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After a convincing 20-9 win on the road at Cornell, Syracuse hosted Louisville on Saturday at Christian Brothers Academy for its first of a two-game homestand.

It was another slow start for the Orange, who only scored two first-quarter goals. With the game tied at eight two minutes into the third quarter, Syracuse scored 12 goals that quarter to extend its lead to 20-10 entering the fourth final frame.

Syracuse held on and cruised to its sixth conference victory, defeating the Cardinals 23-13.

Here are some observations from No. 4 Syracuse’s (12-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) win over Louisville (6-9, 1-6 ACC) on Saturday:

Third quarter-surge

In the third quarter, Olivia Adamson began sprinting down the right side of the offensive zone, entering the 12-meter directly towards the crease. Realizing she didn’t have a great angle on goal, she proceeded to continue her run behind the goal and wait for trailing runners.

Adamson launched a cross-field pass from behind the net to Maddy Baxter, who dodged past her defender and scored an easy goal right in front of the cage to extend SU’s lead to 12-8. It marked the final goal of a 4-0 run that allowed SU to regain the lead.

Syracuse scored 12 goals on 14 shots in the third quarter and capitalized on Louisville’s penalties, scoring three woman-up goals in the period.

On another possession after SU won the draw control, Jenny Markey drove all the way down the field inside Louisville’s 12-meter and scored from close range. On the draw, SU won the draw control battle 28-10 against the Cardinals as draw specialist Kate Mashewske finished with a career-high 19 draw controls on the day.

Hawryschuk closing in on the all-time record

After a career-high 11 points and matching her career-high seven goals against Cornell on Tuesday, Emily Hawryschuk entered Saturday’s game against the Cardinals as the program’s second all-time leading scorer, only eight goals away from breaking head coach Kayla Treanor’s 260 goals.

In the first half, she didn’t factor in as much offensively, but during Syracuse’s third quarter run, Hawryschuk found the net multiple times to help develop SU’s lead. On one play in the quarter, Hawryschuk started from behind the goal on the right side. She easily dodged past her defender, shooting the ball into the right side of the net.

Later, Savannah Sweitzer was behind the net with the ball, and Hawryschuk was wide-open on the right side of the cage. Sweitzer found the easy connection, and Hawryschuk launched a quick-release shot into the net to extend SU’s lead to 14-10, which would increase to 20-10 by the end of the third quarter. That goal also marked Hawryschuk’s third power-play goal of the game.

And on Hawryschuk’s last goal, just like she has done all season, she launched a free-position shot from the top of the 8-meter, winding up rather than dodging towards goal, extending SU’s lead to 23-13.

After a five-goal performance against Lousiville, she is now three goals away from becoming the program’s top scorer.

Meaghan Tyrrell leads first-half offense

Though Syracuse started slowly offensively in the first quarter, Meaghan Tyrrell fueled SU’s first-half offense, scoring five first-half goals.

Tyrrell’s final goal of the opening half came as a result of her off-ball movement and cutting runs. She looped from behind the net, ultimately receiving a pass just right in front of the cage. She leaned back, shot and scored to give SU an 8-7 edge heading into the halftime break.

On another goal in the second quarter, Tyrrell was on the right corner of the offensive zone. She attacked her defender, dodged and sped past her to set herself up for the easy dump-in goal in front of the cage. Tyrrell also dished the ball around, sending a high pass toward Sweitzer, who shot and bounced it in.

Against the Cardinals, Tyrrell finished with seven points on five goals and two assists.

Another slow first-quarter start

Similar to its game against Pittsburgh, Syracuse only scored two goals in the first quarter. By the end of that game, the Orange defeated the Panthers 18-6 with a 16-2 run over the final 45 minutes. Though SU wasn’t trailing by the end of the first quarter, it couldn’t string anything together offensively. It was common for the Cardinals to play tight, man-to-man defense using a face-guarding technique. SU occasionally couldn’t find any gaps to exploit, and its possession went deep into the shot clock.

Hawryschuk started running along the 12-meter trying to find a cutter. Sam Swart escaped her defender briefly and darted towards the cage. She received the pass and launched a shot, which went way over the goal, and Louisville regained possession. On another possession, Adamson attempted to play a simple pass for Swart, but it misconnected and was another one of the four Orange first-quarter turnovers.

Published on April 16, 2022 at 2:44 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini