The last game Allie Murray ever started for Notre Dame, she allowed six Syracuse goals in seven minutes and head coach Christine Halfpenny benched her after that.

The Orange won that game 18-10 and, five days later beat the Irish again, this time 16-11 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Murray did not appear in the game.

In UND’s NCAA tournament run, Murray played in the waning minutes of a 14-goal blowout and not at all in its second-round loss to Duke. Murray left the team six months later.

“She went through a lot at Notre Dame,” defender Haley McDonnell said. “… She’s fit in so well here and that’s been a different experience.”

She hasn’t been back since. Until Saturday.

Murray returns to South Bend, Indiana when No. 6 Syracuse (7-3, 1-1 ACC) takes on No. 4 Notre Dame (9-1, 3-1) at noon. It comes at a crucial time as Syracuse has dropped three of its last five games and fallen from the No. 2 ranking it’s held most of the season. To stable shaky performance, the team will look to its defense, led by Murray, to get the stops it needs.

“It’s been kind of a mix of she’s on, she’s off a little,” said head coach Gary Gait. “We’re just trying to get that consistency going game on and game off.”

In her first three games, Murray saved 11 of 20 shots, better than the 50 percent mark her coaches asked for. In her next two, she made six saves while allowing 23 goals, including a slip-and-fall own goal against then-No. 5 Northwestern. Two days later she made a game-losing turnover trying to clear against Florida.

 

Courtesy of SU Athletics

 

Assistant coach Regy Thorpe pointed out that wasn’t entirely Murray’s fault, that two “jittery” Syracuse players set up too close to their goalkeeper and brought defenders which trapped Murray. Even so, McDonnell said Murray feels responsibility for goals that may not have been her fault.

“I’m playing for so many people,” Murray said. “Syracuse has given me this opportunity (to play one final year). I need to make the most of it every time I step on the field.”

Four days after the Florida loss, Murray hadn’t recorded a save through 41 minutes of play against No. 7 Virginia when the Cavaliers cut in half a lead that was once six. McDonnell said Murray, who is the most mentally tough person she’s ever met even in the short time she’s known her, got “super-serious” and things changed. The defense regrouped, tapped sticks and Murray went on to make seven saves, finish with a .500 save percentage and get the win.

“When she’s hot, she’s really hot,” Halfpenny said in January. “… She can be a huge playmaker.”

Halfpenny saw it herself when Murray had highs such as making three stops in the last minute to protect a one-goal lead, and lows like her final start.

Murray kept the roll going from Virginia’s second half when she helped Syracuse hang in against Maryland until late in the second half. She saved four of eight shots the next game too, a 16-9 win over Harvard.

But coming off that stretch, Murray saved just five of 18 shots against Boston College.

She’s always been an aggressive, streaky player, high school and college coaches have said. It’s how she responds which help chart Syracuse’s course for the rest of the season. Overcoming the Boston College loss, and putting its season back on track, starts with consistent play against Notre Dame, and with the player who has a history there.

“She needs to play better, and she knows she needs to play better,” Thorpe said. “We expect more out of her and she expects more out of herself.”

Published on March 23, 2016 at 9:53 pm

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