Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Orange avoid second half collapse, beat Pitt, 17-11

It was a weird, wild day in Pittsburgh for ‘Cuse.

Making their first road trip in three weeks, the Syracuse Orange survived a furious second half surge from the Pittsburgh Panthers to push themselves back above .500 on the season at 5-4 overall (2-2 ACC).

It was a game and a day of mood swings for both the teams as well as Mother Nature. A little more than 12 minutes into the first quarter, a lightning strike caused a delay of roughly an hour that made for a long afternoon in the Steel City.

‘Cuse had a 4-3 lead at that point late in the first, and they were the ones who got the better of the extra locker room time as they scored the first five goals out of the impromptu intermission. While Pitt struggled with turnovers, SU executed well to go on a 6-1 run in the second quarter and take a 10-4 lead into halftime.

Things were looking pretty good at that point, but it was Pitt who took control of the game out of the locker room this time, dominating the third quarter on both draws and goals, outscoring ‘Cuse 4-1 to make a game of it heading to the fourth, 11-8.

They weren’t done, as the Panthers’ momentum continued into the final frame despite an Orange goal 24 seconds in. Pitt continued to control the pace and brought SU’s once six-goal lead all the way down to two at both 12-10 and 13-11. With 7:58 to play and having just brought it back to a two-goal deficit, it was looking to be all home team down the stretch.

But the final five minutes belonged to the visitors, as the offense was able to find enough with a pair of nice goals to push the lead back out to four, 15-11, before scoring two empty netters to ultimately finish with that six-goal advantage, 17-11.

This was another uneven day for SU, starting at the draw circle. After getting off to a good start by winning 5-of-7, the Orange proceeded to lose 12 of the next 14 draws to help fuel Pitt’s momentum, particularly in the third quarter. ‘Cuse would bring it back by winning six in a row, mostly in the fourth, but they were all over the place in ultimately losing the draw battle, 17-14. Despite the inconsistency, Joely Caramelli put up numbers with 10 wins herself.

The offense had a great first half throwing in 10 goals. Attacking Pitt’s zone, they looked like they were playing with an improved sense of how to utilize the middle of the eight-meter, finding cutters, moving efficiently and dodging with purpose. Eight different players scored during that first half display.

But production dried up for most of the second half, as the Orange only scored three goals in the first 25 minutes before their 4-0 run to put the game away at the end. That was due to a combination of Pitt’s draw dominance, an increase in turnovers, and an incredible performance from Pitt’s Molly Cain in goal. Cain made 15 saves to keep her side in the game even when it looked like they were out of it early. ‘Cuse dominated shots, 37-25, but Cain wiped out that advantage with her efforts on the afternoon.

On the other end of the field, Danielle Guyette just never found a rhythm or saw the ball consistently, finishing with just four saves against 11 goals (26.7 save percent). The disparity in cage was a huge factor in Pitt’s second half comeback.

The youngsters had another good day on the score sheet, led by Caroline Trinkaus (2G, 2A) and her four points. Joely Caramelli (3G) added to her 10 draw controls with a hat trick, including a beautiful backhanded shovel goal, while Alexa Vogelman (2G, 1A) and Emma Muchnick (2G, 1A) had three points each.

I thought Vogelman had a particularly strong day, also finishing with three caused turnovers and a draw control, showing off her speed in attacking the cage and in the clear game. She’s hopefully developing into a more consistent threat all-around, because her speed is an un-containable weapon for this team in every phase.

Molly Guzik (2G) and Mileena Cotter (2G) each had a pair of goals, including a fantastic outside rip from Guzik, and Emma Ward (1G, 1A) rounded out the multiple-point scorers.

It was an odd day for the defense, overall. They played most of the first half in woman-to-woman, which I thought was working quite well in holding Pitt to four goals, nine shots and 10 turnovers. But in the second half, they came out in zone and stayed there to much less positive effect. Pitt did a pretty effective job of exploiting the soft spot in the middle and some slow rotation in zone to score seven in the second half.

The Orange did finish with an impressive 12 caused turnovers, led by Superia Clark (3), Alexa Vogelman (3), Coco Vandiver (2) and Kaci Benoit (2).

The pursuit of consistency remains the name of the game for ‘Cuse as they return to the land of ranked opponents in the next few weeks.

The Orange will be back in action this week when their road trip continues down in Baltimore for a meeting with the Loyola Greyhounds on Wednesday, March 19 at 5 PM on ESPN+.