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After Kate Mashewske earned the draw control, she streaked down the left sideline with three Albany players trailing her. She pulled back her stick and bulleted a pass to Natalie Smith, who was racing ahead of her and had already scored two goals.

Smith drew two defenders right at the 8-meter arc and then turned around to find another player trailing her. The player, however, wasn’t Meaghan Tyrrell or Emily Hawryschuk, or even Olivia Adamson — the usual players up on the attack.

Instead, it was defender Sarah Cooper, who stayed up from the draw control unit. Cooper quickly fired a shot off before three Albany defenders could collapse on her. The ball went into the top right corner of the net, and on her second shot of the season, Cooper converted on her first goal of the year.

It was a rare moment, as typically the defense, which seldom gets praise for keeping opponents from scoring and doing the dirty work, was directly rewarded for its first half effort to keep Albany to only two goals.

In Syracuse’s (13-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) 18-11 win over Albany (6-7, 4-0 American East), the Orange used a strong defensive first half to jump out to a double-digit lead, which essentially put the game out of reach. In the second half, the defense came out flatfooted, but Kimber Hower, who saw little action in the first, stepped up and made key saves to keep the game out of reach and ensure a Syracuse win.

“Defensively we really focused on playing as a unit,” Cooper said. “In the first half we really executed that.”

In the first quarter especially, Syracuse gave up just a few ground balls to the Great Danes, only giving up one goal on one shot. The Orange jumped to an early 1-0 lead after a Jenny Markey goal, but Albany won the second draw control. Then, Sam Swart picked up a ground ball after the defense forced a long pass from Emma Weaver that went over the head of her target.

The Orange didn’t score their second goal until almost halfway into the period, but defense was the reason the Orange scored, even if it was on Albany’s half of the field, as at one point after Meaghan turned it over, Hawryschuk chased down Mackenzie Beam and slapped her stick to force her to lose the ball. Savannah Sweitzer rushed over to scoop up the ball and quickly passed it to Meaghan, who then passed it to Adamson to put Syracuse up 2-0.

On the following draw control, Clare Nothnagle initially gained control of it and passed it to Courtney Rowe, but she eventually lost the ball. Cooper scooped up the ground ball, which led to a Swart free-position goal and a 3-0 Syracuse lead.

With four minutes left in the quarter, Hallie Simkins and Cooper executed a smooth switch after an Albany pick for Sarah Falk. Then, Falk sent a bad pass that Simkins went on to pick up and help Syracuse score its fifth goal of the game, giving SU a 5-0 lead.

The Orange nearly escaped the first quarter with a 7-0 shutout, but with time winding down, Albany had possession and scored a goal after Katie Pascale attacked from the top of the 8-meter and passed to Ava Poupard, who snuck behind the Syracuse defense for an easy shot in front of the net.

To open the second period, Cooper and Katie Goodale gave Syracuse’s defense the spark it needed when Cooper forced Pascale to the outside and made her miss a shot wide. Albany retained possession, but Goodale set her feet in place when Megan Dineen tried attacking the goal, knocked her over and got a charge.

Hower recorded her first save of the day 12 minutes into the quarter in transition when Falk attacked from the left side of the field. Hower shifted to Falk’s right and met her shot in the lower right corner, using her legs to block it.

Syracuse also did well in transition defense in the first half, as with seven minutes left Savannah turned the ball over and Albany quickly cleared in less than 10 seconds, and Weaver found herself attacking the goal with one defender in front of her. It was Cooper, and Cooper stayed put, slapped her stick and scooped up the ground ball, which the Orange were able to clear for a Hawryschuk goal.

By the end of the half, Albany looked defeated and trailed by double-digits, meaning it would be a running clock for the rest of the game if they couldn’t figure out how to score.

Albany opened the second half on a 3-0 run to which head coach Kayla Treanor quickly called a timeout, and the Orange calmed down enough to prevent anything disastrous the rest of the game. Still, Syracuse was outscored 9-6 and had 17 fouls in the second half.

“Fortunately we had a great lead going into halftime,” Treanor said. “But we lost the second half, and the girls are really aware that’s not what we’re trying to do.”

Still, Hower made eight saves, including one in the third quarter where Rowe got the ball just outside the crease and had a point blank range shot. The ball bounced back out of Bryar Hogg’s stick, but Hower again slid to her knees to save the shot.

The Orange defense also forced eight turnovers and scooped up six ground balls in the half, but Treanor knew the second half could be improved on for games in the future.

“To win the games we want to win you have to play good lacrosse for 60 minutes,” Treanor said referring to the upcoming game against Boston College and the postseason. “You can’t have lapses in your game and we did in the second half.”

Published on April 19, 2022 at 8:41 pm

Contact Adam: amccaffe@syr.edu