Takeaways from Syracuse's 13-11 win over North Carolina in the NCAA Quarterfinals

Syracuse defeated North Carolina, 13-11, in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday.

Here are three takeaways from the afternoon.

The senior class delivered

For the first time since 2008-09, Syracuse is headed to the Final Four for the second straight season.

They did that riding their vaunted senior class, as four seniors (Joey Spallina, Finn Thomson, Luke Rhoa and Michael Leo) combined for 13 points.

But it was ultimately Spallina’s day.

He accounted for three goals and three assists, and two of those goals came at the most critical points of the afternoon.

With the score tied at 10 with 7:57 to go, Spallina put the Orange ahead for good off an assist from Dante Bowen.

After Thomson put the Orange up 12-10 roughly four minutes later, it was Spallina third goal of the afternoon that put the game fully out of reach, as he fired past UNC goalie Kent Goode with 2:40 to go to give the Orange a 13-10 lead.

It was Spallina’s 35th goal of the season and an exclamation point on another impressive afternoon for the Tewaaraton Finalist.

Mullen gains the upper hand at the X

The old adage of ‘it’s hard to be a good team three times in a season’ held true on Saturday.

Syracuse had dropped its first two contests against the Tar Heels earlier in the season, and one particularly glaring issue for the Orange was at the Faceoff X.

North Carolina had dominated that category, winning 31 of 53 there, as Brady Wambach had his way against John Mullen.

Things were so bad in SU’s first matchup against North Carolina—a 14-9 win for the Tar Heels—that head coach Gary Gait decided to bench Mullen as he had gone just 7 for 21 against Wambach.

Such was not the case on Saturday, as Mullen took 13 of 24 at the X in a rare disappointing performance for Wambach. It has been an outstanding start to the NCAA Tournament for Mullen, who also won 21 of 33 face-offs against Yale.

Mullen even scored his fifth goal of the season for SU’s first goal of the game.

With 1:03 seconds go to in the first quarter, Mullen won at the X and streaked straight down the field, firing past Goode to tie the matchup at 1-1 in what had been a defensively dominated opening period.

Syracuse’s big rally

Things looked precarious for the Orange with 5:01 left in the first half when Brevin Wilson scored to put the Tar Heels up 6-2.

But it was actually a turning point for the Orange, as they scored six unanswered goals from there to seize momentum.

It wasn’t easy, though, as the Orange entered halftime giving up two extra-men opportunities to North Carolina as Billy Dwan and Thomson were both penalized for pushing and slashing.

But the Orange killed both penalties in the third quarter, its offense took over from there.

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