Syracuse, N.Y. - The Syracuse Women's Lacrosse team built a six-goal lead, then held on to defeat Duke Sunday afternoon at the Carrier Dome. Here is a look at the game in pictures by Kerry Bretti. Click on any photo to start slide show.

Orange Survives Late Rally for Big ACC Win

By Nick Richardson

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse women’s lacrosse team toughed out an important conference victory as part of the first game of a home and away doubleheader on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Duke Blue Devils 14-12 at the Carrier Dome.

The win was the Orange’s third straight following triumphs over Notre Dame and Connecticut. The team improved its record in the ACC to 3-1, as well as 10-3 overall. The Blue Devils suffered their first loss in conference play, dropping to 3-1 and 8-5 overall.

Kayla Treanor and Halle Majorana led the Orange with 3 goals apiece while Nicole Levy and Kelly Cross both added two more.

Syracuse coaches and players were not available immediately afterward because when it was over, the Orange hustled to a bus to head up the Thruway to Buffalo for the second half of the doubleheader against Canisius.

Big Run in First Half

The home game started out as a back-and-forth affair with very good defensive play from both teams. After Stuart Humphrey gave Duke a 3-2 lead less than 10 minutes in, the Orange scored six straight to pull ahead 8-3.

“We did not compete well defensively in the first half,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “We didn’t limit any of their top guns. We obviously know their personnel really well, we know what they’re looking to create and we just didn’t do a good job.”

The Orange scored three more times in the half to take an 11-5 lead into the locker room. Syracuse was able to control the tempo of the half thanks to Treanor’s dominance on draws.

“Kayla, she’s an awesome player,” Kimel said. “She scores, she creates, she sets everybody up, draws a lot of attention, and I think our kids kind of froze at times and didn’t react well.”

Blue Devils' Rally Falls Short

Syracuse’s offense struggled mightily in the second half due in large part to Duke finally being able to win some draws. Fortunately for the Orange, its defense stepped up.

After Duke made it a 12-6 game both teams went more then 10 minutes without scoring a goal. This defensive showcase was highlighted by a long Blue Devils' possession that came to an end on a great save by SU’s Allie Murray.

“It was tough because we were down but we wanted to make sure we played with patience, worked the ball, let the ball work for us and then look for a great opportunity which we did create, we just didn’t finish,” Kimel said.

Duke wouldn’t go down without a fight, however. Their second half performance turned into a two-woman show. Senior Maddy Acton netted four of her game-high six goals in the second half, while sophomore Maddie Crutchfield scored three times.

In the end, though, the Blue Devils had dug themselves too deep a hole to climb out of and ran out of time.

Important Conference Win

Syracuse now sits at 3-1 in the ACC, even more impressive considering the teams they’ve defeated: all three of SU’s conference victories have come against ranked opponents (no. 7 Virginia, no. 4 Notre Dame and no. 14 Duke). Their three remaining conference games (Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Louisville) all come against unranked teams.

Up Next

The Canisius game originally was scheduled for Tuesday night but several days ago was moved up to Sunday. After the Sunday night game in Buffalo comes home back to prepare of a trip to Blacksburg to play the Virginia Tech  Hokies on Saturday Apr. 9 at noon. 

4/2 Men's Lacrosse Syracuse vs Notre Dame Photos

Syracuse, N.Y. - Syracuse men's lacrosse celebrated 100 years of competition in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, but it was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrating after the game with a 17-7 trouncing of the Orange. Here is a look at the game in pictures by Kaimeng Yang. Click on on photo to start slide show.

Fighting Irish Dominate Orange 17-7

Syracuse, NY - On a day that saw 100 years of success of Syracuse lacrosse celebrated, the Orange suffered its worst loss in over two years, falling to No. 2 Notre Dame 17-7 Saturday in the Carrier Dome.

After dropping back-to-back overtime games coming into this game, the Orange is now on its first three-game losing streak since 2007.

"I'm very disappointed on our end," Syracuse head coach John Desko said. "I thought we were well prepared. Mentally, something was wrong today.

"The previous two games, I thought we played very well," Desko said. "We seemed to have similar break downs defensively that we had out there today. As coaches, its tough because we have a short week. We really have to turn around and focus for Wednesday night."

Ryder Garnsey finished with five goals, Mikey Wynne added four and Matt Kavanagh finished with nine points to lead the Fighting Irish (7-1, 2-0 ACC) to the dominating victory.

"Unusual feeling to come in here and get a win in the Dome," Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said. "We played better lacrosse in practice, but we certainly haven't put it together for 60 minutes like we did today."

Jordan Evans was the only Orange (5-3, 1-2 ACC) player to score more than one goal, finishing with a hat trick as one of only two Syracuse players to have multiple points. Tim Barber finished with a goal and two assists, both on Evans goals.

Irish Hot From the Start

It took Notre Dame just 78 seconds to score the opening goal of the contest and the Irish led 2-0 less than four minutes in. They led by no fewer than two goals the rest of the way.

Barber scored his lone goal of the game before Notre Dame scored twice more in just 39 seconds to hand Syracuse its largest deficit of the season.

Trailing 5-2 to open the second, Dylan Donahue scored during a Notre Dame penalty to cut it to two. With the goal, Donahue became the 17th player in Syracuse history with 200 career points. It would be the only point on the day for the senior.

When asked if this was a bright spot during a difficult day, Donahue was very simple with his answer.

"No, it doesn't make it better," Donahue said. "They just straight up out played us today."

Notre Dame stretched the lead to 9-4 at the half, the largest Syracuse halftime deficit of the year.

"They didn't do anything different today" Desko said. "They just came in to play."

Second Half, More of the Same

Down by four, Evans scored two goals in the first five minutes of the second half to cut the Notre Dame lead to three. His first goal came off a pass from Derek DeJoe from behind the net. Cutting in front of the goal, Evans flipped his stick over his left shoulder and past the goalkeeper.

But it was all Irish from there as Notre Dame scored the next three goals to make it a six goal game.

"The ball went in the back of the net today," Corrigan said. "We just stayed at what we've been doing all year."

Evans scored his final goal of the game with just under five minutes to go in the third quarter, but that would be the last Orange goal scored as the Fighting Irish scored the final five goals of the contest.

Orange Defense Struggles

The biggest problem was the defense, with the leader of the defense, goalkeeper Warren Hill making just four saves and allowing 14 goals. But Desko didn't blame him.

"Its disappointing to give up the number of goals and really the mental errors with such experience back there," Desko said. "You can't put this one on Warren. Its not like everything was going in from 15 yards. When its going in from 6, 7, 8 yards, there aren't a lot of goalies that are going to save those consistently."

This was the worst loss for the Orange since falling 21-7 to Duke on March 23, 2014. It also marked the worst offensive performance for Syracuse since that game.

Syracuse will only have three days before they try to bounce back and end the losing streak when it travels to Hobart on Wednesday.

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.