Syracuse women’s lacrosse just misses the mark against No. 1 North Carolina

No. 1 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team built itself on a rock-solid defense during its national championship-winning season in 2025, when it allowed only 6.9 goals per game, a mark that led both the ACC and the country. Through the first 30 minutes of play at the JMA Wireless Dome on Friday afternoon, Syracuse had already scored six against goalie Betty Nelson and the North Carolina defense. 

Despite a strong first-half showing, the Orange couldn’t sustain that momentum and fell 13-9 to the reigning national champions.

Senior midfielder Emma Muchnick led the Orange with two first-half goals. Mutchnick and sophomore midfielder Molly Guzik feel their cohesion is building well.

“We do very well building the chemistry every single game,” Guzik said. “Today we showed that a little better than we did last week. And I think that’s something that you can expect to see from Emma.” 

However, the Tar Heels also had their chances. North Carolina forced four free positions shots in the first half. Only two of these free positions went in. Senior goalie Daniella Guyette anchored the Orange in the first half, finishing with 14 saves on the game. North Carolina head coach Jenny Levy thought that more chances could have been converted.

“We didn’t do a great job finishing today,” Levy said. “We took over 40 shots today. We credit their defense and their goalie, those types of zones, for your shooters and get people on hands and things like that.”

Photo by Isaac Williams

UNC’s Tar Heels defends against SU’s Midfielder Mackenzie Rich.

As the final minutes began, the tides turned for the home side. The Orange got outscored 5-4 in the final period. The draw control also began to fall in the Tar Heels’ favor, by a 15-8 margin. 

Syracuse head coach Regy Thorpe felt this was a good game for Syracuse, despite knowing the draw controls must improve.

“We were right there,” Thorpe said. “We thought we had a good game plan going in, and a couple times we hit our marks, a couple times we didn’t.” 

The Tar Heels’ offense also began to find its groove. Sophomore midfielder Chloe Humphrey, who was named to the Tewaraton Watch list to start the year, finished with five points on the day. She scored three goals and recorded two assists to help the Tar Heels pull away in the second half.

“Syracuse gave us their best effort from the start,” Humphrey said. “We have such a talented offense. So, kind of just getting out of my internal pressure and realizing there’s so many talented players that can play around me definitely helped.”

Despite starting 0-2 for the first time 2001, Thorpe said that there are many positives to take away as the season continues.

“We just got to keep building,” Thorpe said. “When you play a challenging schedule, we just got to keep battling.”