A Lethal Orange Attack Bolsters Syracuse Past Harvard

By Jaron May

CitrusTV Women’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter

It was a clash of the colors in the Carrier Dome on Tuesday afternoon. The Syracuse Orange (9-2, 2-1 ACC) hosted the Harvard Crimson (4-4, 0-1 IVY) and dominated, finishing with a 15-6 victory.

Syracuse is known for its fast starts and second-half slumps this season, but neither trend manifested against Harvard. SU did begin the game on a 4-0 run, but it took ten minutes and ended with the Crimson scoring back-to-back goals to cut the deficit in half.

“They were going in and out of their zone and man to man. Being able to recognize and tell the person next to you, ‘hey know what they’re in’ so we can run our plays accordingly,” added senior Nicole Levy. “Once we figured that stuff out, we did a great job of executing what we needed to do.”

The Orange eventually turned up the heat as the snow was falling outside midway through the first half. Syracuse went on consecutive three-goal runs, broken up by Keeley MacAfee’s first goal of the afternoon, as the Orange went into halftime with a 10-3 lead.

“Seeing that it was 4-2 and we needed a run,” said junior Emily Hawryschuk. “Knowing that if we stayed smart on offense and if we stayed composed, then we would be able to build off of that and have the end score that we did.”

SU came out of the gates hot, scoring the four unanswered goals. The first two came quickly from the stick of Hawryschuk. The Victor, N.Y. native finished the game with four goals, extended her streak to seven games in a row with at least four-goals. She is now third in the country in total goals scored this season.

Hawryschuk’s fourth goal against the Crimson was also her 130th career goal, which ties Nicole Levy for 10th in the career goals category for the SU program.

“Our entire offense is amazing this year,” said Hawryschuk. “We still have a ton of potential to show our opponents going forward. All around, there are so many great players out there, so I wouldn’t have those great stats without them.”

Hawryschuk was also a major factor in another statistical category against the Crimson— draw controls. Syracuse won 16 of 22 draws as the junior set a new career high with ten DCs on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s just going out there and having the mindset of just beating the girl next to you,” Hawryschuk explained. “Morgan Widner came up to me at halftime and said that it was just a game where I was in a rhythm.”

One stat Hawryschuk did not lead was assists. But, her attack counterpart Nicole Levy picked up the slack, finishing with a career-high four assists.

Levy’s best assist came with 24 seconds left in the first half. She scooped up the loose ball and looked towards the goal. Levy was still about 20 yards from the cage when she saw Hawryschuk cutting across the 8-meter fan. She hit Hawryschuk’s outstretched stick, who turned and fired a shot low.

“[Ball distribution is] what we needed today. So, whatever we need, I’ll just step up and do it,” said Levy. “Everyone has been doing a really good job of being a threat in all aspects of the game.”

Next, Syracuse sees an ACC opponent on Sunday when Notre Dame comes to town. The Fighting Irish visit Upstate New York as the eighth-best team in the country.

jmay02@syr.edu | @jaron_may