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With Syracuse already leading 5-1 at the beginning of the second quarter, attack Payton Rowley emerged from X with Gabi Hall draped all over her. Rowley darted toward the sideline before cutting back towards the goal on a spin move. As she spun inside, contact from Hall got her off balance.

Falling to the ground, Rowley fired a shot past North Carolina goalie Alecia Nicholas, her first of the day and SU’s sixth.

Rowley’s goal made her the sixth different goal scorer for the Orange on their first six tallies. In No. 7 Syracuse’s (5-3, 4-0 ACC) 20-5 thrashing of No. 9 North Carolina (6-3, 2-2 ACC), it was led by Emma Tyrrell and Natalie Smith’s five and four-goal performances respectively. But its early scoring barrage, led by its depth and eight different goal scorers, along with stars shining through helped SU to a season-high 20 goals as it handed UNC its worst-ever program loss.

“That’s what makes the offense special,” SU head coach Kayla Treanor said postgame following the win. “There are so many different threats and everybody can score and everybody can step up.”

Though Tyrrell finished with a game-high five goals and recorded her 200th career point in the contest, early on Tyrrell didn’t make much of an impact on the score sheet. Still, the Orange came out firing.

Smith opened the scoring on a transition goal less than 90 seconds into the game, giving SU a lead it never surrendered. As the beginning of the quarter continued it was multiple scorers finding the back of the net. First Emma Ward then Olivia Adamson. Later Emma Muchnick and Maddy Baxter.

Before four minutes had passed in the top-10 affair, SU led 5-0.

“We got in a flow right away in the game and then we kind of just kept with it the whole game,” Treanor said. “But we were aggressive. We were pushing fast break and transition. We didn’t play safe.”

The Orange have seen contributions from throughout the lineup before this season. Versus Duke on March 2, SU had 10 different goal scorers contribute to an eventual 15-5 win.

But Saturday was different. North Carolina allowed just 8.59 goals per game and would provide a test for SU’s potent offense.

And though the Orange went on an over 13-minute scoring drought from Baxter’s goal to Rowley’s, they were still in control. Ward tallied her second of the day and Tyrrell got her first as SU entered the half leading 8-3.

While the SU depth put them ahead early, its big-name players put the game away in the third quarter. Adamson tallied a personal 2-0 run to open the half and then Tyrrell broke out.

SU’s returning leading goal scorer had three goals in the third quarter in a 7-1 advantage in the 15-minute period as SU’s lead ballooned to 11. Tyrrell was guarded heavily throughout the opening half, but as the Tar Heels drew more attention to other Syracuse weapons, Tyrrell was freed up.

“We have so many different goal scorers on the team,” Tyrrell said postgame. “We have so many different threats, so it’s kind of hard. If you’re trying to shut off some of us you can’t really do that because there’s just so many of us that are gonna go to goal.”

With less than a minute to go in the third quarter and the clock already running from a 10-goal SU advantage, Tyrrell found open space within the 12-meter because of decoys and attention drawn from other attacks.

Baxter held the ball along the right side near the sideline before flipping it to Adamson and then to Rowley along the goal line. As all three had previously scored in the game and Ward shadowed nearby at X, UNC defenders Liv Pikiell, McKenna Harden, Livi Lawton and Hall pushed toward their side.

Smith garnered a defender at the top of the key and Tyrrell charged through an open diagonal line within the 12 meter, collecting the pass from Rowley and beating Nicholas for her third goal of the frame and fourth overall.

Tyrrell credited the success from herself and the attack unit overall as a microcosm of a week’s and season’s worth of work. The chemistry between the unit has grown throughout the season and most notably after the loss to Stony Brook.

SU had a quick turnaround after the upset loss to the then-No. 12 Seawolves on March 5. The Orange quickly traveled to Virginia Tech for a game just four days later where they took care of business but didn’t have much time to prepare. This all came after SU played Duke on March 2, a three-game stretch in eight days. A full week of practice — and no classes due to spring break — gave the Orange more time to gel.

“I think our chemistry really grew throughout that week of practice,” Tyrrell said. “And I think that’s honestly one of the most important aspects of the game is just being connected throughout the whole field.”

After Tyrrell’s breakthrough quarter, Smith scored a hat trick in the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 15. Eight goal scorers later, SU scored its most goals and recorded its largest scoring margin of the season, moving to 4-0 in ACC play.

“They don’t care about who gets the point. It’s that they want to play a really exciting style of offense and lacrosse. I thought that was on full display today,” Treanor said.

Published on March 16, 2024 at 5:31 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky