No. 4 Syracuse women’s lacrosse runs all over Louisville in 23-13 win

The Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team played an outdoor home game in the cold and rain on Saturday afternoon, and while it took them a little while to adjust, their offense eventually found their rhythm in a rout of the visiting Louisville Cardinals, 23-13.

The Orange are creating a nasty little habit of starting slowly against mediocre competition in recent weeks. It happened against Pitt a couple weeks ago. It happened in SU’s visit to Cornell earlier this week. And it happened again on Saturday against the Cardinals.

Just as in the previous instances, Syracuse’s superior talent eventually took over the game and led to a blowout win. After an uneven first half in which SU held a slim 8-7 advantage at the break, the Orange offense exploded in the third quarter, outscoring UL 12-3 to put the game out of reach and improve to 12-3 on the season and 6-1 in ACC play.

On a day in which the Orange tied their single-game season-high with 23 goals, an astounding five different players recorded hat tricks. Meaghan Tyrrell, who almost single-handedly kept SU in the first half when they were struggling, led the way with seven points on five goals and two assists. Emily Hawryschuk scored five goals of her own to move within two of Kayla Treanor’s all-time program record of 260 for her career. The pair of Syracuse stars took turns being face-guarded by Louisville on the day, but the result was the same for both. Meaghan scored all five of hers in the first half, while Emily scored all of hers in the second.

Elsewhere, Jenny Markey, Olivia Adamson and Savannah Sweitzer all finished with four points on hat tricks and an assist each. Sam Swart and Natalie Smith each recorded two points on a goal and an assist, as well. It was great to see so many players who have previously been role players or backups contribute in big ways in this game. With all the injuries, these are the names who are going to need to step up and become consistent producers if SU is to compete going into May.

Kate Mashewske played a massive role in this game, as well. The ‘Cuse draw control specialist had a career day in helping the Orange dominated the draw circle to the tune of a 28-10 advantage (74 percent). Kate corralled 19 draws herself on the day, which was not only a new career-high, it also tied the single-game school record for draw controls. She was hugely important in helping SU gain a possession edge, both in the first half when they were struggling to gain separation and in the third quarter to make it easier for the offense to run up the score.

The Orange got off to another slow start in this one. After Jenny Markey opened the scoring on a nice free-position just over a minute in, ‘Cuse went cold, turning it over and missing opportunities while the Cardinals scored four of the game’s next five goals to take a 4-2 lead.

Early in the second quarter, this is where Meaghan Tyrrell started to take over on the offensive end for SU. The Orange scored five of the next six goals to take a 7-5 lead, and Meaghan had a hand in almost every goal. In total, she either scored or assisted on six of SU’s eight first half goals.

Louisville was not done going away just yet, as they scored back-to-back goals to tie the game before Meaghan scored her fifth and final goal of the half to push ‘Cuse ahead 8-7 at the break.

After the Cardinals opened the third quarter scoring to tie the game up, the Orange wasted absolutely no time in taking control of the game. Emily Hawryschuk scored her first goal of the game off the ensuing draw control, just 16 seconds after Louisville had tied it. SU never looked back.

They scored four quick goals in just over a two-minute span to take a 12-8 and finally get some breathing room, but it turned out to just be the beginning of the third quarter run. The Orange would go on a 12-2 run to close the quarter with a running clock and a 20-10 lead that transformed the game into a rout.

SU will be back in the friendly indoor confines of the Dome when they play their final home game of the regular season on Tuesday, April 19 against Katie Rowan and her Albany Great Danes at 4 PM on ACC Network Extra.