After a season-long nine days of rest, No. 4 seed Syracuse (8-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) is rewarded with a rematch against No. 1 seed North Carolina (8-5, 3-1) in the opening round of the ACC tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. in Kennesaw, Georgia.

The Tar Heels are fresh off a shocking win against formerly top-ranked Notre Dame, as UNC outscored the Fighting Irish 8-1 in the fourth quarter to snatch one of the most exciting wins in this college lacrosse season. The Orange attacked a much less heralded program, cruising past Binghamton, 13-5, on Wednesday, in a game that SU was winning 9-0 at halftime.

But now for the second time in as many seasons, Syracuse and North Carolina will play in the semifinal of the ACC tournament.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Friday night’s game.

All-time series: Syracuse leads 14-7

Last time they played: By the time Friday comes, the two teams will still be less than two weeks removed from a clash in the Carrier Dome that Syracuse came away victorious from, 13-7.

The Tar Heels came in hot against an SU team that was 1-4 in its last five games, including three losses to ranked opponents. But Syracuse’s defense suppressed one of the best offenses in the country, and the hosts snaked out to an early lead it never relinquished.

The Orange offense was anchored by five points each from veteran Dylan Donahue, who’s long had a stranglehold on opposing defenses, and Sergio Salcido, who didn’t have more than five points in his career prior to this season. Salcido, a junior midfielder, tied Nick Mariano for a team-high three goals against North Carolina.

Nine total players registered a point for Syracuse, compared to the Tar Heels, who were fueled almost solely by Michael Tagliaferri’s four goals. UNC head coach Joe Breschi said after the loss that his team struggles when the offense turns into a one-man show. Luke Goldstock also ripped off a couple goals, but Tagliaferri was at the controls with at least double the shots of any other player.

The North Carolina report: Syracuse hasn’t run into many opponents with a more prolific offense than its own. The Tar Heels have one of the nation’s best, scoring 13.3 goals per game which paces all but five teams in the country. Anchoring the offense are five goal scorers with more than 20 tallies this season, including a team-high 36 goals by Steve Pontrello. Tagliaferri, who was one of several midfielders this season to burn the Orange, is actually the lowest total scorer among North Carolina’s top five.

Part of the reason SU found success against UNC was a comfortable 16-of-24 performance at the X, but Stephen Kelly’s 59.5 percent clip on the draw isn’t a far cry of Ben Williams’ 64.2 percent. Kelly is what makes the Tar Heels go, as exemplified in the team’s miraculous late run against Notre Dame.

Kelly won 7-of-10 faceoffs against the Fighting Irish in the fourth quarter, and punctuated his 19-for-35 day at the X with the game-tying goal directly off the faceoff to knot the score at 15. His skill set is on par with Williams’, who has spent his entire two seasons at Syracuse breaking the stereotypical faceoff-get-off barrier.

 

Logan Reidsma | Senior Staff Photographer

 

How Syracuse beats North Carolina: The Orange already laid out a successful blueprint. Tranquilize a high-octane offense, win a steady amount of faceoffs to feed the ball to a deep offense and sidestep penalties that will draw out an average man-down defense. Syracuse did all of those things two games ago, but the Tar Heels should be better equipped to predict what they’ll see from the SU defense and again from Williams.

A potentially underrated part of the Orange’s last win over UNC was Evan Molloy’s career-best play in net. He yielded only two goals in the opening half, and has repeatedly been praised as a defensive ringleader who communicates enough to ensure the defenders slide correctly. Molloy’s versatility outside the crease has also created opportunities in transition when Syracuse has cleared the ball.

Numbers to know:

7 –North Carolina scored the second-fewest goals they’ve scored all season against Syracuse on April 16. That was only the third time the team has been held to single-digits this year.

9.08 – The Orange has done well to minimize the damage all season, allowing the second-fewest goals per game in the conference.

39.5 percent – The Tar Heels’ conversion rate on man-up opportunities is the worst in the ACC, and that’s a nice reprieve for an SU team that averages the second-most penalty minutes per game.

Player to watch: Steve Pontrello

He’s still North Carolina’s leading goal-scorer, and will likely have a better plan to take advantage of a Syracuse defense that could be preoccupied again by Tagliaferri. He won’t be forgotten about, and will still have to fight through the bulkiness of Brandon Mullins and the quickness of Nick Mellen. But Pontrello is the most likely candidate to break out for a big game.

Published on April 26, 2016 at 10:50 pm

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman