CHESTER, Pa. — Kevin Rice, behind the crease at X, tactfully took a few steps to his left. Jake Bailey, the defender eyeing him on the other side of the net, accepted the bait.

For the previous 23 minutes, Syracuse had made scoring look impossible. But as Bailey raced around the goal, trying to chase down Rice, the senior attack made his wrap-around shot from the right side look easy.

The Orange had its fifth lead of the game with less than two minutes to play. The previous four it had given up. This one, it would not.

“We were playing pretty poor offensively throughout the game,” Rice said. “At the end we ended up just getting the hang up … I was able to just cram it in there.”

Just 13 days after losing a 17-15 shootout on the road to second-seeded North Carolina (12-3, 3-1 Atlantic Coast), the third-seeded Orange (10-2, 2-2) pieced together a win in a game that it never had full control of. Each lead was met with a UNC response, but in the end, Rice’s final shot put the finishing touch on a 9-8 win on Friday night at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. Syracuse now advances to play Duke in the ACC tournament final on Sunday.

Between two of the nation’s premier offensive powerhouses, defense stole the show. The two goalkeepers combined for 27 saves on 68 shots, while the defenses combined to force 28 turnovers. It was the first game Syracuse won all season in which it failed to reach double digits in goals.

“I thought the defenses on both sides were excellent,” UNC head coach Joe Breschi said. “They pressed us a little bit. Their defense was pressing out on our attack, forcing our middies to do most of the action.”

After the teams traded leads four times in the opening half, it appeared Syracuse was going to pull ahead for good to start the second half.

The first shot — a point-blank, diving look from UNC attack Jimmy Bitter — nestled into the net of Bobby Wardwell’s stick instead of the cage behind him. Bitter hit his stick against the turf. And when he got up, he threw his head back in frustration as Randy Staats had connected on a shot adjacent to the right of his own net.

Just over a minute later, Staats found Dylan Donahue, who placed his shot past UNC goalkeeper Kieran Burke. Just over three minutes after that, Henry Schoonmaker bounced in a shot to extend the lead to 8-5.

The Orange had a glimmer of momentum in a game where — until that point — had been impossible to find.

But Chad Tutton brought the Tar Heels back once again. He broke free from Tom Grimm and bounced in a shot from over his head. The second time he created space off the ball and scored off a pass from Luke Goldstock to tie the game as Syracuse had hit a dry spell offensively.

“That whole fourth quarter seemed to be like that. It was back and forth,” SU head coach John Desko said. “Teams were taking shots. The whole fourth quarter … was a roller coaster.”

After Rice’s shot gave Syracuse the lead, UNC called timeout before Ben Williams and Stephen Kelly could meet at the faceoff X. After the timeout, Kelly was called for a violation and the Orange picked it up. But Nicky Galasso lost possession while cradling the ball.

Before UNC could clear it to its last offensive opportunity to tie it, the Tar Heels were whistled for an offsides call.

“We had four failed clears,” Breschi said. “Last time we played them we were 19-of-19 … It’s just the fundamentals and attention to detail.”

Two of those failed clears led to Syracuse goals. On the last, all the Orange needed to do was pick it up and hold it. Syracuse passed the ball 11 times. Each pass, met with a frantic chase from the Tar Heels defense.

The final seconds were anticlimactic. North Carolina spent all night catching up to Syracuse as it tried unsuccessfully to pull away. But as the game ticked away from UNC, it was one final goal from Rice that made the difference

“It was back and forth. No one really was scoring,” Desko said. “It almost felt like whoever got the next goal was going to win the game. Fortunately Kevin stuck that one for us.”

Published on April 24, 2015 at 10:25 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3