Women’s lacrosse celebrates Senior Day with win

Syracuse women’s lacrosse utilized a dominant second half to defeat the Louisville Cardinals 22-12 on Saturday in the JMA Wireless Dome. The Orange outscored their visitors 13-5 in the second half for a perfect close to Senior Day. 

Junior attack Olivia Adamson, graduate midfield Emma Tyrrell, graduate attack Savannah Sweitzer and senior midfield Maddy Baxter combined for 15 goals as the Orange got their sixth win in a row and sixth in the ACC. 

Graduate draw specialist Kate Mashewske also shined against the Cardinals. Her 16 draw controls made her the school’s all-time leader in the category with 440, just edging out Kailah Kempney’s previous record of 439. 

Still, the day belongs to the seniors. Katie Goodale, Natalie Smith, Evan Johnston, Emma Ward, Baxter, Tate Paulson, Jenny Markey and Lauren Call were all celebrated in a ceremony before the game started. 

Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s win over Louisville: 

Pick your poison 

After early season struggles, the Orange attack is looking dangerous. 

Tyrrell said earlier in the season that the team was still developing chemistry during their first few games, and Adamson added before the team’s win over North Carolina that with each passing week it has became more and more fun to play as part of the offense. 

Today, Syracuse demonstrated just how lethal its attack can be when it’s clicking. Ten players contributed at least one point in the win over the Cardinals and four scored at least a hat trick. 

Even during a day where the Orange defense struggled in the first half, talents like Adamson and Baxter kept the team in the game when needed.   

Reliable vets 

With eight seniors potentially playing their final regular season game at the Dome, the team’s veterans came out to play. 

Ward and Baxter both finished with four points, Smith added three more.

The seniors also delivered big goals when needed. The team’s first-half struggles stopping the Cardinals were eliminated by goals each time.

Baxter scored in the first quarter with the game tied to give Syracuse the lead once again. The senior received the ball more than 30 yards away from the goal and drove to give her team the lead.

Then, after Louisville nearly eliminated a three-goal lead Syracuse built, Ward came through to keep the home side in front.

Surviving the bad spells 

The game was far from perfect for Syracuse. The Orange defense allowed nine free-position shots and graduate goalie Delaney Sweitzer was not able to stop them. 

The Orange also committed two violations on draws in the first quarter, made poor passes that often missed their marks and turned the ball over 16 times, most of the unforced. Both violations and one of the turnovers led to Cardinal goals. The first half saw a particularly sloppy Syracuse side allow Louisville to stay in the game.  

Still, Syracuse proved the team is more than capable of coming through and walking out with a win even after a lesser performance.

No team should allow itself to be too confident that they can overcome a bad performance, but as Syracuse looks forward to tournament play, it’s a good sign for the squad to come out on top even in a game like this one. 

The Orange will next go on the road to face Cornell on Tuesday. Opening draw is at 3 p.m.