For 40 seconds, there was doubt for the Orange. 

Moments after Emily Hawryschuk opened the scoring on the first play of the game, she lost the draw and a Colgate attack buried an uncontested shot from the top of the 8-meter arc as two SU defenders stood, ball-watching. 

But for Syracuse, that doubt didn’t last long. 

Monday evening, Syracuse’s (5-1) offense overwhelmed Colgate (2-1) in the Orange’s 21-4 win. After conceding in the opening minute to make the score 1-1, SU went on a 12-1 scoring run to close out the half. 

“I think we came out a little sluggish for a second,” defender Kerry Defliese said. “Once that goal hit, we turned it on.”

Sophomore Megan Carney (four goals, two assists) and Hawryschuk (three goals) led the No. 4 Orange in their fourth-straight win. By the end of the night, 11 different players had found the net for SU.  

Colgate tried to limit Hawryschuk with a face-guard, Raiders head coach Kathy Taylor said, and had some success, though not as much as they’d hoped for. The nation’s second-leading goalscorer finished below her average of five goals per game, but without the Raiders’ top defender Ingrid Backe, they couldn’t ultimately couldn’t contain the Orange’s offense.

“Some of those I was like ‘How’d they get in?’” Taylor said. “They just don’t need a lot of time and space to get their shots off — very impressive shooters.”

Late in the first half, Syracuse’s offense showed its variability and ability to set the pace of the game by controlling possession. The moment Asa Goldstock collected a stray Colgate shot, she connected with Ella Simkins on a perfectly placed 40-yard outlet pass. Simkins started running with the ball before recognizing that Sam Swart had sprinted past her defender. Simkins found Swart, who found a diagonal pass to Meaghan Tyrrell. The ball traveled from Goldstock’s stick to Colgate’s cage in less than 10 seconds.

Moments later, the Orange slowed the game down. Vanessa Costantino leisurely walked with the ball along the 20-yard line, and SU up 11, let the clock run.

This past week, redshirt senior attack Morgan Alexander was ruled out for the rest of the season with a left leg injury. In her most recent appearance, she scored a behind-the-back goal against Binghamton on Feb. 16. Monday, the Orange continued to bring Alexander’s flair to the field, even without her. 

With under two minutes left in the first half, freshman Bianca Chevarie, who replaced the injured Alexander, cut inside and hit the ground hard after being checked by a Colgate defender. On the ensuing free position, Chevarie steadied herself and fired a shot that appeared to be high and wide left. But, Carney popped out from her position in the low block, collected the pass and put the ball into the back of the net on the spin move. Chevarie finished with two goals and an assist in her second start for the Orange. 

“If you know that you don’t have it, then you’re always looking around to see who else can get that point,” Chevarie said. “We don’t care about who gets the points — it’s just the fact that we’re getting goals as a team.”

 

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Defensively, the Orange were nearly perfect, save the first 40 seconds. Coming off a big win two days ago, they kept their focus despite “tired legs” and “tired minds,” head coach Gary Gait said, allowing only seven shots and five shots on goal during the first half. The defensive unit has been in sync this season, conceding an average of 7.8 goals before Monday’s game, 14th-best in the country. 

Early in the first half, Defliese positioned herself to the right of SU’s goal and intercepted a Colgate pass that was traveling parallel to the end line. Goldstock replicated her defender’s play later that half, daring to venture outside of her net when Colgate was on the attack. 

“From top to bottom we’re a solid team, and it’s nice when we can play everybody,” Gait said. “On the O end they did it, and even more so on the D end.”

Saturday night, Syracuse had “a little bit of a lull” in the middle of the game that slowed the team down. Against Northwestern, it required refocusing and extra motivation in order to recover, Gait said. 

Monday, there was none of that. 

All game, the offense showed its rhythm and organization. Midway through the second half, sets of players ran opposite crossing routes along the 8-meter arc, flipping the ball to one another. For 15 seconds, the Orange’s deception left Colgate’s defenders at a standstill, trying to figure out which SU attack had the ball. 

When the ball found its way to Hawryschuk, the crossing routes stopped. The SU offense became stagnant because they all knew what was coming next. Hawryschuk, one-on-one with a Colgate defender, feinted left and then rounded her defender to the right. With a wide-open shooting lane, she connected with the bottom right corner of the net to put Syracuse up 5-1. It looked easy. 

“Syracuse made a lot of plays; I have to give credit to a talented team,” Taylor said. “They just wore us down. Their ability to find the back of the cage is remarkable.”

Published on February 24, 2020 at 7:12 pm

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