When Syracuse played Notre Dame on Saturday, the Orange jumped out to a quick eight-goal lead. On Thursday, the Fighting Irish tried to slow the tempo down by implementing a more deliberate offensive approach.

It didn’t work.

Alyssa Murray powered top-ranked Syracuse (16-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast), scoring three of the first four goals, as the Orange jumped out to a quick five-goal lead. SU staved off No. 8 Notre Dame’s (9-8, 2-5) late comeback attempt and held on for a 16-11 win in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament on Thursday afternoon in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

The Orange advances to the ACC tournament semifinals, in which it will face the winner of Boston College and North Carolina’s Thursday evening matchup. The semifinals showdown will be Friday at 3 p.m.

Murray finished with five goals – all in the first half – and helped build up an insurmountable lead against the Fighting Irish for the second time in one week.

“She was on fire today,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “She came to play. That’s Alyssa.”

Syracuse found the back of the net just once in the first eight-plus minutes. Then Murray took over. She scored once. Then again. And then once more.

In the span of 2:12, the Syracuse lead had ballooned to 4-0.

“She was hot today and she was putting it in the net,” Gait said. “She became a player that they focused on, and doubled quickly too, and was limited in the second half. She did a great job of opening up other players.”

Murray would add two more late in the first half, including a score with 43 seconds left that put Syracuse up 8-2. The rest appeared to be just a formality for the Orange, as it opened up the second half with two more goals that put SU up by seven.

But UND’s Lauren Sullivan and Cortney Fortunato scored in the span of just nine seconds as the Fighting Irish ripped off a 6-1 run that put them back within two.

Murray, though, wouldn’t let the game spiral out of control. She faked a shot on a free-position attempt and dumped it off to an open Kayla Treanor, who put the Orange back up 12-9.

The deficit wouldn’t get any closer than three as Syracuse closed out its ninth straight win of the season with a 5-2 run to seal the victory.

“We just stayed focused,” Gait said. “We talk about lacrosse being a game of runs. You’ve got to stop the run and respond.

“We didn’t panic, and we stayed focused, and we replied with a run of our own.”

Published on April 24, 2014 at 8:13 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3