Syracuse women’s lacrosse remain undefeated after being tested by Stony Brook
Syracuse women's lacrosse remain undefeated as they beat Stony Brook
It was a top-six matchup at the dome as the No.1 Syracuse Orange (10-0, 4-0 ACC) defeated the No.6 Stony Brook University Seawolves (5-2, 1-0 CAA) coached by the father of Orange men’s lacrosse freshman attack Joey Spallina, Joe Spallina, by a score of 16-11.
“Great game tonight. Stony Brook came in here and played us really well,” said Syracuse Head Coach Kayla Treanor. “It was a really back and fourth game, especially in that first half, but I think we did some things that we needed to do in order to step up and take momentum.”
The first period of play concluded with the Orange, and the Seawolves knotted at five goals apiece. Emma Tyrrell paced the Orange offense with three goals, while the Seawolves offense was led by the four goals of senior attack Morgan Mitchell.
“This is what happens when you play really good teams, really good players step up, and Morgan Mitchell absolutely did that tonight but Caitlin [Defliese Watkins] had a good plan, and we were able to neutralize them a little bit,” said Treanor.
The second quarter was much of the same as the back-and-forth nature of the contest continued, with no team scoring back-to-back goals until less than four minutes were remaining in the half. Syracuse finished the second half on a strong note, scoring four unanswered goals to lead 11 to eight.
“Halftime was really actually for us about a lot of adjustments that we made defensively, offensively and on the draw,” said Treanor. “We just had to make a lot of adjustments, and that was the majority of what halftime was.”
The scoring cooled off in the third quarter as the Orange only netted two while Mitchell added her seventh of the contest to leave the score at thirteen to nine. Graduate goalie Hailey Duchnowski made four saves for the Seawolves in the period to keep them in the contest.
“I think she played pretty well, I also think she plays behind an excellent defense,” said Treanor of Duchnowski. “They force a lot of caused turnovers, and they give you pressured shots, but I think overall she did a really good job.”
Syracuse's Jordan Deblasio (4) sends a pass to teammate Megan Tyrell (18) while facing pressure from Stoney Brook's Lindsay Rongo (27) .
Syracuse's Hallie Simkins (31) keeps pace in front of Stony Brook's Jaden Hampel (11) as she bursts forward down the field.
The fourth quarter continued on from the slow pace of the third as the Orange scored three times while the Seawolves found the back of the net twice in the period. The result ended up becoming a sixteen to eleven final score. During this period, junior attack Emma Ward grabbed her equal career-high seventh assist as she led the Orange with eight points.
“She was just unreal back there behind the net,” said graduate attack Megan Carney. “She just has great vision, she just knows where everyone is going to be and when they are going to be there.”
Since senior midfielder Kate Mashewske’s season-ending lower-body injury, draw controls have been a question for the Orange. Still, sophomore attack Olivia Adamson seems to have answered those questions as she took every draw control in the circle and collected twelve herself.
“I mean all the credit to the coaches and the circle girls for having my back and really trusting me to kinda go for it but it has definitely been tricky but our coaches and circle people did a great job having my back and allowing me to get that many draw controls tonight,” said Adamson.
The injury bug continued to affect Syracuse as senior defense Bianca Chevarie planted and then collapsed, clasping her knee in the middle of the first quarter. Chevarie went to the locker room and did not return to the game. She was back on the sideline with crutches and had her left leg taped up in the second quarter.
“We play I think it is the toughest schedule in the country and the girls have done an amazing job of just fighting and being resilient,” said Treanor. “There have been so many ups and downs so I give them a lot of credit.”
The Orange next go on the road to face the University of Louisville Cardinals on Saturday with first draw control at noon before returning to the dome to face the Cornell University Big Red on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
is a contributor for The NewsHouse.
is a reporter for The NewsHouse.
