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.