SU women’s lacrosse remains undefeated in close win over Notre Dame

No. 2 ranked Syracuse women’s lacrosse is feeling the luck of the Orange on the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day, with their second straight victory over No. 4 Notre Dame on Sunday. Just three days removed from a four-point win over the Fighting Irish, Syracuse tops Notre Dame 15-12 at home to keep their unbeaten season going.

The end result gave Syracuse their 20th win all-time over Notre Dame, but for most of the first half, it seemed as if that number would be staying at 19. With the game knotted at one in the early going, the Irish strung together a 6-1 run and put Syracuse in the biggest hole they’ve seen all season.

“We came out flat,” head coach Gary Gait admits about SU’s first period, but followed by saying, “good teams respond,” and that’s exactly what the Orange did. Down 7-2 with less than two minutes before the break, the Tyrrell sisters, Meaghan and Emma, each scored to close the gap to three before halftime. Their momentum carried over into the second half as Syracuse scored six unanswered in the first seven minutes.

Emma Tyrrell scored three goals during this run and ended the game with a career-high four points (breaking her old career-high of three which she set against Notre Dame on Thursday). Despite the hot streak, the Irish got back to within one and kept things interesting. That is until the second hot wave came in for Syracuse, this time in the form of four straight goals.

Highlighted by both Meaghan Tyrrell and Megan Carney scoring their 16th goals of the season, the duo known as “The Megan and Meaghan Show” put the game out of reach and accounted for 11 points in the process. While Megan and Meaghan are used to dominating opposing defenses, it’s the impact a freshman, Emma Ward, has made in games like this that really resonates with teammates.

“She never came in scared,” expressed Carney while also adding, “she’s done really well at taking over and just coming into her role.”

With star attacker Emily Hawryschuk continuing to miss time, Syracuse needed a young player to step up in a big moment. They got that with Emma Tyrrell, and that is how Syracuse earned another impressive victory on Sunday.

Every team Syracuse has played this year has been ranked, most within the top five. It’s been a gauntlet schedule to start the year, but Syracuse remains unbeaten.

“There’s no rest for the weary here,” Gait said, when talking about his team’s strength of schedule.

Syracuse will start their biggest break of the season, not returning to action until March 27 when they host Virginia Tech. The Hokies will have plenty of time by then to recover from the 21-point beatdown top-ranked UNC gave them Saturday afternoon.