to retreat on another for clock-management reasons. A couple of other attempts fired high and wide before Humphrey picked out the bottom left corner.

Throughout the second half, no matter how limited, there was a consistent feeling that Syracuse could somehow bounce back. It reached a boiling point during the Orange’s 4-0 run, but ultimately, UNC found an answer to hold off SU. Toward the latter stages of the final period, Savannah Sweitzer netted and Meaghan captured her second goal, but the two scores served no further purposes besides minor consolation.

After squeaking by the Hokies on Wednesday, Meaghan said that Syracuse needed to follow its game plan and stay disciplined throughout the game. Now, with two weeks remaining before the start of the NCAA Tournament, it’s back to the drawing board for SU after it totaled an underwhelming 12 turnovers and scored on just 25% of its shots.

“We need to make sure we’re taking the good shots and being really picky with what we do,” Meaghan said before playing the Tar Heels. Her words fell on deaf ears.

Published on April 28, 2023 at 6:32 pm

Contact Tyler: [email protected] | @theTylerSchiff