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Following an early fourth-quarter score by UVA’s Katia Carnevale, Virginia forced a turnover with a 14-12 lead and 14 minutes remaining. Madison Alaimo brought the ball into the SU defensive zone with Bianca Chevarie defending. Chevarie tightly guarded Alaimo and forced a turnover.

On the ensuing possession, Emma Ward found Olivia Adamson who rocketed a shot into the back of the net to cut the deficit to 14-13 at the 12:48 mark. From that point on, the Orange held the Cavaliers scoreless while scoring two more goals to take a 15-14 lead.

Despite only leading twice in the entire contest, No. 7 Syracuse (7-3, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated No. 9 Virginia (9-2, 3-2 ACC) 15-14 behind a 3-0 run to end the game. SU didn’t lead until early in the third quarter and Emma Tyrrell’s goal with under six minutes left. Maddy Baxter’s five goals and a 21-12 advantage on draw controls led to SU’s fourth straight victory and continued its undefeated start to conference play.

After the 20-11 win over UAlbany, SU head coach Kayla Treanor said the competition it faces in the ACC is the best in the nation. The nonconference games, including losses to then-No.1 Northwestern and then-No. 9 Maryland, helped Syracuse learn and prepare for its tough ACC games, Treanor said. So far, that has held true as SU has won four ranked games.

On Saturday, the Cavaliers opened the scoring after Kate Miller dished a feed to Carnevale on the crease, who turned and ripped it past SU goalie Delaney Sweitzer. Syracuse won the ensuing draw control but a turnover handed Virginia another possession on offense where Mackenzie Hoeg capitalized.

Kate Mashewske won the third straight draw control of the game, and Maggie Bostain was called for a green card at the 10:40 mark. The SU offense set up for its first set. Tyrrell fed to Natalie Smith who fired it past UVA goalie Mel Josephson.

The Cavaliers won the next three draw controls, their first three of the contest, and capitalized on the offensive end. Carnevale scored her second of the game to kickstart a 3-0 UVA run as its lead grew to 5-1.

Baxter answered with two goals in 71 seconds to cut the deficit to 5-3. A flurry of turnovers caused both offenses to stall for the next four minutes until UVA was called for its fourth green card. The penalty led to a Joely Caramelli goal with 23 seconds left to cut SU’s deficit to 5-4 at the end of the quarter.

Two minutes into the second quarter Baxter scored her third of the game to tie the game at five. But the Orange and Cavaliers traded goals back and forth throughout the quarter with neither team holding a lead larger than one.

With the game tied at eight, Bostain beat the SU defenders up the field. Kaci Benoit was the only SU defender back but had her back turned as Bostain sent a shot past Sweitzer to put Virginia up 9-8 with 1:28 remaining in the first half.

With eight seconds left, a UVA foul inside the eight-meter set Syracuse up with a free position shot. Payton Rowley tied the game at 9-9 before the half on the conversion. Both teams generated 17 shots each in the first half, but Syracuse turned the ball over 11 times to UVA’s six.

To start the third quarter, SU took its first lead of the game at 10-9 behind Baxter’s fourth score, yet Virginia tied the game two minutes later.

Over the next five minutes, both teams battled for possession before Miller took an 11-10 lead. Adamson, SU’s leading scorer entering the contest, got a feed from Ward outside the eight-meter and rocketed the ball into the net to tie the game with six minutes left in the third.

Virginia answered to take a 12-11 lead. But just 10 seconds later, Ward scored on the crease to knot the game at 12. Kiki Shaw scored with 19 seconds left to take a 13-12 lead into the fourth quarter.

SU carried an 18-10 lead in draw controls behind strong play from Mashewske into the final quarter. In SU’s last game, Treanor opted to replace Mashewske with Adamson in the circle due to poor performance.

“We got a lot of season left to go so we just want to continue to help (Mashewske),” Treanor said after the UAlbany game. “For her to be competitive and want to be the best, I think she has that desire. We have a lot of trust in her.”

But today, Mashewske took every draw in a complete bounce-back performance, winning a season-high 18 draws.

To start the fourth, after a rare draw-control loss, Carnevale scored her fifth goal and put Virginia up two. The Cavaliers forced a turnover after taking a two–goal lead but Syracuse responded with a turnover created by Chevarie. Adamson’s score brought the game to 14-13.

Virginia looked to increase its lead, but Sweitzer made a save and SU took the ball the other way. Baxter tied the game for the final time with just under 10 minutes left.

The goal prompted UVA to take a timeout. Following the break, Mashewske won her season-high 18th draw control of the game. Both teams got looks on goal over the next four minutes and again, Sweitzer bodied another goal-bound strike from Virginia.

SU took the ball up the field and Rowley found a cutting Tyrrell to give SU its second lead of the game at 15-14 with 5:31 to go. In the final five minutes, Coco Vandiver and Tyrrell caused turnovers to stop the Cavaliers from tying the game. UVA and Morgan Schwab, who finished with a season-low one point, could not break through the SU defense. With 16 seconds left, Shaw got an open look on Sweitzer but the goalie made the biggest save of the game as Syracuse got the rebound and ran out the clock to hang on for the victory.

Published on March 23, 2024 at 3:11 pm

Contact Timmy at: tswilcox@syr.edu | @TimmyWilcox32