Cardiac ‘Cuse Returns as Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse Holds On to Beat Florida
By Jaron May
CitrusTV Women’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse team has played back-to-back one-goal game. The Orange fell short in overtime against No. 2 Maryland on Saturday, but SU came out on top this time.
No. 4 Syracuse (7-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) survived some late game fireworks to edge unranked Florida (3-4, 0-0 American Athletic) 14-13 in Gainesville Wednesday night.
The game began with a quick Gators goal, but the Orange took over and went on a rampage, scoring seven unanswered goals. Emily Hawryschuk, per usual, was at the helm for the early run. She found Sam Swart darting across the crease for the first goal and then added three of her own.
The key to SU’s fast start was Florida electing to play man-to-man defense. The Orange pick apart teams that try to play one-on-one, and they did that same thing on Wednesday night. Any SU attacker could challenge and beat their Florida defender with pure speed and athleticism.
Syracuse also flawlessly executed a three-man weave at the top of the crease. SU attackers would work off picks, fake passes, or just blow past defenders for wide open shots on cage. Syracuse finished 9 of its 12 first half shots.
The Gators wouldn’t give up and fought back with a 4-1 run to finish the first half and kept pouring it on in the second.
Lindsey Ronbeck put on a show for Florida, tallying four goals in the second frame and finishing with five on the afternoon. Her two most important scores came in the last five minutes.
After some back and forth action, Ronbeck capitalized on a free position shot, ripping a shot over Asa Goldstock’s right shoulder, to pull the Gators to within one. With 44 seconds remaining, she slipped Grace Fahey, who was tightly face-guarding her, caught a pass from Grace Haus and fired another shot past Goldstock. Deafening cheers ensued as Ronbeck had seemingly sent the game into overtime.
But Syracuse wouldn’t let this one slip through its fingers. With just 10 seconds left, Meaghan Tyrrell drew a foul inside the critical scoring area, giving her a free position opportunity. As the whistle blew, she darted towards Florida goalie Haley Hicklen, pumped low, shot high and sealed the deal for the Orange.
The Gators could have used a big win as they are having a disappointing season after making the NCAA quarterfinals a year ago. As for the Orange, they add another tally to the win column and improve to 7-2.
Syracuse stays on the road and travels to Louisville to take on the Cardinals on Sunday.
jmay02@syr.edu | @jaron_may
