Halle Majorana’s first shot of the game was saved by Loyola goalie Molly Wolf and her second was blocked by a defender.

Syracuse head coach Gary Gait called her over to the sideline and told her not to shoot from more than 5 yards away.

Majorana’s adjustment led to three goals, two of them coming in the game’s final 10 minutes, giving the Orange the breathing room it needed.

“She decided she was going to get in close to the goal and bury her shots,” Gait said. “And the last two, she did.”

Majorana’s two late goals pushed No. 4-seed Syracuse (16-7, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) past Loyola (17-5, 8-0 Patriot),10-7, on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. The Orange advance to its fourth straight final four and will take on the winner of No. 8 seed Northwestern and No. 1 seed Maryland on Friday in Chester, Pennsylvania.

SU’s leading goal scorer, Kayla Treanor was held to no goals and no assists for the third time this season. In those two prior games, Syracuse lost.

But on Saturday, it was Majorana who helped carry the Orange.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of pressure,” Majorana said of when Treanor is shut down. “I think we just need to step up.”

Early on, Majorana’s contributions were made by feeding teammates as she had two assists before her first goal. Just six minutes into the game, she stutter-stepped at the goal-line and drew a double team from Loyola’s other crease defender, who left SU attack Kailah Kempney open on the doorstep. Majorana fed Kempney to give Syracuse a 2-1 lead.

But just minutes later, Loyola’s slide came from the top down. Instead of feeding teammates, Majorana went to the goal on her own.

“I’ve known her since high school and she’s always had a little battle with me shooting,” Greyhound goalie Molly Wolf said. “She’s a great player, she knows where to place it. Just props to her for finishing those good shots.”

With 9:30 left to play, Majorana ran toward the net and got sandwiched between Wolf and Katrina Geiger. She drew a free position and said she knew she’d score as she set up on the 8-meter arc.

Majorana sprinted to the crease and finished a bounce shot while again being toppled over by Geiger. When she got up, she walked to SU’s huddle and barely showed any emotion even though she just scored what proved to be the game-winning goal.

Five minutes later, Majorana caught a pass from Devon Collins and approached the side of the net. She faked a shot to get Wolf to move out of position and then put the dagger into Loyola.

Once again, Majorana scored from inside, but this time, she celebrated by putting both hands up in the air and running to greet teammates.

The game was out of reach because of Majorana’s goals from just outside the crease.

“I was very happy she made an adjustment,” Gait said. “(Majorana) stepped up and scored a couple big — really big — goals for us.”

Published on May 16, 2015 at 6:07 pm

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