Emily Hawryschuk breaks school goals record in No. 4 Syracuse women’s lacrosse’s 18-11 win over Albany

It kind of worked out perfectly, the way it happened.

That it would happen in this venue, against this opponent, with this collection of individuals on hand to bear witness.

On Tuesday night in the Dome, in the final regular season home game of the 2022 season, sixth-year graduate student Emily Hawryschuk scored a second-quarter hat trick to tie and ultimately pass head coach Kayla Treanor for the most goals scored by an individual in the history of the Syracuse women’s lacrosse program as the Syracuse Orange cruised past the Albany Great Danes with an 18-11 victory.

As the season has worn on, it has become more and more clear that Emily was on her way to eventually breaking Kayla’s record of 260 goals in a Syracuse uniform. And it just could not have worked out any better that she did it on this day.

We knew, of course, that Kayla was going to be in attendance when Emily broke her record. But we did not know the depth of SU women's lacrosse royalty that was going to be there to make this an even more special occasion.

With the Albany Great Danes in town for ‘Cuse’s final home game of the regular season, Katie Rowan-Thomson, Syracuse’s all-time points leader and Albany’s head coach, was present to watch the record be broken. And Alyssa Murray-Cometti, SU’s third all-time leading scorer, was up in the broadcast booth as an analyst for the game.

Before the game, the four Syracuse legends gathered on the field for a picture that could well be thought of as a Mount Rushmore moment for the SU women’s lacrosse program.

The picture was taken because they knew what was likely to happen, that Emily was only three goals away from taking the school record for herself. It was a chance to commemorate the moment with the current SU star surrounded by program legends who came before her, paved the path for her, and helped inspire her to come to SU in the first place.

And that’s why it was so perfect that they got to be in the building for this historic moment. When Emily scored her goals to tie and break Kayla’s record, it was of course a celebration of her incredible career and journey over the last six years at SU. But it was also a collective celebration of those that came before and have been so important in building up this program over the years, setting the bars for Emily and others to eventually jump over.

Emily, appropriately, led the Orange scoring on the day with six points on four goals and two assists. Meaghan Tyrrell had four points on a goal and three assists, and reached her own milestone in the win. Her first assist of the game was also the 100th of her career, making her only the fifth player in program history to hit the century mark for helpers.

Sam Swart and Olivia Adamson each had hat tricks, while Jenny Markey (2G, 1A) and Natalie Smith (1G, 2A) also recorded three-point games. Savannah Sweitzer added two goals, while Sarah Cooper scored just the second goal of her career off a draw control and freshman Shira Parower scored the first goal of her career on a beautiful spin dodge. Kate Mashewske continued her strong play in the draw circle with another 15 draw controls, mostly on the back of a dominant first half that helped ‘Cuse jump out to their big lead.

As for the game itself, SU jumped all over UAlbany in this one. The Orange scored the first seven goals of the game and got their biggest lead late in the first half at 12-1. It was a 12-2 ‘Cuse lead at the break, and to be honest, it pretty much felt like they decided to stop playing after that.

Albany outscored the Orange 9-6 in the second half of this game, and it just looked like they had more energy and more desire to be competing throughout the final 30 minutes. Katie Rowan is surely thrilled with the second half her Great Danes played.

As for SU, honestly, it pretty much means nothing. The game was clearly already in the bag by that point, and while the second half wasn’t all that pretty, it really doesn’t matter. The Orange get the win, the second half will be completely forgotten, and the team will move on to their national championship game rematch with BC. And that’s where we’ll see them next.

The Orange will be hitting the road for their final game of the regular season, as they travel to Chestnut Hill for their game with the Boston College Eagles this Friday, April 22 at 6 PM on ESPN U. Friday primetime — let’s go!!