Tar Heels Edge Orange Women in Top-5 Matchup

By Nick Richardson
Photo by Kerry Bretti

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – In a showdown of two of the best women's lacrosse teams in the country, the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels emerged with a hard-fought, 12-11 victory over the No. 4 Syracuse Orange on Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome.

“Two very good teams going head-to-head,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said. “I think it was a game of runs. They got that last run and got up on us and we just didn’t find a way to bury it.”

Both teams went on 5-0 runs during the contest. Unfortunately for the Orange, the Tar Heels’ run came at a more opportune time in the second half. UNC kept Syracuse off the board for most of the half to seal the win.

The Tar Heels improved to 12-2 on the season and remain perfect in ACC play with a 6-0 conference record. The loss for the Orange marked its first defeat since losing to Boston College 13-8 back on March 19^th. Syracuse now stands at 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the ACC.

Fast Start

Both teams got off to blistering starts. Syracuse's Riley Donahue opened the scoring just 43 seconds in, but was quickly answered by back-to-back goals for North Carolina. A Kelly Cross goal made the score 2-2 less than two minutes into the game.

The pace slowed down some as the game progressed. After the Tar Heels went up 4-2 with 21:51 left, the Orange went on a 5-0 (including two more goals from Donahue) to take a 7-4 lead.

Back and Forth

North Carolina recovered and managed to cut SU’s lead to 8-7 going into halftime despite being outshot by the Orange 20-11.

A big factor in SU’s failure to capitalize was some sloppy play in the midfield, turning the ball over nine times in the first half alone.

“The biggest difference was giving the ball back when we had opportunities,” Gait said.

Offense Goes Cold

The Tar Heels made a goalie change at the half, bringing in senior Megan Ward to replace junior Caylee Waters. The switch proved to be a wise decision. UNC’s defense completely shut down the Orange women in the second half, limiting them to three goals and holding the Orange scoreless over the final 10:54 of the game.

“She got in our shooters’ heads a little bit,” Gait said about Ward. “She made a couple saves early and then we missed the net a bunch and we didn’t put it in. She was definitely a game-changer today.”

The Orange recorded 17 shots in the second half, but was unable to capitalize on several restarts that might have put Syracuse ahead.

“We just tried to slow our game down,” Donahue said. “Maybe if we kept our pace up we would have kept it going.”

Despite the tough loss, the Syracuse players were confident that playing well against such a talented opponent could only serve as a positive learning experience.

“I think it’s good that we have this experience underneath us because we’re not in the postseason,” senior Kayla Treanor said. “This is just the regular season and we still have two more big games left, so we’re not done.”

Donahue led the Orange with four goals and six points. Treanor added four points of her own.

Sophomore Ela Hazar led North Carolina with six points while senior Sammy Jo Tracy and junior Carly Reed both scored three goals.

Up Next

The Orange will travel to face Cornell on Tuesday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in the last road game of the regular season.