It’s the middle of May, and that means it’s quarterfinal weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
The Syracuse Orange are out on Long Island for their third and final meeting of the season with the North Carolina Tar Heels at James M. Shuart Stadium on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead.
The Orange and Tar Heels are the second quarterfinal of the day after Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame kick things off at noon. They’re set for a 2:30 PM face-off or roughly 40 minutes after the first game concludes
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North Carolina entered into the tournament struggling to find their form, having lost two of their last three. Of course, the win in that stretch came against Syracuse.
But in the two losses, they got absolutely blitzed by Duke in the regular season finale and by Virginia in the ACC title game, giving up 16 goals to both. The late-season swoon led to a huge decision to make a change in net from freshman Josh Marcus to senior Kent Goode.
The crazy thing with Goode is that he’d never made a single start in his four years until their first round game against UAlbany, but it seemed to go pretty well as UNC won, 24-6.
Goode had a solid game with eight saves and four goals-against in three quarters of play, but it’ll be interesting to see if they stay with him for a step-up in competition in this game. Marcus does already have two games under his belt against the Orange.
The Duffy question
Speaking of lineup changes, the biggest news from their first round game was Owen Duffy being absent with the hamstring injury he picked up in the ACC title game against UVA.
It didn’t slow them down one lick as they boat-raced the Great Danes off Dorrance Field, but the questions about his status still remain one weekend later.
There hasn’t been any concrete information on the exact nature of his injury, but it is starting to feel like he will be at less than 100 percent if he plays at all in this game.
Duffy had six assists and seven points in the second game, and the Tewaaraton finalist is obviously one of the best players in the country. But even if he doesn’t play, this UNC offense is loaded with dangerous, athletic talent.
Defending Carolina
Even if Duffy doesn’t play, a ‘Cuse defense struggling with their communication has a very difficult assignment. Sticking like glue to Dom Pietramala is assignment number one, especially after he broke the record for goals in a playoff game with 10 against UAlbany.
But the danger Pietramala poses as a shooter is contrasted with the speed and quickness of a number of his teammates, a lot of whom come from the midfield and can be a real issue for an Orange rope unit that’s had trouble staying in front of people this season.
Brevin Wilson is a speedster from attack, while Mason Szewczyk, Caden Harshbarger, Anthony Raio, Gary Merrill and Luke Bair form a formidable pair of midfield lines.
It will be very interesting to see how John Odierna wants to defend them, especially if Duffy is out. Who and where does Riley Figueiras move to? Do you have him try to stick on Pietramala, move to Wilson or onto one of the middies? Who does Billy Dwan go to after struggling versus Dom in the first game? Does Jordan Beck factor into that assignment at all? Do you try to mix in any zone to neutralize their speedy athleticism, or are you afraid to do that because of Pietramala’s ability to shoot from deep? Do you try to face-guard him to take him out and go 5-on-5?
There are lots of questions to ponder about defending UNC, as there should be since they’re one of the deepest and most talented offenses in the country. And that’s all assuming Duffy isn’t playing, but you have to prepare for his inclusion, as well.
Fatigue at the dot
Most people would agree that Brady Wambach is the best overall face-off man in the game right now. He’s got a tenacious, never-quit way about him that makes even competing for ground balls, let alone winning them, an exhausting chore that lasts for 60 minutes.
To that point, Johnny Mullen and the ‘Cuse face-off unit have had a mixed bag of results against UNC in the two games, but with a specific trend.
In the first half of the first two games, the Orange actually won the face-off battle, 15-12. But in the second half, Wambach and co. took over and won 19-7 on restarts. That’s a stark difference, and perhaps speaks to how difficult it is just to keep up with his work ethic at the dot.
It’s not only limited to Brady Wambach. After dominating against Yale in the first half last week, 13-3, SU fell way off pace and lost the second half battle, 11-8. It’s been a bit of a trend for the Orange down the stretch of the season. At times, Mullen has looked like his old self again, but he’s going to have to fend off fatigue if he wants to keep it competitive on the all-important face-offs today.
Keeping pace on offense
In two meetings this season, the ‘Cuse offense has only mustered 19 goals against a stingy Carolina defense. They’ve had their issues late, including making the goalie switch, but Joey Spallina and the Orange offense need to find a more consistent rhythm this time around to keep pace.
I think they need to do a better job of getting the ball to dodging threats to ignite the ball movement. Their biggest issue in the first game was not getting UNC out of their defensive shape. A great way to do that is to use Wyatt Hottle, Payton Anderson or Michael Leo to draw a slide, kick the ball towards where the slide came from, and initiate their specific brand of lethal ball movement. Maybe playing some two-man where the pass goes to Joey for him to survey the field and pick out a pass he likes, perhaps to one Finn Thomson for a smooth finish. Just thinking out loud.
Keeping it clean
It’s difficult against the Tar Heels, because Wambach and a loaded offense make even getting enough offensive possessions a bit of a chore for their opponents.
And that’s where SU has to play one of their cleanest games of the season. The failed clears that reared their ugly head in the ACC Tournament (5 failed attempts) cannot happen; nor can sloppy, careless turnovers like going offside or throwing the ball away on basic passes.
North Carolina puts that kind of pressure on you to capitalize on every chance you do get, and playing cleanly has been an issue for the Orange this season.
‘Cuse has had a real struggle against the elite teams this season, going 0-4 against the top three seeds in this tournament. If they’re going to finally pull out a win in one of those matchups, they have to play their most disciplined game of the season, to put themselves in the best position to head back to Championship Weekend.
