Syracuse Women Edge Cornell with Strong First Half

By Kerry Bretti

ITHACA, N.Y.- The Number 4 ranked Syracuse Women's Lacrosse team handed No. 20 Cornell its third loss of the season and first at home Tuesday evening on Schoellkopf Field, defeating the Big Red 9-7. The Big Red had only lost twice this season; once at No. 1 Maryland and most recently at No. 11 Princeton.

Syracuse led the entire game, fueled by a strong first half. The Orange led 5-2 at the break behind a pair of goals from Kayla Treanor. Nicole Levy and Taylor Gait also added two goals each for Syracuse. 

Almost 11 minutes passed in the middle of the second half without either team scoring.

“I thought we played pretty well in the beginning even though we didn’t shoot well in the first half we came out in the second half a little better focused on the shooting,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said.

Finishing without Majorana

Offensive power Halle Majorana received two yellow cards and was ejected from the game with 18:57 remaining in the second half. Majorana finished with two assists. Syracuse went three for six on free position shots.

“It happens. I just told her I was happy she was riding hard,” Gait said. “She needs to learn how to control her stick a little bit better but I love the effort she was giving throughout that first forty minutes she did play. She put in a solid effort on that side.”

Big Red keeps after it

Cornell was led by Aime Dickson with two goals and one assist. Joey Coffy followed with two goals, including one with five seconds left in the game. The Big Red went one for five on free position shots.

“They didn’t give up. It was all a team effort on their part,” Gait said of Cornell. “We had it pretty much in control up 9-4 with a few minutes left and they scrapped hard to get the ball back and get a couple quick goals.”

In the goal, at the draw, on the ground

Allie Murray played the full 60 minutes in cage for the Orange. Murray was active, causing two turnovers and scooping four ground balls. Murray made five saves on 12 shots on goal.

Cornell’s Renee Poullott also played the entire game. Poullott tallied six ground balls while saving ten saves on 19 shots on goal.

Cornell won the battle at the draw circle, grabbing ten of 18 draws. The Big Red also came up with more ground balls, taking 16 of 30. Cornell did have more turnovers, though, committing 17 to Syracuse’s 12.

“Kids are making mistakes and we need to sharpen it up,” Gait said.

With the win, Syracuse improves to 13-4 and Cornell drops to 10-3.

Next

The Orange hosts ACC rival Louisville at noon on Saturday in the Carrier Dome in the regular season finale.

Cornell is at Harvard in an Ivy League game on Saturday afternoon at 3:00.

Slide show of the game - http://sce2014.blogspot.com/2016/04/syracuse-vs-cornell-wlax-photos.html