Two minutes into the game, Syracuse had already generated two scoring chances. Three minutes later, Erin Gillingham’s shot went just wide right as she appeared to slip on the wet turf. Syracuse kept attacking. A nimble move on the baseline by Alyssa Manley drew a penalty corner by hitting the ball off a defender’s foot and then the Orange’s persistent aggressiveness broke through.

Emma Russell sent a skittering insertion out to Alma Fenne, who stick-stopped and tapped the ball to Roos Weers. Weers’ shot deflected off Massachusetts’ Melanie Kreusch and rolled directly to Russell on the left, who’d just stepped back into play from the insertion. Russell didn’t waste the opportunity as her shot found the bottom right side of the goal and set off cheers from the stands and the stadium’s goal horn.

In the eventual 4-2 win, Saturday’s first half was everything the first half of SU’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship 2-1 overtime loss to North Carolina wasn’t. Emma Lamsion, head coach Ange Bradley and Fenne all expressed disappointment at the passive offense against the Tar Heels and the Orange (18-1, 6-0 ACC) seemed intent on making up for it against Massachusetts (12-9, 5-3 Atlantic 10). The Orange played through a light rain and sleet in the first half while allowing just one shot and taking 12 at J.S. Coyne Stadium in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The game ended with Syracuse holding leads of 29-3 in shots and 8-1 in penalty corners. Though all the first-half shots didn’t turn into goals, it set the tone for the second half and led to eventual execution.

“We had some great attacks in the second half and moved the ball really well,” Bradley said. “I don’t think (29 shots and four goals) is an inefficiency at all. (Massachusetts is) a great team and (our offense) was pretty darn good.”

The onslaught continued as Syracuse took nine shots in the first 11:23 of the second half. While the aggressiveness remained the same, Syracuse saw more immediate results.

Liz Sack, who started at forward in place of regular starter Lamison, gathered a rebound off a shot by Fenne and scored just 1:05 into the second half.

Lies Lagerweij scored her third goal of the season for insurance. A few minutes later, Laura Hurff reversed the ball to Lagerweij, who stood in the backfield, in the midst of the swirling snow, and paused. She took a few breaths, visible in the 37-degree weather. The Orange, up 3-0, had its first multi-goal lead since Oct. 18.

Syracuse, until Saturday, had played three straight overtime games and, in the 233 minutes, 39 seconds of those games, it never had more than one goal of separation.

Though SU held a 3-0 lead with 32:14 still to play, Laura Hurff continued to use her speed to beat multiple defenders and Weers still made long hits, leading to four more shots in a three-minute flurry.

Hurff broke through the defense and found herself standing at the top of the circle facing the goalie with no one in between. But she found Sack on the right side, who’d snuck behind a defender and deflected the ball up and in, making SU’s lead 4-0, the same score it beat the Minutewomen by on Sept. 4 during the Orange’s home opener.

“In the first half (the midfield movement) wasn’t as well as we wanted,” Hurff said. “But it was better in the second half. We used … movement up front to open up the field. (We got) more passes inside and moved the defense.”

With the score the same and 11:28 to go, Massachusetts called timeout and the Orange jogged to the sideline with its largest lead since Oct. 17.

On its first penalty corner and second shot of the afternoon, Massachusetts’ Shauna Rankin-Byrne scored and just 3:27 later, UMass pulled within two.

But that was close as the Minutewomen would get.

“I was happy with how the team played,” Russell said. “As the statistics show, as Ange said, we dominated. … We just have to keep up our aggression.”

Published on November 14, 2015 at 1:21 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR