Syracuse attacker Kayla Treanor scored in the sixth minute of the first half of Saturday’s 12-9 UNC loss for the Orange’s first lead of the day. With Treanor at the helm, Syracuse would have many more.
“She’s definitely the best we’ve played this season,” said coach Jenny Levy.
“The question wasn’t whether Treanor was going to get her goals. We knew that. It was our offense had to score more than their offense.”
No. 1 UNC (12-2, 5-1 ACC) kept up with Treanor for the first several minutes. Senior Abbey Friend and freshman Sydney Holman responded to Treanor’s first two goals to keep the game close. Then, senior Alyssa Murray found Kayla Treanor, and the two quickly went to work, tacking on two more goals together at the end of the first half.
“The connection her and Murray have together is really unique and special,” Levy said. “Their chemistry is apparent when you watch them on film and play against them.”
UNC trailed 6-3 going into the second half. No. 3 Syracuse (13-1, 5-1 ACC) outshot North Carolina 8-18 in the first half and won seven draws to UNC’s three.
It wasn’t an unfamiliar situation for UNC, who came back from a deficit against Maryland April 5.
“We were all, myself included, getting a little anxious at halftime,” Friend said. “You come in, and the score was (6-3) and it wasn’t as bad as we had thought. We had just come back from that last weekend.”
