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Megan Carney scored behind her back. Virginia Tech goalkeeper Jocelyn Torres got a hand to it, but could only watch as Carney’s effort trickled in. 

The play started with Meaghan Tyrrell, who darted a pass toward the right of the 8-meter to Emma Tyrrell. Emma waited to pick up a Syracuse run and found Carney as the best option. The pass found Carney who closed in on goal at an awkward angle, scoring and extending Syracuse’s advantage to 12-4 with just under 12 minutes remaining in the game. 

No. 2 Syracuse won its sixth consecutive game to continue its undefeated start to the season. Virginia Tech, on the other hand, lost its fourth straight defeat. After a slow start, which saw the Orange leading just 2-1, SU exploded in the second, holding the Hokies scoreless while putting up six goals. From there, despite a quick two-goal flurry from VT at the end of the third quarter, Syracuse (6-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated Virginia Tech (1-4, 0-2 ACC) 16-5. 

“I give Virginia Tech a lot of credit,” head coach Kayla Treanor said. “That’s a really good defensive unit with really good one-on-one defenders and an awesome goalie. I think we were just forcing it early in our possessions but really we started getting into a flow in the second quarter.” 

Entering the 8-meter, Olivia Adamson took a stick to the face. Her defender received a yellow card and Syracuse was awarded a free-position. But, instead of racing toward goal, Adamson pulled the ball back out, giving the Orange a little time to work around the 12-meter before penetrating. 

A pass was swung to Emma Ward at the X and SU attackers cut toward goal. Virginia Tech did a good job marking most of the intruding opposition but Adamson was left free. Receiving the ball slightly outside the crease, she slotted home past Torres to give Syracuse a 1-0 lead. Ward ended the game with four assists, which tied a season-high, as well as two goals, while Adamson notched two goals of her own.

After the opening goal four minutes into the first quarter, the Hokies controlled possession, registering 10 shots to Syracuse’s four. The seven of which were on target, forced SU goalie Delaney Sweitzer to chart six saves. But one got away. 

Olivia Vergano jockeyed just outside the 8-meter and cut inside to her left, bringing Superia Clark with her. Then, suddenly, she dodged back to her right, losing Clark. Now one-on-one with Sweitzer bearing down on goal, Vergano whistled a shot into the upper opposite corner to knot things up at one with just under two minutes remaining in the first period.

Off of the draw control, Virginia Tech continued to press, patiently passing from right to left. A few paces behind the 12-meter, VT dropped a pass and Meaghan pounced on it before anyone else could. Obtaining her first ground-ball pickup, Meaghan raced the other way. Natalie Smith and Carney joined her. 

The trio passed midfield and continued to charge on — a 3-on-1 transition break had presented itself. Meaghan passed to Smith who held onto the ball well into the 12-meter. Then, Smith laid it off to Carney for an easy finish, returning a 2-1 advantage back to Syracuse. 

Just over a minute into the quarter, Syracuse started circling atop the 8-meter. First, Ward held the ball. She ran toward and handed off to Carney, who did the same before giving it up to Meaghan. Meaghan found an opening going to her left and progressed before firing a shot into the back of the net past Torres for her first point. 

“They were playing a man defense so we were able to run a bunch of different kinds of offenses which was nice,” Ward said. “Just keeping my head up, my teammates making great cuts makes my job easy just getting them the ball.” 

Syracuse scored two more goals, coming from Emma and Ward before Meaghan scored again. Following a skirmish involving Hallie Simkins, Maddy Baxter and Torres, the VT goalie was penalized after her stick made contact with an SU player. Torres received a yellow card and was sent to the sideline for the ensuing two minutes. 

The foul resulted in a free-position opportunity with an empty net. Syracuse’s man-up chance couldn’t have been easier as the Hokies were left without a goalkeeper. Meaghan calmly stepped up and scored her second of the contest with 9:19 left in the first half. 

Following Sweitzer’s ninth save of the morning, Syracuse went the other way and Sierra Cockerille found herself positioned at X. Trying to find an open look circling around the crease, Cockerille pump-faked once, fooling her defender and scoring to give SU an 8-1 lead going into the halftime break. 

Emma netted her hat trick with 4:20 left in the third period, joining her sister, Meaghan, as the only other SU player to net at least three. Two minutes prior, Ward curled around the inside of the 12-meter before coughing up the ball to Emma. During her run, Ward had drawn a double-team, leaving Emma wide open to send a blistering shot into the low left corner past Torres. 

Then, Meaghan passed to Emma as she streaked toward the goal. With no Hokie in front of her, Emma started high and ended low, nestling a shot into the back of the net under Torres’ legs. The VT goalkeeper had jumped in anticipation. 

On the other end, Sweitzer didn’t let much get by her, tallying a career-high 15 saves to go along with a 75% save percentage. The impressive performance was her third game this year setting a new personal best in net. During SU’s season opener, against then-No. 4 ranked Northwestern, Sweitzer notched 11. Then, in its second game against then-No. 2 ranked Maryland, Sweitzer produced 13.

“(Sweitzer) had one of the best individual performances I’ve seen so far this year,” Treanor said. “You can’t ask a player to play better than that. She was the difference maker today and I think it’s a much closer game today if Delaney doesn’t have the game she did.” 

Katie Goodale grabbed the ground ball, passed to Bianca Chevarie and Chevarie relayed the ball to Sweitzer. The SU goalkeeper looked up and sent an inch-perfect ball to an open Baxter in the midfield. With tons of freedom to roam, Baxter turned and ran, sprinting all the way toward goal. She neared the 12-meter and no one picked her up. And, by the time she entered the 8-meter, the Virginia Tech defense was too late. Baxter’s goal gave Syracuse a 14-5 lead and put an already lopsided game even further out of reach for the visiting Hokies. 

“It’s super easy to do my job when other people around me are doing theirs,” Ward said.

Published on March 5, 2023 at 1:20 pm

Contact Tyler: [email protected] | @theTylerSchiff