Can SU men’s lacrosse pull it off in the final show?

After 15 games and almost three months the ACC championship field is set. Third-seeded Syracuse men’s lacrosse aims to get one back against second-seeded North Carolina in Charlotte on Friday at 8 p.m.

On the other side of the bracket top-seeded Notre Dame takes on fourth-seeded Virginia, a Cavaliers squad that handed the Fighting Irish their only loss of the season earlier in the year.

For the Orange, the ‘Cuse aim for back-to-back ACC titles for the first time since 2015-2016 after finishing on top in Charlotte last spring. The ‘Cuse’s path to the conference title last season was through Notre Dame and Duke. This time around the Blue Devils failed to even make the ACC tournament with a fifth place conference finish despite taking down UNC on Saturday 16-12.

So what do the Tar Heels bring to the table in a semifinals matchup with the Orange? One of the strongest teams from top to bottom in the country, but not a team that has shown full blown dominance as of late. UNC holds an 11-3 record with two of its three losses coming in the last three weeks of the regular season.

On April 11 Notre Dame doubled up North Carolina in a low scoring tilt 10-5. The following week and UNC just barely eked one out against Virginia 16-15 in overtime and followed that performance up with a four-goal loss to Duke to close out the regular season. So it’s fair to say North Carolina is not exactly flying high into postseason play.

But this is a Tar Heels team that over the course of the year has excelled at pretty much every level. Defensively UNC gives up fewer than 10 goals per game, a top 12 mark in the country. North Carolina’s defensive unit is anchored by goalie Josh Marcus. The four-star freshman holds a pedestrian 47% save percentage but had one of his best games of the season against the Orange. In a 14-9 win over Syracuse earlier in the month Marcus put up 15 saves and a 62% save percentage, both career highs.

Offensively the Tar Heels can turn it on in an instant. North Carolina scores 14 goals a game, tied with both Virginia and Duke for the conference lead. Attackman Owen Duffy provides a bulk of the production. The junior has notched 61 points on the season, 14 more than UNC’s next highest. Duffy’s primary battery mate around the cage has been attackman Dominic Pietramala. The redshirt junior leads the Tar Heels with 41 goals, five of those came against the Orange.

But it’s the faceoff X where North Carolina really separates itself. FOGO Brady Wambach wins just under 70% of all faceoffs, the second best mark in the whole nation. The junior leads the country with 220 faceoffs won. Against Syracuse Wambach matched up against John Mullen and won 16 of 26 faceoffs. Wambach has finished under 50% in just one game this season.

Faceoff between Syracuse and North Carolina is set for 8 p.m. Friday with the winner moving on to the final at Noon Sunday.