Syracuse women’s lacrosse outlasts Cornell in high-scoring game
Syracuse women's LAX outlasts Cornell in high-scoring game
The Cornell University Big Red (6-4, 2-1 Ivy) challenged the Syracuse University Orange (12-0, 5-0 ACC) as the Orange strained to a nineteen to thirteen victory in what will be Syracuse’s final non-conference game of the regular season.
“Cornell was a great test for us,” said Orange head coach Kayla Treanor. “Its always really good to play an Ivy League opponent. They have a lot of discipline, they are well-coached.”
The Orange dominated the first period of play as they scored seven goals, while Chinese national teamer and Big Red senior midfielder Shannon Brazier found the back of the net twice.
“I mean the players feel confident, they think they can beat their matchups, which is awesome. We want to show that we can play that way as well,” said Treanor. “Still I even think sometimes they were a little too unselfish. We were talking to some players about you need to shoot that.”
The Big Red stuck around in the second quarter as both teams scored three goals. The real hero for the Orange though was senior goalkeeper Delaney Sweitzer who made nine saves in the first half of play.
“I felt very prepared coming into this game and just knowing that the defense in front of me was going to do whatever they can to stop the ball,” Sweitzer said. “I feel very confident in them (SU defense) and myself, and we have a lot of trust across the field.”
Syracuse dominated the third quarter as the Big Red scored first, and then the Orange scored seven unanswered, including four by graduate attack Meaghan Tyrrell. Syracuse did all of this while losing the draw-control battle five to three in the period.
“Just a little frustrated with sloppy decisions. We knew we could play better so we just encouraged them that we need to grow in this game, and I think the players responded really well and had a great third quarter,” said Treanor of her halftime talk.
Syracuse pulled their starters to start the fourth quarter, and the Big Red came alive as they scored seven unanswered with six different goal scorers. Freshman attack Gracie Britton stopped the scoring run with a free position goal with 1:56 left in the game. The Orange would grab one more goal in the contest.
“I own that as a coach. We obviously were able to, which is great, play a lot of people tonight,” said Treanor. “I think from a coaching perspective, we just have to get them a little bit more prepared for games.”
The Orange were without graduate attack Megan Carney who did not start for only the second time this season. She did complete warmups but was not announced as a starter and then stood on the sideline in a warmup shirt without a stick and goggles for the duration of the contest.
“I think we played really well in two quarters, did not play great in the other two, but I thought we played awesome for two quarters,” said Treanor. “Offense was able to play well even without Meg Carney who was unavailable tonight.”
In Carney’s absence, the Orange offense was led by Meaghan Tyrrell, who tallied eight points, including five goals, as ten different Orange found the back of the net. Delaney Sweitzer was steady at the back, tallying thirteen saves in just three periods of work.
“I mean it’s awesome. It’s just the chemistry that we’ve had for so long now is just kinda really shining through, especially for her,” said Tyrell of playing with her sister and senior attack Emma Tyrell. “She is doing so great, especially this season, coming back from injury. I could not be more proud of her.”
The Orange next face off against the University of Virginia Cavaliers at the Dome on Saturday, with the first draw control set for six p.m.