Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Orange outlast Stanford, 14-13, in double overtime thriller

There were some Friday night fireworks in the Dome as ‘Cuse picked up a huge win to stop their recent slide.

The Syracuse Orange halted their three-game losing streak last night in the JMA Dome, handing the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal their first loss of the season while simultaneously picking up their first ACC win with the 14-13, double-overtime victory.

Under the Friday night lights, the Orange (4-3 overall, 1-2 ACC) had the final say in the extended game of tug-of-war between the brand new ACC foes thanks to a Mileena Cotter goal late in the shot clock to clinch the win against the top-10 Cardinal.

Bucking their trend during the losing streak, ‘Cuse got off to a strong start in this game, scoring a few early goals and leading 4-1 after a quarter. Cotter’s first goal of the game gave SU an early second quarter lead of 5-1, but that’s when Stanford pulled themselves back into the contest.

The Cardinal went on a startling 6-0 run in a span of 3:03 in one of the truest depictions of make-it-take-it lacrosse you’ll ever see. For three minutes, they were invincible as they took a 7-5 lead to gain control. The Orange were able to stem the tide to close the half with a pair of goals to keep the Stanford lead to 8-7 at the break.

In the third quarter, it was SU’s turn to re-take the wheel, outscoring the Cardinal 5-1 to head into the final 15 minutes with a solid, 12-9 advantage.

That proved to be short lived, as the game of runs continued with a commanding Stanford fourth quarter where the road team tied the game at 13 with 2:14 to play. A pair of massive saves from Daniella Guyette in the final five seconds of regulation ensured that ‘Cuse survived to fight during overtime.

After a handful of empty possessions by both teams, Stanford won the opening draw of the second overtime. But a turnover and a key ground ball pick-up by Coco Vandiver got possession back for SU.

With the shot clock winding down, the Orange had the ball in Emma Ward’s cross, and the fifth-year found the freshman for the game-winning goal. It was a great off-ball cut from up top right down main street (or Marshall Street, as SU alum Drew Carter would say) by Cotter, who made an even better catch of Ward’s pass while on-the-run before finishing with five seconds on the shot clock to get ‘Cuse back in the win column.

It was kind of a mixed bag of a night on all accounts for SU, but the most important takeaway is that they fought hard and won a difficult game against a Top 10 team. After a blowout against North Carolina, a respectable effort against Northwestern, a near miss against Clemson, it was finally their time to execute all the way to the end and grab a big, resume-building win.

The offense had a much improved night after three straight snowmen on the score board, putting up 14 and exhibiting much better and more purposeful ball and off-ball movement. Their passing was more crisp and free-flowing, their dodging was more well-timed and aggressive, and their shooting was efficient (14-of-28). They were also excellent on free positions, scoring on five straight opportunities (5-of-6 overall). Yes, they did still have their turnover struggles with 17, but their plan of attack on offense was a big improvement as this young group shows signs of growth.

Emma Ward (1G, 4A) had a big night distributing and led the team with five points, while Emma Muchnick (3G) looked very dangerous all night as she looked to penetrate the Stanford zone and finished with a hat trick. Gracie Britton (1G, 2A) had three points, as well, while redshirt freshman Ashlee Volpe (2G, 1A) scored the first two goals of her career in just her second career game.

Molly Guzik (2G) and Cotter (2G) each scored twice. In total, eight of the Orange’s 14 goals were scored by either freshmen or redshirt freshmen in a good sign for the maturation of the offense.

The draw game more or less mirrored the tug-of-war of the game, overall. Joely Caramelli (8 DC) took over the starting draw role and had a solid game overall, corralling eight draw wins herself and leading the Orange to a 17-16 edge in restarts.

Just like on the score board, ‘Cuse got off to a great start with draws, winning five of the first six before Stanford won the first nine draws of the second quarter to help fuel their six goals in three minutes. Finishing the half with a pair of draw wins, Caramelli helped SU to re-take control of the game in the third quarter by winning eight draws in a row. The fourth quarter and overtime was just about evenly split.

The defense had an uneven night but did pretty well, overall, in my estimation. For the third game in a row, they started in woman-to-woman with Superia Clark face-guarding Aliya Polisky, Stanford’s top scorer. Polisky had scored at least a hat trick in every game so far this season, but was held goal-less with only a single assist as the Clark face-guarding experiment continues to work.

Overall, the woman-to-woman had its struggles in the first half as ‘Cuse had trouble staying in front of Stanford’s dodgers. Their quickness was a headache for the Orange, and it resulted in their torrid second quarter run. At that point in the game, SU switched to their zone, and it held the Cardinal to a single goal over roughly the final seven minutes of the first half.

After the break, however, the Orange were back to their woman-to-woman, with a much improved effort on slowing dodgers which resulted in only five goals after halftime for Stanford.

With 11 saves, Guyette has finished with double-digit stops in five of the last six contests as she continues to impress in her first year as a starter. She saved the game for ‘Cuse with her two stops at the very end of regulation.

Additionally, Coco Vandiver (6CT, 4GB) had the best statistical game of her career, tying her career high with six caused turnovers and setting a new career high with four ground balls, including the pick-up that gave SU the final possession of the night.

The Orange have a quick turnaround against yet another Top 10 team, with the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays coming to the Dome on Monday, March 10 for a non-conference matchup at 4 PM on ESPN U.