Kayla Treanor lined up at the 8-meter mark with 1:45 left in the second overtime period and Syracuse trailing by one. She twirled her stick and tapped her back foot.

As the whistle blew, Treanor charged toward the net and ripped a low shot that Notre Dame goalie Liz O’Sullivan stopped with her leg. For the 10th time in the game, Syracuse couldn’t score on a free position shot and this time it was its last chance.

“We certainly had plenty of opportunities,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “I sort of feel a little bit like a broken record on that one.”

Every time the Fighting Irish pulled ahead, Syracuse was able to find an answer, but never took a lead of its own in the second half. Five times Syracuse trailed by two goals but the No. 6 Orange (9-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t convert on late-game chances and fell to No. 13 Notre Dame (8-5, 3-3), 12-11, in front of 570 in the Carrier Dome on Tuesday.

“It really was who was going to get that last one to go in the back of the net,” Notre Dame head coach Christine Halfpenny said. “It could have gone either way.”

Notre Dame started the game with two quick goals, but SU countered and netted four in a row before UND scored a buzzer-beater to tie the game at four at halftime.

Later in the second half, the Fighting Irish pulled ahead 9-7 before SU midfielder Taylor Gait scored twice on off-ball cuts to the net. On the second, Gait’s defender fell to the ground and pounded her hand into the turf after the goal went in with five minutes left in the game.

“Treanor was getting double teamed, triple teamed so that really helped me get open and she found me and I luckily made it,” Gait said.

The Orange won the next draw and SU attack Riley Donahue went on to cut through the middle, then ripped a shot off the post.

SU midfielder Gabby Jaquith charged toward the cage and had her shot saved from just a few feet out, but was fouled on the play. She fired high to the right on the free position, but O’Sullivan was there for the save.

“It’s just stepping up to that line knowing what you’re going to do and have confidence in it,” Gary Gait said. “… We stepped up to the line and we just said, ‘I’m going to run in and I hope I can shoot the ball in the net.’”

Notre Dame took the ball the other way and scored, but a late goal from Erica Bodt forced overtime.

But in the first overtime period, Notre Dame scored two goals within a minute and 18 seconds. “Relax, Gary,” a Notre Dame fan yelled as Gait shouted at the referees from the sidelines.

Devon Collins brought SU within a goal, but the Orange couldn’t find a way to tie it again. Majorana tried to fight through the middle, Bodt sailed a shot over the net on a free potion and Treanor was stopped on her late chance.

Only a minute and a half remained and SU was finally out of chances.

Halfpenny turned to the fans in the crowd and waved her arms up and down, yelling “Let’s go!” As the seconds ticked off the clock, the Notre Dame bench counted along.

The buzzer sounded and the Fighting Irish sprinted onto the field. Notre Dame defender Barbara Sullivan ran and jumped into O’Sullivan’s arms before throwing her stick across the field in celebration.

“I felt like it was March Madness,” Halfpenny said, “but we’re in April, now, and it’s lacrosse.”

Published on April 8, 2015 at 12:28 am

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