Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Orange win weird game of runs, 19-13, over Cornell

In the end, the Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team came away with a 19-13 victory over the Cornell Big Red to improve their record to 12-0 and tie the program record for most consecutive wins at any point in a season.

How they got there, though, was quite the journey.

It involved multiple big runs by both teams that swung the pendulum of momentum back-and-forth like crazy. It showcased stretches where the offense looked unstoppable, but also moments when they looked like they went to sleep.

At times, they very much looked like a team that was playing their third game in a week and their sixth in 18 days. But Delaney Sweitzer had an unbelievable performance, even by her lofty standards, and the Tyrrell sisters went off to lead the offense to another big tally.

Here’s a look at this game of runs:

• Syracuse opens game with 7-1 run in 1st quarter
• Cornell goes on 5-3 run from end of 1st through beginning of 3rd
• Syracuse goes on 7-0 run in 3rd quarter
• Cornell goes on 7-0 run in 4th quarter after Kayla takes regulars out
• Syracuse scored final 2 goals after Kayla puts a few regulars back in

It was a head-spinning contest in which the game script changed so many times it was like we had a writers’ strike going on.

The two big lulls for SU in this game happened for very different reasons. The second quarter lull in which Cornell went on their 5-3 run that took a 7-1 ‘Cuse lead and turned it into a 10-6 game is where the Orange really went to sleep and allowed mental mistakes to take over. SU turned the ball over five times in the quarter, including going 4-of-7 on clears.

The fourth quarter lull was simply because they had built a 17-6 lead after scoring seven straight goals in the third, and Kayla responded by taking all the starters out at once early in fourth. In my opinion, she did it too early, or she should have not taken everybody out at once, perhaps a few at a time throughout the quarter instead. The proof was in the pudding as Cornell went on a 7-0 run in under nine minutes to make it a 17-13 game.

At that point, Kayla put a few of the regulars back in to help see the game out, which led to the Orange tacking on two goals at the end to make it a 19-13 final.

Delaney Sweitzer was playing hero ball in this one as she finished with 13 saves in just 45 minutes of play against only six goals surrendered for a phenomenal .684 save percentage. She also scooped up four GBs and had a caused turnover, but it was her brick wall play in goal that came up huge in helping to keep the Big Red at bay when their offense was actually doing well moving the ball to get good looks on the SU defense.

Meaghan Tyrrell (5G, 3A) and Emma Tyrrell (4G, 3DC) made it a Tyrrell kind of day for the offense. The sisters finished with almost half of ‘Cuse’s goals (9-of-19), and their connection was in fine form as all three of Meaghan’s assists went to Emma.

Meaghan has gotten back to looking like her old self the past two games. After three straight games of two points each, her eight points in this one gave her 15 in the last two games combined. She’s also now just 22 points shy of the school scoring record; no big deal.

Emma, who herself has been in outstanding goal-scoring form the past couple weeks, had an absolutely incredible goal late in the second quarter. After a diagonal run in front of goal, Meaghan found Emma with a pass that Emma promptly turned into a spectacular behind-the-back goal on the run. But it wasn’t just any old BTB goal. Emma shot the ball not just behind her own back, but also behind the head of her trailing defender. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before, and it was awesome to see from the right angle in slow motion:

The offense on the whole showcased their usual depth as 10 players scored a goal and 11 scored a point on the night. Emma Ward (1G, 4A) had another excellent distributing day with four assists and five points. Olivia Adamson (2G, 3DC) and Sierra Cockerille (2G, 2GB, 2DC) each scored two goals a piece, and Katie Goodale (1G, 2GB, 1CT, 3DC) scored the first goal of her career to rapturous celebration from her teammates. Katie had a great day overall, filling up the stat sheet with her first career goal, two ground balls, one caused turnover and three draw controls.

The night started with an unfortunate sight as the broadcast let us know that Meg Carney was not going to start, and showed her in her uniform on the sideline. She ended up not playing at all. In the postgame press conference, Kayla said that Meg was “unavailable for the night” and that she had “no update” on her status. ‘Cuse certainly didn’t need her on this night, but we’ll just have to wait and see moving forward.

The Orange will be back in action this weekend in the JMA Dome for an ACC matchup with the No. 11 Virginia Cavaliers on Senior Day. This is not ‘Cuse’s last home game of the regular season, but it is their last weekend home game, making it easier for families to make it for the festivities. The game will be this Saturday, April 1 at 6 PM on ACC Network Extra.