The torment continues as BC beat ‘Cuse for the seventh straight time and ended their season for the second consecutive year.
For the second year in a row, the Syracuse Orange’s season ended with a loss to the Boston College Eagles in the Final Four.
On Friday night, the Orange fell to the Eagles, 10-7, for their seventh straight loss to their ACC and Northeast rivals. It’s also the third time in the last four seasons that ‘Cuse has lost to BC on Memorial Day weekend.
The game started off solidly enough for SU, who scored on two of their first three shots and took a 2-1 lead five minutes into the night. But fortunes changed quickly as the shooting dried up and the Eagles went on a 5-0 run to take a 6-2 lead. The Orange scored two goals the final two goals of the half to make it a 6-4 lead going into the break, but BC came out an dominated a 3-0 third quarter to take a 9-4 lead into the final 15.
‘Cuse had one final comeback attempt in them, scoring three in a row to open the quarter and make it 9-7 with just under nine minutes left in the game. They had their chances in that time, but couldn’t convert before falling, 10-7.
Final from Cary. pic.twitter.com/DQ0SSrR7ku
— Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) May 25, 2024
For the second straight game, Boston College asserted their dominance over SU with a tenacious, aggressive style of play that overwhelmed the Orange.
It was present on defense, where BC held SU to a season-low seven goals, 25 percent shooting (7-of-28), and separate Orange scoring droughts of 18 minutes and 24 minutes.
It was present all over the field, where ‘Cuse committed 17 turnovers, failed three clears (17-of-20) and got beaten up on ground balls, 21-12. It’s nothing knew for SU against BC; in their three meetings this season, the Eagles won the GB battle a combined 53-27. That is just an inexcusable number from an SU standpoint.
The Orange dominated draw control wins yet again, 15-5, but it didn’t matter because Kate Mashewske (14DC) threw the ball away four separate times after wins, meaning the real advantage was 11-9, at best.
Sometimes, when Kate or another ‘Cuse player threw the ball away, it wasn’t even really due to BC’s immediate and direct pressure, but was an indirect effect of the pressure they put on a team throughout the game. Only five of SU’s 17 turnovers were officially ‘caused’ by BC, but so many of them were sloppy or panicked throw-aways due to the feeling that they impose.
BC is tenacious in a way that most teams are not; they very much remind me of the Notre Dame men’s team in that way. They are relentless in that they come away with most 50/50 balls and never let you get away cleanly when you manage to scrounge one. Even when, for example, Mashewske won a draw to herself as she’s done so many times this season, BC’s sticks were right there to potentially cause a loose ball or cause her to throw the ball away. Against most opponents, the Orange’s 15-5 advantage on draws would have been a true one, but against the Eagles, it was false advertising.
The BC defense is an unbelievable combination of aggressive, suffocating and in-your-face alongside amazing communication and recovering abilities. Should you manage to actually string a few passes together and get a good look against them, they have one of the most effective erasers in the country in Shea Dolce (12SV) standing between the pipes. SU even got some decent looks in the first quarter when the game was close, but they either missed the cage entirely or Dolce was there to turn them away.
They routinely flustered the Orange in three meetings this season and kept them a very safe distance from ever establishing any semblance of offensive rhythm. SU scored 25 goals in three games against them this season, an average of 8.33 goals per game.
In this game, ‘Cuse struggled to create much of anything off the dodge as BC stayed in front of them most of the night, and their passing didn’t start to move with crispness until their comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. The search to unlock the BC defense goes on into another season for the Orange offense.
Natalie Smith (2G, 1A) led the way with a pair of nice dodging goals and three points, while Emma Ward (2G) and Olivia Adamson (1G, 1A) each finished with two points. Maddy Baxter (1G) and Gracie Britton (1G) each scored a goal, and Emma Tyrrell (1A) and Hallie Simkins (1A) each had assists.
BC’s defense is full of shutdown defenders in the likes of Sydney Scales, Shea Baker, Becky Browndorf and Hunter Roman, and they did exactly that once again on this night.
Delaney Sweitzer (10SV, 2GB, 2CT) did everything she could to keep the game close, and she was terrific in giving flashbacks to her heights of last season as she made 10 saves, caused a couple turnovers and finished with a .526 save percentage. Delaney wasn’t in net for BC’s final goal at the end, so she only gave up nine, officially.
The SU defense did a good job of getting their sticks and passing lanes and causing nine of BC’s 14 turnovers for the game. The numbers would have been worse if Delaney hadn’t been there to slam the door on a few open looks, but the defense did what they could to give the Orange a chance.
Unfortunately, it was just not enough as the BC domination rolls on.
The Orange seem to have most of the rest of their competition figured out pretty well as they appeared in their third Final Four in the last four seasons, but all three of those appearances have ended in a loss to BC. There is much to be figured out for Syracuse as they look to put an end to this long-running cycle of torment.