Orange Overpower Seahawks, Cruises to Strong Win

By James Anderson

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A barrage of early goals from the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team propelled the Orange to a 16-5 win over Wagner, in the first game of a double header at the Carrier Dome, Sunday afternoon.

Hallie Majorana and Riley Donahue picked up three goals apiece, and Kelly Cross and Kayla Treanor each racked two goals, leading the Orange with 10 of their 16 goals. Similar to last week's performances, the wealth was shared again by the Orange, as ten different players contributed to goals in the contest.

Orange starts fast

Nine of the goals by the Syracuse offense were scored in the first 15:14 of the first half, setting the tone and placing the Orange firmly in control of the game. In fact, Syracuse did not score again for the rest of the half, while Wagner broke through and placed two goals in the net. The two scores from Kimmy Tumolo and Tori McGrath cut the lead to 9-2 going into halftime.

It took just eight seconds into the second half for the Orange to strike again, as Majorana received the feed from a charging Treanor and dropped in her second of the three goals, pushing the lead back up to eight, 10-2.

Treanor, who picked up accolades last week as the ACC Player Of The Week and Inside Lacrosse Player Of The Week, continued her strong play with five assists on the afternoon in addition to her two goals.

Syracuse mimicked its start in the 1st half, attacking early and often and scored twice more in the first five minutes to extend their lead to 12-2 at 26:24 on Majorana's third tally, starting up the running clock. The Orange never led by less than double-digits after that point.

Syracuse fires away

It was nearly even in free position shots for each, with the Orange having the advantage 6-4, and both teams going 50-50 on making those chances. However, the pendulum swung heavily towards Syracuse in overall shots, 30 to 10 in favor of the Orange. Wagner's goalie Kelsey Fee recorded nine saves in the effort, more than once stopping point-blank Orange shots.

With Treanor handling draw controls, Syracuse also established dominance in the first half outmatching Wagner 10-2. Treanor stepped out in the second half and Wagner closed it to a total of 17-6 for the game.

For Wagner, Shea Gegan took some control late in the second half, as she slammed home two free position goals to cut into the large Orange lead, and was the leading scorer for the Seahawks. But her goals came far too late to make a difference in the result.

Notes

It was a homecoming of sorts for SU women’s lacrosse standout Katie Rowan, who is the head coach for the Wagner Seahawks. Rowan, in her first year as coach for Wagner,is the leading all-time scorer for the Syracuse Orange program, a three-time All-American and former Orange assistant coach.. In addition, one of Syracuse's assistant coaches, Michelle Tumolo, is the sister of Wagner attacker Kimmy Tumolo, who picked up the first goal for the Seahawks.

Syracuse moved to 3-0 in the young season, while Wagner lost its second straight to drop to 0-2. The second game of the doubleheader had the Orange playing host to visiting Marist at 7:30 Sunday night. 

Neither Syracuse head coach Gary Gait, nor players, were available to reporters after the first game.