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At the 10:04 mark of the fourth quarter, Louisville’s Izzy Seikel dodged around SU’s Coco Vandiver and fired at goalie Delaney Sweitzer. The shot was aimed at the right side of the cage and Sweitzer jumped in front. The Louisville offense maintained possession and set up another shot 30 seconds later. Abby Scully came darting toward the SU goal and caught a pass from Seikel. Seikel fired from point-blank range but Sweitzer denied the shot again.

The two saves by Sweitzer marked SU’s dominant defensive effort in the second half. After Louisville scored at the 7:56 mark of the third quarter, it went scoreless for nearly 20 minutes, adding just one more goal in the contest.

Behind strong defensive play, No. 1 seed Syracuse (13-4, 9-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) maintained its five-goal halftime lead to win 17-8 over No. 9 seed Louisville (8-11, 3-8 ACC) in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Sweitzer tallied six saves including four in the final 30 minutes of play. The Orange made it difficult for the Cardinals to string together offense, winning the ground ball battle 22-17.

After about seven minutes of opening play, SU trailed 3-2 as Louisville started the game aggressively on offense. Kylea Dobson scored twice including on a player-up opportunity following a green card on Maddy Baxter.

The Cardinals won the ensuing draw following the score and looked to extend their lead to 4-2. Bianca Chevarie was called for a foul in the 8-meter, but Louisville leading scorer Kokoro Nakazawa failed to convert on the free position chance, missing wide. Louisville stayed on the offensive end, but as it was getting into its offense, Dobson turned the ball over and Chevarie scooped it up.

Savannah Sweitzer pushed the ball ahead to Payton Rowley on the clear who then fired it past Louisville goalie Sara Addeche to tie the game at 3-3. The goal sparked a 6-0 SU scoring run which allowed it to build an 8-3 lead entering the second quarter.

During the 6-0 scoring run, Louisville tried to break it up, but when it got the ball it quickly gave it up. At the 4:05 mark of the first quarter, Lauren Figas was leading a clear when Katie Goodale knocked the ball away from her stick which turned into a goal by Savannah.

Each team scored twice in the second quarter, sending the game to halftime with SU ahead 10-5. Syracuse was in a familiar position, taking large leads into the second half during its nine-game winning streak. In wins against Cornell, Pitt and Clemson, the offense continued to climb the scoreboard while the defense rooted itself.

Olivia Adamson scored just over two minutes into the third quarter, building the SU lead to six goals, its largest to that point. Nakazawa scored following a draw-control win by Louisville, but then the Syracuse defense began to find its rhythm.

At the 10:50 mark of the third quarter, the Cardinals looked to set up their offense in the SU zone, but Goodale recorded another turnover, creating a loose ball against Dobson. Delaney scooped it up and a minute later, the Orange lead jumped back out to six goals behind a score by Emma Tyrrell.

Nakazawa got another try at a free position shot near the eight-minute mark of the third quarter, but again, Delaney stopped the shot using her stick to thwart it away. The ball ricocheted into the stick of Rian Adkins who caught it and scored in one motion to cut into the SU lead 12-7.

For the remainder of the third quarter, the Cardinals tallied just one more shot, which was denied by Sweitzer, and were forced into three turnovers by the SU defense. Meanwhile, the Orange closed the third quarter on a 3-0 scoring run to take a 15-7 lead into the fourth quarter.

At the 11:58 mark of the fourth quarter, Negai Nakazawa set up for Louisville’s sixth free position chance of the game. With the Cardinals not converting on their first five attempts, SU continued to have its way as multiple defenders stick-checked Negai leading to an easy ground ball pick up for Sweitzer.

Sweitzer’s back-to-back saves with 10:04 remaining set the tone for the rest of the game, sending Louisville a message that it was running out of time for a comeback.

“Delaney (Sweitzer) was great. It’s so nice to have Delaney back there.” SU head coach Kayla Treanor said postgame. “I thought she did a nice job of handling the ball as well.”

When Syracuse got out to a 16-7 lead following a goal by Emma Muchnick, the SU defense did not let up. With five minutes left, Goodale took the ball away from Figas and then on the Cardinals’ next possession, Vandiver forced a turnover.

With 2:29 left in the fourth quarter, Allegra Catalano scored to end Louisville’s near 20-minute scoring drought. The goal marked the Cardinals’ only score of the fourth quarter as strong defense by SU limited their attack and any chance at a comeback.

“For us defensively, we made some adjustments and they kind of settled into the game,” Treanor said. “We played a lot better after that.”

Published on April 24, 2024 at 4:22 pm

Contact Timmy at: tswilcox@syr.edu | @TimmyWilcox32