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With 4:23 left in regulation, Emily Hawryschuk scored her sixth goal of the afternoon, making it 15-12, and appearing like Syracuse was well on its way to earning its fourth victory against a ranked opponent.

But Northwestern’s Jill Girardi and Lauren Gilbert responded by both scoring goals to cut the lead to one. First, Girardi found Gilbert just inside of the left side of the meter. Gilbert dodged from the left to center of the cage and slipped a low-rolling shot past Kimber Hower to level the game at 15 as SU watched its lead dwindle away right before its eyes, just like it did on Saturday when Notre Dame managed to come back from five goals down to force overtime.

But this time, overtime went in favor of SU’s opponent. Northwestern won the draw, called a timeout — similar to head coach Kayla Treanor’s strategy Saturday — and Gilbert scored a free-position shot, capping off a 4-0 run over the game’s final stretch.

No. 3 Syracuse (4-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) fell to No. 6 Northwestern (4-1, 0-0 Big Ten) 16-15 in overtime as the Wildcats avenged their 2021 Final Four defeat, handing SU its first defeat of the season. Despite sloppy Orange turnovers and the Wildcats’ dominance in the first half, Syracuse bounced back with an explosive third quarter, outscoring Northwestern 8-2 before falling apart in the fourth quarter and overtime. While Emily Hawryschuk set a career-high in points with nine on six goals and three assists, leading scorer Meaghan Tyrrell was limited to just one goal.

Minutes into the game, Delaney Sweitzer saved Girardi’s shot, but on the ensuing clear attempt, Erin Coykendall checked Delaney’s stick and caused a loose ball. When Coykendall went to collect the ground ball, Delaney was called for the foul, giving up an empty-net free-position opportunity. Coykendall easily scored to give Northwestern a 1-0 lead.

The Orange played aggressively early as Sierra Cockerille, Megan Carney and Bianca Chevarie all picked up yellow cards in the first quarter. And in the second period, Chevarie received a second yellow, disqualifying her for the remainder of the game.

Syracuse grabbed its first lead in the second quarter when Emma Tyrrell scored a free-position shot, dodging from the right side to the left to make it 4-3. In the first quarter, SU came back from a two-goal deficit when it scored its first goal of the game from Sam Swart, who cut across the cage and received a pass from Hawryschuk, putting it past Madison Doucette.

To equalize the game at two apiece, Hawryschuk found Savannah Sweitzer, who dodged left, spun around and flung a right-handed shot into the net. SU’s lead disappeared, though, as the Wildcats completely silenced the Orange and finished the half on a four-goal run.

Remnants of first-quarter errors appeared in the second. After a Northwestern free-position shot, Delaney had the ball just outside of the cage, but didn’t see Coykendall coming to check her stick. Delaney’s attempted pass to clear resulted in one of the eight turnovers Northwestern caused in the first half. Brennan Dwyer scooped up the ground ball, passed a quick, short pass back to Coykendall, who scored amongst a double team on an empty-net.

On another Wildcat goal, Coykendall caused a turnover on Tessa Queri and within 11 seconds, Samantha Smith ran down the right side of the field and as she entered the 12-meter, passed it to Gilbert, who hit a low-rolling shot past Delaney. It was the fouls, poor turnovers and easy Northwestern goals that put SU into its deficit, as the Orange finished with 11 turnovers and 18 fouls in the first half alone.

Syracuse opened up the second half just like the way it finished the last 10 minutes of the first quarter against Notre Dame: dominating the attack. The Orange trailed Northwestern 8-5 at the half but retook the lead within five minutes. To equalize it at eight apiece, Emma passed to Hawryschuk at the top-left of the 12-meter. Hawryschuk approached Northwestern’s Kendall Halpern, juked, dodged left and scored. On another play, she dodged past Halpern again, this time on the right side of the 8-meter and forced a free-position shot.

Similar to her last second free-position goal against Notre Dame, Hawryschuk rifled a right-handed low-to-high shot into the top of the net and gave SU a 9-8 lead, its first since early in the second quarter. To conclude the third quarter, Swart started dodging along the 12-meter fan from the right side before passing to Emma, who was at the top of the left side. Emma found a wide-open Jenny Markey camped without a Northwestern defender nearby. Markey easily scored, sealing an 8-1 Syracuse run.

With Hawryschuk building up a 15-12 lead, flashbacks of the games against Notre Dame and Stony Brook reappeared as SU saw leads drift away. But Tuesday was different, as Gilbert and Girardi single-handedly won the Wildcats the game, combining for 12 goals and 13 points while filling the void left by Izzy Scane, who led the team in goals last season.

Published on March 1, 2022 at 7:57 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini