Emily Hawryschuk told herself to be calm. She knew Gary Gait trusted her to shoot the first time — she just had to try one more time. So when she moved from her normal area, the left side of the net, to the middle of field, 25 yards from the net, Hawryschuk gathered for a brief moment.

She looked off Nicole Levy on the right — the second scoring option of Gait’s play — and sprinted forward. She had 10 yards of space in front of her and made it halfway to the goal before Syracuse’s cutters on both edges stopped moving. It was Hawryschuk’s moment.

Face guarding antics from Nell Copeland were lost. Standing still in the middle of field without a stick in the air was forgotten. Her lifeless second half didn’t matter anymore. A full wind up toward the top left corner of the net did, though.

“Shot clock is going down,” Hawryschuk said. “I just put it away.”

Her game-winning goal ended the thought of another opposition’s comeback over Syracuse. The team who couldn’t finish last year, Gait said, and blew a five-goal lead to No. 1 Boston College last Saturday, was a shot away from blowing another lead: this one, a 12-9 advantage midway through the second half. But, No. 7 Syracuse (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) rebounded over No. 5 Northwestern (3-1), 15-14, and picked up its first win over a ranked opponent.

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Hawryschuk, Syracuse’s top attack, spent the first half face guarded by a rotation of Wildcat defenders. But after a hat trick in the opening 22 minutes, the junior was stationary after a change in defensive scheme. Her offense was quiet until SU’s lone possession in overtime — the only time it counted.

“Em got that shot because she wanted it,” midfielder Sam Swart said. “I knew if I put the ball in Chuckie’s hands, she could finish it.”

Before Sunday’s heroics, Hawryschuk still was the team’s leading goal-scorer (10), but with a balanced attack including five players with double-digit points, she wasn’t always the first option. But that’s not how Northwestern saw her.

Copeland, a defender, pressed the SU junior, inching her face closer to Hawryschuk’s. She stuck her tongue out at her, tried to make Hawryschuk laugh and stared into her eyes while Northwestern was on offense.

“She was definitely trying to get into my head,” Hawryschuk said. “But I didn’t let her get in my head.”

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So when Hawryschuk was face-guarded on the Orange’s first two possessions, she shuffled her legs for picks offs — not trying to get the ball rather forcing two defenders to stick with her.

Starting 20 yards from the net, the junior faked a routine pass right. Two NU defenders reacted with a double team. It didn’t stop Hawryschuk. She cut in between her defenders, shimmied right, broke the ankles of one and left the other in the rearview.  Hawryschuk got closer and swung a shot toward a crevice in the middle of two more NU defenders. It ripped the back of the net.

“It was shooting to score,” Hawryschuk said, “and putting everything behind it.”

Six minutes later, Copeland upped her antics. Her stare-downs and pressured started 60 yards from the net. It didn’t bother Hawryschuk, she said, but it did provide extra motivation. So off an out of bounds play, Hawryschuk waved her stick, beginning for the ball to start outside of the end zone.

In the back of the end zone, she hesitated and made Copeland trip. Hawryschuk stormed to the net to score her third goal of the game on a one-hopper. Instead of jumping toward her teammates or celebrating immediately, she looked behind the net, right in the direction of Copeland.

Syracuse entered the half just up a goal, 9-8, but Hawryschuk was dominating. Similar to last year, when Northwestern flipped from zone to man-to-man, the Wildcats did the opposite. Hawryschuk torched one-on-one and wasn’t fazed by Copeland and her pressure. But when the junior was stuck in the middle of the field surrounded by three defenders in her vicinity, she was stagnant.

“She was sticking to game plan,” Gait said. “Knowing everything was going to fall into place.

And slowly, the Wildcats fought back. SU’s offense operated right, the remnants of a pressured Hawryschuk in the first half still there. When she was open close to the net, she wasn’t found. When she picked up a ground ball, it was taken away from her. She played into Northwestern’s strategy.

A 12-9 SU lead shrunk. Aside from Hawryschuk, SU’s offense couldn’t score — without a goal for over 18 minutes at one point in the second half. Northwestern slowly crushed Sarah Cooper and Kerry Defliese in the back, and rattled off five consecutive goals.

Another Syracuse lead blown — a continuous trend of last year’s 9-10 team — was looming. But Northwestern fell into its own hole.  Sierra Cockerville scored with five minutes left, and after a jersey change to No. 10 on the team’s final possession in regulation, freshman Megan Carney drove half the length of the field to tie the game.

Hawryschuk put No. 51 on her back once more, and headed to the 50 yard line for the draw. She struggled in the second half, she said, and thought about it going into overtime. The ball went to the Wildcats, who missed on an errant shot, and Gait called a timeout.

His top attack hadn’t scored in almost 40 minutes. But he designed the play around Hawryschuk.

“I trusted the team to play good offense,” Gait said. “Em was cutting hard and working hard all day.”

He drew up a look for Hawryschuk on the left side — her side. If that wasn’t there, go to Levy. If Northwestern compromised both, at least one cutter would be open. On the ensuing possession, Hawryschuk bypassed her options and was squandered around the crease. She fell to the ground, stayed there and expected a foul. But it didn’t come.

“It sort of fell through a little,” Hawryschuk said. “Not getting a foul and all.”

Mary Rahal picked up Hawryschuk’s miss, and after two passes, it was back in the junior’s hands. Seconds later, it was in the back of the net.

“People feel comfortable giving (Hawryschuk) the opportunity,” Gait said. “And we did. We gutted it out.”

Published on February 24, 2019 at 2:43 pm

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