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Down 2-0 early in the third quarter, Syracuse needed to find the back of the net fast, having tallied just one shot for the entire contest. Willemijn Boogert used her length and closing speed to block North Carolina’s 11th penalty-corner opportunity. She quickly executed an outlet pass to Vivian Rowan down the right sideline.

The Orange finally had the upper hand in numbers. As Rowan approached the inner circle, she sent the ball across the field to a streaking Lana Hamilton, who streaked beyond the defense. Hamilton reached out for the pass, but she couldn’t corral it in time. By the time she got control, her momentum had carried her past the goal and out of bounds.

Though there was still nearly a full half to play, that one missed opportunity to pull within a single goal of the Tar Heels appeared to be the icing on the cake. Syracuse never sniffed any sort of momentum for 60 minutes. It entered the fourth quarter with two shots and couldn’t force a single penalty corner chance for star Bo van Kempen.

No. 5 seed Syracuse (13-6, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost to No. 1 seed North Carolina (17-0, 8-0 ACC) 3-1 in the ACC Tournament Semifinal. The Orange managed to record four shots throughout the contest. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels tallied six shots in the second and third quarters, respectively. In its run to the ACC Tournament Championship, UNC has outshot its opponents 47-6.

Throughout the first half, North Carolina controlled the time of possession and the pace of play with Syracuse playing as passively as it has all season. SU never had a plan of attack as soon as the opening whistle sounded.

“Our first quarter was lackadaisical,” Syracuse head coach Lynn Farquhar said.

After dropping its previous game against the Tar Heels 5-0 earlier in the season, the game plan appeared to be to play defense and hope to luck into a penalty corner to win a low-scoring affair. While that worked early on, SU refused to make any adjustments once it fell behind. The Orange’s lack of aggressiveness was on full display.

“I don’t think anybody is going to have a passive attack as part of the game plan,” Farquhar said.

The Orange didn’t get the ball inside the arc until the second quarter. Aiden Drabick fired a shot on that possession, but Abigail Taylor, UNC’s goalie, made the easy block. Syracuse never got any second-chance opportunities either. Farquhar’s offense has made a living all season on penalty corners. Those shots typically come off an aggressive playstyle and regaining possessions after a missed first shot. The Orange did neither.

Eventually, the lack of offense and time of possession leaked onto the other side of the ball. SU held its own on defense, but exhaustion kicked in, and it could only hold down the second-ranked team in the country for so long. North Carolina finished the day with 15 penalty corners while van Kempen didn’t get a look at a shot.

The differences in creativity were apparent between the teams. Throughout the season, the Orange’s primary source of offense has been van Kempen’s drag flick off penalty corner opportunities. On the other hand, North Carolina opened its playbook.

Instead of just a standard shot off of an insertion, UNC passed it around before Charly Bruder fired one to give the Tar Heels an insurance goal. Farquhar hasn’t had the personnel to open the playbook like her counterpart, Erin Matson, did on Wednesday.

One might see the final score of 3-1 as an improvement over the team’s 5-0 shutout loss back in September, but the gap in talent and play was still drastic. The Orange were lucky North Carolina only came away with three scores after all the chances UNC had. Meanwhile, Sarah Smalley scored the lone goal for the Orange. At that point, however, the Tar Heels had eased off the gas. The game was already out of reach.

“Our goal was to use this game as a stepping stone, so we can become stronger,” Farquhar said. “I don’t think we’ve peaked yet.”

Published on November 6, 2024 at 6:22 pm