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Megan Carney scored all three first-quarter goals for Syracuse, but Duke countered each of them with different scorers.

On the game’s first possession, Carney collected a pass from Emma Tyrrell after a failed dodge on the left side. Just to the left of the 8-meter peak, Carney fired and short-hopped the bottom left corner of the goal. Duke goalie Shaye Fitzpatrick was too slow on the low lunge, and SU took a 1-0 lead at 14:12 in the first. But Duke’s Caroline DeBellis countered at 12:22 to tie it up.

The next Carney score came at 7:14. On the weave, Natalie Smith passed it back to Carney cutting right. After a few contested steps, Carney outran her defender and bounced a sidearm shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. It short-hopped Fitzpatrick once again, this time on the right side to give SU a 2-1 lead. But Lexi Schmalz responded, tying it on the very next possession.

That trend continued, as the two teams traded goals for the first nine scores of the game, with neither team scoring twice in a row until SU took a 6-4 advantage near the end of the first half. But in the second half, SU pulled ahead, scoring on four straight possessions from 10:36 to 6:42 in the third. The Orange went on a 7-0 run in the quarter to take a 13-6 lead into the fourth. That ended up being the difference in the game, as No. 2 Syracuse (9-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated No. 15 Duke (4-5, 0-4 ACC) 16-10 in a battle that featured two completely different Syracuse squads in each half.

In the third quarter, Syracuse shot on goal eight times to the Blue Devils’ two. Duke scored on the first possession to tie it at six, but the Orange poured on the points after that. Five different players scored the seven Syracuse goals in an offensive onslaught. Something clicked for Syracuse, and the momentum just kept building.

The one who got the Orange scoring started in the second half was none other than Carney. A quick crease role got her open on the left side. As soon as she saw a lane, Carney whipped it through the sliver of daylight between Fitzpatrick and the left post. That gave Carney four or more goals in seven of nine games this season. Blue Devil Kay Conway tried to converge on her shot, but she was too late and SU took a 7-6 lead.

Syracuse missed draw-control specialist Kate Mashewske, losing the draw battle for a second-straight game since her season-ending injury. In her wake, Maddy Baxter, Olivia Adamson and Katie Goodale all took draws, and while the Orange still lost the draw battle 17-12, they improved as the game went on and capitalized in transition.

Syracuse was up by three midway through the third when it got a transition opportunity. Emma passed forward to Olivia Adamson on the left flank. Adamson faked high to send a sprinting defender flying past, took a few steps to the middle and then sent a sidearm shot past Fitzpatrick. Syracuse took an 11-6 lead, and it was all Orange from that point forward.

Near the end of the quarter, SU capitalized in transition again. Maddy Baxter had a decent lane, but chose to pass wide left to Emma, who immediately made a skip pass to Emma Ward in the middle. Ward leapt up to retrieve it and fought through contact to get an open shot from straight-on, placing the ball in the top right corner.

Both Emma’s – Ward and Tyrrell – scored two goals in the third en route to five-point games, along with Carney. Meanwhile Meaghan, the current Tewaaraton Award leader according to Inside Lacrosse, was uncharacteristically quiet. She scored just two points, illustrating the embarrassment of riches on this Syracuse offense.

With time winding down in the third, Emma took the ball in transition again off a draw control from Goodale. With a head of steam, Emma faked left and then dodged right. From the left side, she shot low and off her back foot, finding the bottom left corner of the net. Syracuse took a 13-6 lead with 7.8 seconds left in the quarter, cementing a momentum-shifting 15 minutes for the Orange.

Published on March 18, 2023 at 4:27 pm

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