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After a Towson penalty late in the first half, Pleun Lammers rushed toward a loose ball and started dribbling into the circle. Towson goalie Lena Vandam rushed out of her cage, pushing the ball back out of the circle but right into the stick of Chiara Gutsche. The SU junior took one touch to get the ball in the circle and rocketed in a shot from about 30 feet out, putting the Orange up 3-2.

A scoreless second half — despite 13 shots from SU and another two for Towson — meant Gutsche’s goal was the game’s last score and her third goal in two games. Early on, it looked like Syracuse (7-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) would dominate Towson (0-1), who hadn’t played an official game since Nov. 3, 2019 after its 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19.

Syracuse notched quick back-to-back goals via Lammers and Carly Bothof, jumping out to an early two-goal lead in the first five minutes. But Towson responded with two quick counters when junior Kathryn Parkinson scored late in the first quarter after taking advantage of Syracuse’s high press.

Minutes later, early in the second quarter, Paige Reese stole the ball from Roome Joosten in the backfield, where she quickly dished it off to Jenna Florenzo. Florenzo drove the ball past freshman goalie Emily Streib to tie the game at 2-2. Gustche then scored, and SU led heading into halftime — and for the rest of the game.

The Orange fired 12 shots in the third quarter but couldn’t find the back of the cage again. In the last five minutes of the quarter, Syracuse had nine penalty corner attempts.

All nine began with Lammers inserting the ball, but they were followed by shots from Sarah Luby, Charlotte de Vries, SJ Quigley and Bothof. All finished with blocks by defenders or saves by Vandam. The Towson goalie finished with 12 saves. Streib made only one, but the Tigers managed only three shots on goal.

Claire Cooke picked up a green card in the 51st minute, and the Tigers began to press higher up the field. But SU kept its composure, though down a player, and controlled the remainder of the game. SU outshot the Tigers 27-6, and 19 of the Orange’s shots were on goal.

Syracuse returns to conference play, once again on the road, on March 27 against Duke.

Published on March 14, 2021 at 4:15 pm

Contact Adam: amccaffe@syr.edu