No. 11 Syracuse Women Get Offense Going and Down Towson
from press release
TOWSON, Md. – No. 11 Syracuse
women’s lacrosse team outscored Towson, 9-3, in the second
half on its way to an 11-5 victory on Tuesday, March 15 in Towson,
Md. Freshman Alyssa Murray recorded a career-high five points to
lead the Orange to its first road win of the season.
“We made some adjustments to the offense’s cutting at
halftime and told them that when you have the ball, take the
opportunity,” said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait. “If
you have space, go and create the open player by drawing a double
team. They did that early in the second half and it really created
some scoring opportunities.”
Four Syracuse players scored multiple goals in the game. Murray
finished a personal-best three goals and tied her career high with
two assists. Fellow freshman Katie Webster also had three goals to
go along with an assist. Senior Tee Ladouceur and sophomore
Michelle Tumolo recorded two goals and one assist each.
Towson (1-4) started the scoring on Jess Dunn’s goal at the
29:23 mark. Syracuse (2-3) evened the score when Tumolo found the
back of the net off a pass from Ladouceur with 27:28 on the clock,
but the Tigers regained the lead on Kelly Custer’s goal with
26:13 remaining. The teams played more than 22 minutes without a
goal before Murray converted a free position attempt with 3:59 left
in the first half as the team’s went into the locker room
tied, 2-2, at halftime. Syracuse senior Liz Hogan made five saves
in the first half.
The Orange offense began to click at the beginning of the second
half as SU recorded three unanswered goals to take a 5-2 lead with
24:11 left in the game. Webster scored on the first career assist
by Catherine Rodriguez, and Tumolo fed Ladouceur as she was cutting
to the net for her first goal of the game. Freshman Amy Cross
increased the Orange’s lead to 5-2 when she found the back of
the net off an assist from Murray. Towson responded with two
straight goals to cut the advantage to 5-4 with 20:53 on the clock,
but that was as close at the Tigers would get.
Webster converted a free position attempt, and Ladouceur and Tumolo
each netted goals to give Syracuse an 8-4 lead with 6:01 remaining.
Murray then scored twice to give the Orange its biggest lead of the
day at 10-5 with 4:24 on the clock. Dunn recorded her second goal
of the game at the 3:53 mark, but Webster answered with her third
goal of the half as Syracuse equaled its largest lead of the game
and recorded the 11-5 victory.
Hogan finished with 10 saves, marking the second time she has
reached double figures in saves this season. Mary Teeters recorded
five saves for Towson.
The Orange outshot the Tigers, 25-18, while Towson won 11-of-18
draw controls. The Tigers picked up six ground balls to five for
SU.
Syracuse plays its third consecutive road game on Saturday when it
takes on No. 10 Florida in Gainesville at 1 p.m.
