Treanor, Orange Women Take Down Northwestern 16-12

By James Anderson
Photos by Kerry Bretti

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A matchup of Top 5 teams in women’s lacrosse lived up to expectations, as a roller coaster affair ended with No.2 Syracuse holding on for the 16-12 victory over No. 5 Northwestern in the Carrier Dome Sunday afternoon.

Kayla Treanor notched four goals to lead the Orange, and Nicole Levy and Hallie Majorana picked up three goals each, to account for 10 of the 16 goals for Syracuse. Majorana led the team in assists, dishing out four to her teammates. In fact, the Orange as a team dominated when it came to sharing the wealth, out-assisting the Wildcats 11-3.

"What a game, fun!" said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait to reporters after the game. "Just a great opportunity to play a great opponent, well-coached, well-disciplined, they brought everything they had and I thought it was just an outstanding team effort on our part to come out on top at the end of the day." Gait said.

Roller Coaster First Half

It was an up and down first 30 minutes of the contest, with the teams trading leads, jockeying for control.  Just over three minutes in Syracuse had jumped in front 3-0, with Majorana planting 2 of her 3 goals early, and Riley Donahue scoring the third.

Northwestern was not deterred, and ripped off five straight in response, from four scorers. In fact, those four scorers were the only scorers for the Wildcats, with two goals from Christina Esposito, and a goal each from Shelia Nesselbush, Kaleigh Craig and Catie Ingrilli.

Treanor took it upon herself to stop the Northwestern run, notching two straight goals to tie up at 5 with 9:14 in the first half. The Wildcats grabbed the lead again briefly at 5:32, with Nesselbush racking up her second goal to move up 6-5.

A strong finish down the stretch of the 1^st half put the Orange in front with another scoring run, with three in a row scored from Nicole Levy, Treanor notching her hat-trick, and Kelly Cross, giving the Orange the 8-6 advantage into halftime.

Orange establish dominance in 2^nd half

The 2^nd half began on a sour note for Syracuse, as halftime took longer than normal, due to violations being discovered against the Orange for two illegal sticks, including one against Treanor. Northwestern was given a two-player advantage from the yellow cards, but only managed to score one goal on Syracuse, with just two seconds left on the penalty, coming from Esposito to make it 8-7.

"Yeah, we just have a rulebook full of interpretations, and it was just a matter of the officials making the call on the interpretation of the rule," said Gait. "Our sticks meet all the specs. The design for sticks in the rulebook, it's just a judgment call if it's, you know, creates an advantage or doesn't create an advantage. Well, it's a fine line between providing players with the best opportunity to have success, and without a clear rule there's no...it's a tough one to work with."

At 23:41, the Wildcats scored once more to draw the tie at 8 from a Nesselbush goal. It was the last time they were tied, and Northwestern never took the lead in the 2^nd half. It took seven minutes into the half, but Syracuse broke through with a strike from Majorana and did not look back, starting up a five goal run putting the Orange in the driver’s seat for the rest of the game. Taylor Gait and Levy splashed home two apiece, and moved out to a 13-8 lead halfway through the second half.

The Wildcats scored four more times, but Syracuse maintained the distance, and did not lead by less than three in the final minutes.

It was a relatively even contest between the two squads, but a key difference came in draw control, with the Orange outpacing Northwestern 20-10. Both teams nailed three free position opportunities, but Syracuse was perfect with just the three attempts; Northwestern was 3 for 8.

Notes

Syracuse improved to 5-0 for the season, as Northwestern fell to 1-2. It’s a quick turnaround for the  Orange, as it hosts Florida in a matinee matchup at noon Tuesday.