On Syracuse’s first possession, the offense appeared stagnant. It was passing the ball around the perimeter of the 12-meter arc. When the ball came to Alyssa Murray, she called out a play and stuck her index finger in the air. 

Then she passed the ball again, and cut toward the goal. 

Kayla Treanor found Murray, a fellow Tewaaraton Award finalist, whose shot found the back of net to spark an offensive explosion for Syracuse. 

“We set up a couple of plays off of our normal offense,” Murray said. “And it ended up opening up something that we hadn’t practiced. It was perfect. 

“We just ran the play and went from there.”  

Murray had Syracuse’s first four goals to jumpstart a near-flawless first half for SU. Her teammates cruised the rest of the way as second-seeded Syracuse (19-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) cruised to a 13-6 win over Stony Brook (17-4, 4-1 America East) in the second round of the NCAA tournament at SU Soccer Stadium on Sunday. 

The Orange advances to face Boston College in the quarterfinals next weekend. 

“They came out and they executed from the opening whistle,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “Just an awesome first half.” 

On Friday afternoon, Stony Brook earned the right to play Syracuse after it rode a 9-0 first-half outburst against Towson. It was the Seawolves that pounded the cage that day, making 9-of-10 first-half attempts.  

On Sunday, though, the Orange took the Seawolves out of contention almost immediately. 

Just 25 seconds after Murray’s first goal, Katie Webster found Murray streaking across the net. She caught the pass and bounced it into the goal.

She scored twice more on free-position shots just minutes later. After her second one, she flipped her stick in the air, and waited for her teammates to greet her.

Against the nation’s best defense, which allows just more than four goals per game, the rout was only just beginning.  

 “(Murray’s) got that killer instinct,” Gait said. “She wants to win, and she comes in super focused. She had opportunities and she put the ball away.”

And when the Stony Brook defense adjusted to close Murray out of the goal, her teammates struck.

Kailah Kempney scored twice. Taylor Poplawski connected. Bridget Daley did as well. What was a one-woman show became a full-on throttling by much of the SU roster. 

“That kind of gave other people opportunities,” Murray said. “If they’re paying more attention to me, the back side or the opposite side might be open.” 

Stony Brook had a lively contingent of fans at the start of the game, but those fans hardly made a peep as the gap in the score widened. 

Nearly every possession started in the hands of the Orange. Kempney and Kirkland Locey combined to win 10-of-12 in the draw circle in the first half. 

Stony Brook’s best chance to work its way back in the game came with 16 seconds left in the first half as the Seawolves trailed 9-2.

Courtney Murphy had a free-position shot, but Stony Brook committed a foul and Syracuse took possession with 10 seconds to go in the half. The Orange got out in transition, and Kayla Treanor found a wide-open Devon Collins to the right of the goal. 

She punched it in the bottom-right corner with two seconds left on the clock. 

What could have been 9-3 became 10-2. On a play that could have swung the momentum Stony Brook’s way, it instead left the Seawolves dejected as Syracuse’s place in the quarterfinals seemed all but assured.

“For confidence on the field,” Kempney said, “getting a couple goals at the beginning is definitely helpful for our team to get the momentum going.” 

The second half was a formality for Syracuse. Gait emptied his bench as the lead grew to 10 and the running clock ticked away. 

Syracuse knows it faces a competitive road to a first national championship. It’s made the final four each of the past two seasons. 

But it was clear from the first few minutes on Sunday that Stony Brook would not be a tough test to overcome. 

“Playoff season is a second season,” Gait said. “And we’re in it. We’re 1-0.

“Our goal is to be 4-0.” 

Published on May 11, 2014 at 5:35 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3