Syracuse women’s lacrosse beats Albany, 15-3

The Dome renovations have led to some odd scheduling issues for the No. 4/4 Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team this season. Saturday’s contest was one such example as the Orange (2-1) had to play Albany (0-1) at 10 a.m. ET, which is the earliest that they have ever had to play a game in Coach Gary Gait’s 13-year tenure. Despite the unusual time, the ‘Cuse won 15-3 over the Great Danes to pick up their second win of the year.

Both teams started slow as turnovers cost each offense early opportunities. Syracuse finally broke the scoreless tie eight minutes in when Emily Hawryschuk fired a low bullet from the center left hashmark of the eight meter arc past Albany goalie Georgia Schneidereith. Sam Swart added another just 34 seconds later when she rolled past an Albany defender, found an opening on the left side and took a low shot, putting the Orange up 2-0 with 21:26 left in the half. While the ‘Cuse defense allowed very few shots on goal, the offense continued to score at a regular 3-4 minute pace for the rest of the half to build an 8-0 advantage at the break.

Syracuse added three more goals over the first six minutes to extend the lead to 11-0. Albany finally got on the scoreboard about ten and a half minutes into the 2nd half, though it failed to stop the running clock (when leads hit 10 goals, the clock continues to run). The Orange added three more goals until roughly midway through the second half when the starters were pulled. Emma Tyrrell finished the SU scoring for the day at the 11:35 mark to give the home team their largest lead of the day at 15-1. Albany managed to add a pair of goals late to cut it to 12, but the contest had long been decided.

Stats

• Shots: Syracuse 33, Albany 12
• Shots on Goal: Syracuse 21, Albany 8
• Turnovers: Albany 20, Syracuse 14
• Clears: Syracuse 20-21, Albany 15-18
• Ground Balls: Syracuse 18, Albany 12
• Draw Controls: Syracuse 11, Albany 8
• Free Positions: Syracuse 3-of-6, Albany 0-of-3

Megan Carney (5 g, 1 ct), Swart (3 g, 1 a, 1 dc), Hawryschuk (2 g, 1 a, 2 gb, 2 ct, 3 dc), Sierra Cockerille (2 g, 1 a), Morgan Alexander (2 a), Cara Quimby (1 g, 1 gb), E. Tyrrell & Mary Rahal (1 g each), Molly Carter (1 a), Ella Simkins (4 gb, 1 ct, 1 dc), Kerry Defliese (2 gb, 1 ct, 1 dc), Sarah Cooper (1 gb, 2 ct, 1 dc), Allyson Trice & Kara Gray (2 gb, 1 ct each), Grace Fahey, Morgan Widner, Braelie Kempney & Katelyn Mashewske (1 dc each), Lila Nazarian & Vanessa Costantino (1 gb each), Asa Goldstock (2 gb, 2 ct, 3 saves), Hannah Van Middelem & Lauren Avery (1 save each)

Key Factors

Defense: The backline combination of Cooper, Defliese, Simkins, Fahey, Trice and Nazarian hounded the Great Danes all morning and gave them precious few opportunities to take a shot on goal, much less score. Goldstock intercepted a pair of passes that were going to cutters in front of the goal in addition to a couple of good saves. They have given solid performances in all three games so far and they will need to continue this high level of play going into the next couple of February games against Northwestern and Maryland.

Slow Start/Sloppy Play: Although it did not have any impact in the contest with Albany, Syracuse still looked a bit sloppy on Saturday morning, especially early in the game. Four of the Orange turnovers for the day happened in garbage time when the starters were out, but they still had ten in about 45 minutes of play, of which only four were caused by the Great Danes. There were a number of errant passes in this game which plagued SU on Monday night against Stony Brook. If this is not cleaned up very soon, the Orange will be hard pressed to win against much better teams like Northwestern and Maryland.

Free Positions: Syracuse improved slightly in this department against Albany, hitting the 50% mark for the first time this season. However, given the talent and the fact that this is a high percentage scoring opportunity, this team should be routinely getting over 50% against most opponents, particularly the overmatched ones. The Orange are now 6-20 on the year so far, or about 33% overall.

Draw Controls: The Orange had another decent showing in the draw circle, with an 11-8 ratio. Hawryschuk led the team with three, getting roughly a quarter of the draws. So far this year, the ‘Cuse has looked solid in this department.

Offense: After a quiet night against Stony Brook on Monday, Carney was back to form on Saturday with a five goal effort, or one third of the Syracuse scoring output. It was a career high for the sophomore attacker. Swart had another good effort with three goals and an assist. Hawryschuk and Cockerille added a pair of goals and an assist each. Although it could be considered a quiet day for the former, the senior attacker had two of the first three Orange scores and got the offense going when it had problems early in the game.

Little Fact

The contest against Albany was certainly the earliest game that Syracuse has played in the Gary Gait era (which began in 2008), and through at least 2002. However, they have played two other morning games at 11 a.m. under Coach Gait. Interestingly enough they were both 18-6 wins against Rutgers in 2008 and Canisius in 2017. Including the Albany contest, all three games were decided by a dozen goals.

Up Next

The ‘Cuse have just 32 hours to prepare for their next opponent. They will have their third America East Conference foe in less than a week when Binghamton arrives in the Dome for an 8pm EST Sunday night game. The Bearcats are 0-1 with a 16-9 loss to Bucknell on Wednesday.