No. 3 Seed Syracuse Downs No. 2 Seed North Carolina With Last Minute Goal To Advance to ACC Final

Story & Photo By Robin Deehan

CHESTER, PA. – Revenge was sweet for the No. 4 ranked (3-seed) Syracuse men’s lacrosse team (10-2) at PPL Park on Friday evening, as they beat No. 2 North Carolina (12-3) 9-8, blanking the Tar Heels in the final two minutes of play to advance to the ACC Tournament final.

The two lacrosse powerhouses met just two weeks ago on April 11 in Chapel Hill when North Carolina ran out to a big lead and held on for a 17-15 victory.

Friday’s ACC semi-final matchup had a different pace and a different ending.

“Well we haven’t played at Carolina for 20-some years and then this year we play them twice,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said.  “It was a couple of great games. It was a good game down in Chapel Hill and a great game here this evening. Both teams played really hard. We were fortunate to come out with the win so we can go on and play Duke on Sunday.”

First Half Match Play

The Orange men, who lost their last two road tests by going down several goals early on, jumped out to a quick start when Nicky Galasso scored twice in the first few minutes of play.

“We talked about it all week,” senior attack man Kevin Rice said.  “The book on us is that we can’t play well on the road. We wanted to answer those critics. I thought defensively we were great. We only gave up a goal or two in the first quarter, which helps the offense when you know you are getting stops and Ben [Williams] is winning face-offs.”

Williams won 14 of 21 face-offs in the game.

UNC answered by scoring three straight goals from Drew Hays, Walker Chafee and Brett Bedard to take the lead in the second quarter.  

But Rice and Dylan Donahue each found the back of the net less than two minutes apart to put SU back up by one. 

With 4:41 left to play before halftime, SU defenseman Brandon Mullins was penalized for an illegal body check resulting in a man-up goal by Luke Goldstock to even the score at four.

Just 26 seconds later, Joey Sankey scored unassisted to put the Tar Heels up back up by one, which looked like it would hold until halftime.

But Galasso ended the first half the way he started it and netted his third of the game unassisted with 1:20 left  to send the teams into the locker rooms at five even.

Second Half Scoring Drought

Syracuse started the second half taking its biggest lead of the game with three unanswered goals from Randy Staats, Donahue and Henry Schoonmaker to go up 8-5.

But sloppy offensive play and unforced turnovers then prevented the Orange from finding the back of the net for more than 23 minutes and allowed the Tar Heels to catch up with a goal from Duncan Hutchins and two by Chad Tutton, the second with 11:12 left to play in the game.

Rice’s Heroics and a Crucial Mistake

With just 1:48 left on the clock and the game knotted at eight, Rice found himself behind the cage with the ball in his stick and took off around the crease.

Rice shot high, placing it top shelf, past UNC keeper Kieran Burke’s left shoulder for the score.

“That whole fourth quarter was back and forth,” Desko said.  “Teams were taking shots. I thought their goaltender made some great saves and Bobby [Wardwell] made some great saves for us. I thought the whole fourth quarter, 10 minutes to go, was just a rollercoaster. No one was really scoring, so it felt like whoever was going to get the next goal was going to win the game. Fortunately, Kevin stuck that in for us.”

On the ensuing face-off Syracuse gained possession but a Galasso turnover gave the Tar Heels one final chance.

As Burke cleared the ball into the midfield a miscommunication found the Tar Heels offsides and the ball was awarded back to the Orange.

Syracuse maintained possession as time expired and solidified its place in the ACC final against No. 4 seed  Duke.

“We were offsides,” UNC head coach Joe Breschi said.  “We had four failed clears. Last time we played them, we were 19-19, so four failed clears resulted in two goals. Just the fundamentals and attention to detail.”

Wardwell’s Redemption

The Orange triumph was also attributed to outstanding play from SU keeper Bobby Wardwell.

Wardwell, who was pulled at halftime from the UNC loss on April 11, had a career high 14 saves, seven in the third quarter alone.

Wardwell also was helped by defensive anchor Mullins, who held UNC’s leading scorer Jimmy Bitter to no goals.

“Our defense was keeping us in it and keeping it tight,” Rice said. “Bob played outstanding and at the end, we just ended up getting it done. Their defender went to my left side, so I pushed to the right and was able to get it in there.”

Blue Devil Rematch

The Orange will face the No. 4 seed Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Final this Sunday at 1pm at PPL Park.

The last time Duke and Syracuse met was March 22 at the Carrier Dome when the Orange men manhandled the Blue Devils 19-7.

“Mentally we will have to get past our win against them in the Dome,” Desko said.  “They are a much improved lacrosse team from what I saw this afternoon. I think they have been steadily improving all year long.”

Duke advanced to the ACC final after knocking off No. 1 seed and top-ranked Notre Dame in the earlier semi-final game on Friday evening.

The Blue Devils, led by Case Matheis’ four goals, dominated Notre Dame jumping out to a 10-2 lead through the first three quarters of play.

The Irish finally came alive and put up a fight in the final 15 minutes, scoring six unanswered goals by five different players and cutting Duke’s lead down from eight to four  with 4:14 left on the clock.

But a failure to convert an extra man opportunity and another Duke goal by Justin Guterding as time expired, halted Notre Dame’s chances at a storybook comeback and the Irish fell 13-8.