Drama in the ACC and near catastrophic losses in the Big East defined the weekend. Rivalry week is ahead and Quint Kessenich is ready.
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15) Syracuse
“Head, heart, and hustle” rallied late to defeat
North Carolina and in the process pumped their
RPI to #20. 3,111 fans at
Good Counsel HS in
Olney, MD, enjoyed this rare neutral site
ACC showdown.
You can feel it. You can see it.
Syracuse has turned the corner and is headed back towards the top. They currently hold
Top 20 wins over
Vermont,
UNC, and
Princeton. This proud program hasn’t won a playoff game since 2017 and haven’t been to
Championship Weekend since 2013. So the
UNC victory was a baby step in the right direction.
Freshmen
Joey Spallina and
Michael Leo were clutch.
Leo, the freshman from
St. Anthony’s bagged the game winner with :12 on the clock. The
Orange showed mental toughness after being outplayed severely early in the contest.
UNC led by two, and should have been up by five.
Syracuse made halftime adjustments, they fixed the clear which was a major issue. Five failed clears in the first half morphed into a 9/10 second half stat. They also tightened the faceoff.
UNC shot the ball poorly all day. Maybe
Syracuse goalie
Will Mark got in their head. The shooting disparity was real.
UNC took 50 shots while
Syracuse hit on 15 of 36.
Coach Gary Gait and his staff are seeing the fruits of their labor with consecutive wins over
Princeton and
North Carolina.
Spallina’s smarts and savvy were on display. His ability to process game data, to probe and survey, to experiment and adapt were on full display as he saved his best and most decisive dodge for the final six minutes.
Spallina has 61 points after 13 games. His rookie season stacks up historically. He leads the country in
EMO goals.
Most Points for an ACC Freshman All-Time by School
UVA – Connor Shellenberger (2021) 79
MD – Bob Boniello (1979) 79
SU – John Zulberti (1986) 74
Duke – Zack Greer (2005) 72
UNC – Nicky Galasso (2011) 56
ND – Pat Walsh (2003) 52
Otto (8-5) and
Virginia have a date on Saturday at 2:00pm (ESPNU). It feels as if the
Orange need one more win to leap into the postseason discussion. The
Syracuse RPI is now #20 dragged down by games against
Holy Cross, St. Bonaventure, and
Hobart. Not playing
Army and
Cornell hurt.