3 takeaways from Syracuse Lacrosse's 14-12 loss to North Carolina

North Carolina (10-3, 3-1 ACC) defeated Syracuse (9-5, 2-2) in the regular season finale for the Orange, 14-12. The game was close for most of the way but the Tar Heels were able to pull away at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Orange closed the gap, scoring four times in the final 2 1/2 minutes but ran out of time.

Here are three takeaways from the Orange’s fifth loss of the season.

UNC fielded eight more ground balls than the Orange, won six more faceoffs and fared much better on faceoffs. Most of the statistics would’ve looked even uglier for Syracuse had they not scored a couple in the final minutes. The third period was where the Tar Heels took control of the game and then recorded 12 ground balls to Syracuse’s five. Carolina’s played their ten-man ride and had success after straying from it previously.

“If you're trying to win a championship, you throw the kitchen sink and that's what we did,” head coach Joe Breschi said.

Syracuse had been steady with the ball all year but the Heels threw enough at the Orange to make them unstable in big moments.

UNC’s Dominic Pietramala was the best player on a star-studded field. The redshirt sophomore had a game-high seven points with six goals on 20 shots and also caused two turnovers which was most on his team.

Pietramala’s first two goals helped erase the two-point deficit the Heels were in in the second period. The Orange were never able to regain a lead. He also scored the 13th goal for Carolina which came with just under five minutes remaining; it was his last goal and also the last one UNC needed to win the game.

Pietramala recorded a career high in goals and tied his career high of points as he took 20 shots and played all sixty minutes. He had failed to reach five points in his previous nine games as he stepped up for North Carolina.

“Both him and [Owen] Duffy haven't practiced much in the last three weeks, and this week they were available,” Breschi said. “So as you get through the season, those two guys are marksmen, and they've been banged up for about two to three weeks, and they were relatively fresh this week, which was great.”

Owen Duffy had four assists (tied for a season-high) and two ground balls.

North Carolina’s Brady Wambach won all five faceoffs in the first period allowing North Carolina to out shoot the Orange 22-10 in the period. The score was 2-2 as Jimmy McCool made eight saves in the first period. North Carolina ended up shooting 59 times and 19 times more than Syracuse. McCool had 16 saves and UNC’s Michael Gianforcaro had ten. Syracuse somehow only allowed six first-half goals on 36 shots keeping them in the mix.

North Carolina ended up cashing in their looks in the second half much more efficiently allowing them to extend their lead but the score could have looked a lot uglier had it not been for McCool. The Syracuse goalkeeper forced Carolina to a shot percentage about seven points worse than their season average. With Mullen not winning from the X at his usual rate, McCool effectively kept the Orange in the game.

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