Orange Turn On Jets, Zoom Past Huskies

By James Anderson
Photo courtesy cuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After a slightly slow start against a Connecticut Huskies team with only one loss in the season, the Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team built up steam to take control. And continued to built steam. And continued some more, until it pulled away with a 17-7 victory over the Huskies at the Carrier Dome Tuesday night.

Kayla Treanor notched four goals to lead the Orange, Riley Donahue added three goals and Nicole Levy, Hallie Majorana and Taylor Poplawski picked up two goals each, allowing Syracuse to blow past Connecticut after an even 15 game minutes to start the game. 

"We came out prepared, I thought, focused and you know, played them tough at the beginning and then we found the gaps on the defense and moved the ball pretty well, and players started putting the ball in the back of the net." said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait after the game. 

Both goalies put up a strong showing in the save department, with UConn’s Shannon Nee and Syracuse’s Allie Murray snagging ten saves each. Murray in particular had a strong game, with seven of her ten saves in the first half.

"I thought their goalie gave us a little trouble at the beginning, but we settled down and relaxed, through the fade put the ball in the back of the net, and scored goals going there in that 1st half that really opened up the game. Good team effort all around," Gait said.

Trading Goals In The Early Minutes

Both teams began the contest in a sort of feeling out period, with neither team taking a huge advantage, though the Huskies never took the lead.

Syracuse and Connecticut traded the first four goals, with Taylor Gait and Treanor scooping scores for the Orange, and Jacqueline Jordan and Brooke Jensen answering for the Huskies. Majorana and Donahue splashed the next two for Syracuse, and a rebuttal of a goal from UConn’s Grace Nolan at 13:17 in the half. It was the last time Connecticut scored for the next 30:45 of game time, and the last time for the first half and UConn.

Orange Hits Next Gear, Takes Over

Syracuse unleashed a 11-goal run upon the Huskies, with several Orange players getting in on the action. Treanor picked up the remaining three of her four goals in a row, and Donahue sandwiched her two around Treanor’s scores. Nicole Levy put back two goals, and Erica Bodt, Kelly Cross, Majorana and Devon Parker also chipped in on the run, carrying Syracuse into the second half and putting it up 15-3.

"We just had a game plan prior to the game about their zone defense, and I think we were just, we just stepped up and executed the game plan and found some easy goals." Treanor said Orange.

The Huskies finally put a stop to the rout, on a Kelsey Catalano free position score at 12:32 left in the second  half, but the damage was done. Poplawski contributed her two goals for the Orange to close its offense, and UConn tallied goals from Molly O’Reilly, Victoria Thompson and Katherine Finkelston in running time to finish up the game.

Notes

It’s a big week on campus for Syracuse with the men’s and women’s basketball teams both reaching their respective Final Fours this weekend. To that end, some noteworthy SU athletes, past and present, were in the Dome to catch some lacrosse action. Former quarterback Terrel Hunt and Pro Bowl linebacker Chandler Jones tossed t-shirts to the crowd after a Syracuse score. The women’s basketball team also had several players in attendance, receiving a round of applause during a break in action.

Syracuse moved to 9-3 for the season, with Connecticut picking up just its second loss of the year to drop to 7-2. Next on the docket for the Orange is a Sunday matinee game, hosting ACC foe Duke at noon.

Return Home is Sweet for Orange

By Nick Richardson

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – After three straight games on the road, the No. 4 Syracuse Orange women were clearly happy to be home again as they easily handled the Connecticut Huskies 17-7 Tuesday evening at the Carrier Dome.

At one point the Orange women scored 11 straight goals to pull away from the Huskies. Kayla Treanor (seven points), Halle Majorana (five) and Riley Donahue (four) helped lead the Orange to back-to-back victories after the win over Notre Dame in South Bend last Saturday, improving to 9-3 on the season.  The loss dropped UConn to 7-2.

“We played them tough at the beginning and then we found the gaps in the defense and moved the ball pretty well,” head coach Gary Gait said. “Players started putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Back and Forth Early

The first 15 minutes or so saw a tightly contested game with good play on both ends. Both goalies – Allie Murray for Syracuse and Shannon Nee for UConn – made some great saves to keep the game close.

“We were getting our shots, we were getting our opportunities,” Gait said. “We just needed to relax and settle down.”

The Huskies’ Grace Nolan scored to cut SU’s lead to 4-3 with 13:17 left in the half. But that was as close as the Huskies were going to get.

Treanor and Donahue Spur Big Run

Following Nolan’s goal, the Orange went on an 8-0 run to end the first half with a 12-3 lead. Treanor and Donahue were the main catalysts for this impressive offensive outburst.

“They kept leaving that side of the field [in our] advantage,” Gait said. “It was a good combination there. If we went across the top, Riley would draw the player. If it went down behind, then Treanor would draw the player and the other one would be open, so it worked out pretty well.”

Treanor recorded all of her game-high seven points in the first half, including three goals in less than two minutes and a total of four. Donahue added a hat trick.

“We had a game plan prior to the game about their zone defense and we just stepped up and executed the game plan and found some easy goals,” Treanor said.

Erica Bodt, Kelly Cross and Nicole Levy added tallies of their own to put an exclamation point on the first half.

Cruise Control in Second Half

There was no let up from the Orange once the second half got under way. Syracuse scored three times in the first eight minutes to go up 15-3 and put the game out of reach.

The Orange dominated possession throughout the game, and the story was the same in the second half. Syracuse topped the Huskies 18-7 in draws controlled, 11 of which came from Treanor.

Majorana, Levy, Devon Parker and Taylor Poplawski (twice) provided the second-half scoring for the Orange.

Junior Jacqueline Jordan was the only Husky to finish with more than one point (2).

Up Next

The Orange women will be back in the Carrier Dome on Sunday, April 3 at noon to take on ACC opponent Duke.

Syracuse defeats UAlbany in Second Round of Tournament Play (Pics)

e

(Syracuse, N.Y.) -- The Syracuse Women's basketball team defeated the University of Albany 76-59 Sunday at the Carrier Dome and is now headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time. Here is a look at the game in photos taken by Edward McFarland, Jr. Click on any picture to start slide show.

THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

By Edward McFarland


 (Syracuse, N.Y.) – For the first time the Syracuse Women’s basketball team is advancing to the NCAA’s Sweet 16 round after defeating the University of Albany 76-59 in the Carrier Dome, Sunday

The Great Danes, who'd come back from 17 down to upset Florida on Friday, gave the Orange a fight, trailing 40-33 at halftime. But the Orange pulled out to a 61-45 lead after three quarters and held on from there.

“It’s an amazing feeling for our players because they work so hard and really deserve this moment,” SU head coach Quentin Hillsman said. "So I’m happy and excited for them to be moving to the next round.”

Fun while it lasted

Like many games this season, Syracuse’s full-court defense made a big difference. 

“The press is really good,” Albany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson chuckled. "We broke it in the second half a lot easier than the first half so that's kind of my fault. We just needed to moreso pass through it than dribble through it.”

Most times when Albany broke Syracuse’s press it resulted in Senior Shereesha Richards being found down low for a score. She had 23 points to lead Albany along with 14 rebounds.

“I’m just happy that we went this far,” Richards said. It’s sad that we lost, but you know we’ve accomplished so much this year and there’s more positive to look on than there is negative.”

Orange Offense Came Up Big

Though Syracuse’s defense played a key role in their second round win, their offense was the icing on the cake.

The Orange had three players in double figures along with an unexpected presence on the boards.

Redshirt junior Brittney Sykes had 24 points and five steals. Both were game highs. Her buckets came from hard drives to the basket and cross-court passes that she deflected and took the other way for easy layups.

Going into the game I knew I had to be in attack mode,” Sykes said. "I knew I couldn’t take any possessions off.”

Junior Alexis Peterson also dominated for most of the game. Peterson finished the game with 22 points and six assists.  

“We worked extremely extremely hard to get to this point, and the last couple of years we’ve come up short,” Peterson said. "So to get over this hump is big for us and big for our team.”


Bench players big contributors

Syracuse’s bench gave the starters solid support as Junior Bria Day played 28 minutes due to her sister Briana getting into early foul trouble. Bria Day came off the bench and snagged 10 rebounds.

Senior Maggie Morrison was the other star off the bench. She had 11 points as she shot 3-for-5 from downtown. The Orange had 21 total bench points.

Still Dancing

The four seed Syracuse Women's next game will be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Friday March 25. The next opponent will be Regional top seed South Carolina. 

High Powered Offense Boosts Syracuse Past St. John's

By Kerry Bretti 

SYRACUSE, N.Y.- Ten different players scored for the Orange in Syracuse’s dominating 15-4 win over St. John’s Saturday at the Carrier Dome..

“You never know who is going to be shooting with our offense,” Dylan Donahue has said each week.
He was right again.

Nick Mariano led the Orange in scoring with a hat trick, followed by Donahue and Jordan Evans who each netted two goals and added two assists. Tim Barber also scored twice for the Orange while Derek DeJoe and Sergio Salcido each added one goal and one assist. Syracuse went on two 6-0 runs and tallied 54 shots throughout the game. The score at the half was 9-2.

“The good part about today was that we got a lot of younger players, other players who haven’t played a lot in the game so the message was just to keep playing,” Coach John Desko said. “But we’re not out there just to try and score extra goals. We’re out there to try and run the offense.”

At the X

Supremacy at the faceoff X allowed Syracuse to rally on offense. Ben Williams won 15 of 19 faceoffs and Cal Paduda won three of three.

“Ben Williams giving us so many possessions off the faceoff to get the ball to our offense to put the pressure on the St. John’s defense and limit the opportunities for St. John’s at their offense end of the field,” Desko said. “And when they did get it I thought our defense was pretty stingy.”

Definitely stingy. Syracuse limited St. John’s to 15 shots, only eight on cage. The Orange defense caused ten turnovers and picked up 37 ground balls. The defense held St. John’s scoreless on all four of its man-up opportunities. Syracuse was also perfect clearing, successful on 17 of 17 clears.

Three Orange goalies saw time in the cage Saturday. Warren Hill made the start and played the first three quarters saving two of five shots on cage. Evan Molloy replaced him in the fourth quarter and made one save on two shots. Tyler Avallone finished the game in cage and made one save.

Each of St. John’s goals was scored by a different player. Jason DeBenedictis, Eric DeJohn, Thomas Stackpole and Nick Heller scored for the Red Storm. St. John’s picked up 19 ground balls and successfully cleared 16 of 23 times. Joseph Danaher started in cage for the Red Storm, making six saves during the first half. Michael O’Keeffe played the second half and registered eight saves.

Syracuse Women's Lacrosse vs Maryland

(Syracuse, N.Y.) -- The No. 1 Maryland Women's Lacrosse team beat No.3 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome Saturday, the 19th win in the last 20 games versus the Orange for the Terrapins. Here is a look at the game in pictures by Kerry Bretti. Click on any photo to start slide show.