Hawryschuk leads SU women’s LAX to victory with overtime goal

The Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse team hosted its second matchup against a ranked opponent in the No. 4 Northwestern Wildcats on Sunday. The Orange came out on top with a 15-14 overtime win.

Syracuse tied the game with 25 seconds left after a goal from Megan Carney. The Wildcats tried to snatch the lead in the final eight seconds, but the shot attempt hit the crossbar as time expired.

Going into overtime, the score was knotted up at 14. The three minutes of play started with a draw control from Lauren Gilbert for the Wildcats giving them the first opportunity to score, but they couldn’t follow through. Sam Swart caused the turnover that gave the Orange the ball and chance to win the game.

The first shot attempt for Syracuse came from Emily Hawryschuk and was saved by the goalkeeper but on her second attempt, Hawryschuk put the ball in the back of the net to win the game.

“I trusted the team to play good offense,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said. “You’re playing against the zone. Em has been cutting hard and working hard all day, and she got across the top again and she got a second opportunity through a similar type of shot she had at the end of the game. This time she buried it.”

Syracuse was first to score with a goal from Nicole Levy within the first two minutes. Shortly after, Northwestern came back with a goal of its own from Nell Copeland. The entire first half was a back-and-forth battle with the Orange maintaining the lead, but the Wildcats kept the game close.

Impressive goals from Hawryschuk highlighted the first half. She started with a diving goal, then she, with the goalkeeper out of position, tapped a live ground ball into the goal. Finally, she finished the half with another diving score.

For Northwestern, the free-position plays were where most of their scoring came from. They were 2 of 3 on free-position shots. Back-to-back goals for the Wildcats gave the Orange only a one-point lead going to the locker room.

Swart opened up the second half with her third goal of the game. Again, Northwestern answered with a goal. After that goal, Syracuse scored back-to-back goals, but the Wildcats came back with a 5-0 scoring run that gave them their first lead of the afternoon. At this point, Northwestern had the momentum with less than eight minutes left in the game. But the Orange were not done yet. Sierra Cockerille received the ball from Nicole Levy and scored to bring her team within one.

Hawryschuk was the leading scoring for the Orange, finishing with four goals and an assist. Another player who had a nice offensive game was Swart. Along with making plays at crucial times, Swart scored three goals and assisted another goal. Goalie Asa Goldstock finished with nine saves. Most of these saves came at significant points in the game and helped her team keep the lead or keep the game close.

Syracuse’s next game is against another ranked opponent in Loyola-Maryland at 4 p.m. on Wednesday in the Carrier Dome.