Syracuse Women's Lax Shines in Doubleheader

Story and photo by Jessica Eley

Syracuse, N.Y. - SU's quick offense proved too much for two opponents Saturday in a day-night doubleheader at the Carrier Dome. The No.3/4 Orange women defeated the No. 19/18 Denver Pioneers,18-10, and the Canisius Golden Griffins, 21-13 to begin the season.

"That was a long day...but it was a fun day," head coach Gary Gait said jokingly. "I thought when we needed it, players stepped up and played really well today."

Junior transfer, Halle Majorana, finished the two games with a team high of 11 points and All-America junior midfielder, Kayla Treanor, added nine points. Freshman Riley Donahue, stood out during the Canisius game, earning seven points.

Pushing Past the Pioneers

Denver trailed by only one point until attacker Devon Collins scored with 17:54 left on the clock in the first half. The Orange slowly pushed the lead, until it had the 9-3 advantage at the half.

The second half was more competitive. Denver scored seven points to SU's nine. But the gap opened in the first half was too much for the Pioneers to recover.

Maryland transfer Majorana,  who scored three goals against DU said it felt great to be on the field at the Carrier Dome for the first time.

"The atmosphere was awesome, you just get chills walking onto the field," Majorana said.


Tougher Fight

Just five hours after the end of its first game, the Orange women had to get back on their feet to face the second opponent of the day.

"We love to compete and it was a good opportunity to play multiple games and just working on our mental preparation for games," Treanor said.

The Orange got off to a good start, scoring four times in just over five minutes. But after being up 8-2, three goals from the Golden Griffins' Tori Quinn and one apiece from Lauren Smolensky and Ashley Bull put Canisius within three points at the half.

"We played a good first 10 minutes," Gait said. "Then probably a bit of a mental let down. Just not staying focused. Thinking this is going to be, they didn't come to play as much as we thought and sure enough they did."

Gait said the team regrouped during the halftime break and the Orange came out stronger in the second half.

Canisius shut down Treanor which gave Donahue the opportunities to score. Gait said in the second half she did a much better job of seeing the field, seeing the opportunities and making great plays.

"I think it was my team that helped me,"Donahue said. "We worked really well together,"

She had five of her seven points in the second half.


Up Next

The Orange takes on Canisius again at the Dome at noon on next Sunday, Feb. 15 in what will be the first half of another day-night doubleheader. Presbyterian is the opponent Sunday night.

"We'll come out and sharpen some of the things we're doing and just make sure we key on certain tendencies and some of their players," Gait said. "Tori Quinn had a big game against us, so maybe we make an adjustment there."

Quinn made four goals against the Orange.