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After two dominant performances against unranked opponents, Syracuse earned its third straight win ahead of its top five matchup against No. 3 Boston College in a rematch of the 2021 National Championship game.

Syracuse outscored Albany 7-1 in the first quarter and never looked back in a dominant effort aside from a few lapses in the second half. It was also a record-setting day for Emily Hawryschuk, as she broke Kayla Treanor’s record for most career goals at SU.

Here are some observations from No. 4 Syracuse’s (13-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) 18-11 win over Albany (6-7, 4-0 American East) on Tuesday:

SU’s hot start

After a 2-2 first quarter against Louisville and a 3-3 start against Cornell, Syracuse has shown signs of playing down to its unranked competition early in games. On Tuesday, however, Syracuse scored seven unanswered goals to lead 7-1 after the first 15 minutes.

Kate Mashewske won the opening draw, but Payton Rowley and Olivia Adamson missed the first two shots, showing potential signs of a repeat of Syracuse’s prior two games. But after Syracuse retained possession, Jenny Markey got the ball along the right wing and faked a shot on Albany defender Courtney Rowe, scoring her follow-up attempt.

Syracuse wouldn’t score for another five and a half minutes, but after that they were rolling, again. First it was Adamson scoring a woman-up goal, and then it was Savannah Sweitzer, who cut in front of the net and took a pass from Hawryschuk.

The Orange nearly escaped the first quarter with a 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 sneaked behind the Syracuse defense for an easy shot in front of the net.

You see that, coach?

Coming into the game, Hawryschuk needed three goals to beat Treanor’s career goal scoring record of 260. In the first quarter, Hawryschuk neglected to take a shot and instead chose to be a facilitator, helping Syracuse score its seventh goal of the game off her behind-the-goal pass to Sweitzer.

In the second quarter, Hawryschuk led Syracuse’s offense. Her first opportunity came on a free-position attempt halfway through the quarter, but she missed it wide. Still, Syracuse got the ball back, and after Adamson missed a shot off the post, Hawryschuk was positioned perfectly and scooped up the ground ball for a rebound goal.

On the next possession, Hawryschuk was fouled and had a free-position opportunity. This time, she nailed the free-position shot with ease and tied Treanor’s record.

It looked like the record was set to be broken when she caught the ball on the left side right outside the crease on the next possession, but she missed the shot. She quickly made up for it, scoring on the ensuing possession on a low winding shot, to which Syracuse called a timeout to subtly celebrate her accomplishment.

SU dominates the draw

To open the game, Mashewske won the draw, and Syracuse scored as a result. Albany won the next two draws which caused an offensive lapse, but Mashewske and SU’s draw control unit locked in and won the next 12 draw controls in the first half, which gave them the 12-2 edge.

In the second half, however, Syracuse struggled on the draw, which resulted in a three-goal UAlbany run to start the half. Mashewske won the first two out of three at midfield, but UAlbany won the next four, which gave the Great Danes a small glimmer of hope.

Still, Mashewske and Sarah Cooper won the final two draw controls of the quarter which helped keep the lead in double digits. On the day, Syracuse won the draw control battle 22-10. Mashewske, who was coming off a 19-draw control performance against Louisville — which tied Treanor’s program record — had 15 draw controls.

Defense holds strong

In the first quarter, Syracuse scooped up six ground balls and forced three Great Dane turnovers. Albany struggled to move the ball around and only managed to get one shot off.

At one point after Meaghan Tyrrell turned it over, Hawryschuk chased down Mackenzie Beam and slapped her stick to force her to lose the ball. Sweitzer rushed over to scoop up the ball and quickly passed it to Tyrrell, who then passed it to Adamson to put Syracuse up 2-0.

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.

Kimber Hower especially came alive in the second half and recorded seven saves. On one instance with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, Rowe got the ball just outside the crease and had a point blank range shot, but Hower blocked it. The ball bounced into Bryar Hogg’s stick, but Hower again slid to her knees to save the shot. Hower totaled eight saves on the evening.

Published on April 19, 2022 at 6:37 pm

Contact Adam: amccaffe@syr.edu