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Madison Murphy lost the ball inside the 8-meter. Syracuse spared no time in going the other way. 

Possession ended up in Jenny Markey’s stick as she charged upfield, embarking on a lung-bursting run from the backfield and into Binghamton territory. Near the 12-meter, she passed to Emma Tyrrell, who gave the ball right back. 

Markey made it untouched several steps inside the opposing 8-meter before firing on the fast break to net it past Emily Manning for her first score of the season. The goal gave Syracuse an 11-goal advantage, putting it in front 14-3 near the start of the third quarter. 

Syracuse came into its matchup with in-state rivals Binghamton with back-to-back wins over two top-five ranked opponents in Northwestern and Maryland. On Monday afternoon, the Orange finished a three-game home stand with a comfortable win over Binghamton. The closest the Bearcats got was when they drew within two in the first quarter. Since then, Syracuse kept on building, tacking on goal after goal in merciless fashion to beat the Bearcats 17-10.  

“These games are really difficult when you have such a close turnaround, so playing this Friday, Monday, it’s hard,” Syracuse head coach Kayla Treanor said. “A lot of it is trying to prepare your body. You want to schedule games like this to prepare yourself for the end of the year.” 

With Syracuse already up one, Kate Mashewske passed to Emma Ward positioned in X. Ward surveyed her options before finding Meaghan Tyrrell near the right of the crease as two Binghamton defenders converged on her. Meaghan had no trouble slotting a shot past Manning, finding the bottom right. 

A little over a minute passed before the Orange attacked again. Meaghan’s attempted pass to Megan Carney was broken up by a couple of Bearcats, but Carney reached the ground ball before the opposition could. Scooping up possession, she scored for her second in the early going with a little over 10 minutes to play in the opening quarter. 

“It just keeps happening, I guess,” Carney said of her knack for scoring. 

Binghamton never posed any real attacking threat. Moving toward SU’s 12-meter, the Bearcats were constantly bullied out of making any real advance toward the Orange goal. Even when Syracuse lost the ball near midfield and gave Binghamton numbers in transition, Maddy Baxter and Natalie Smith retreated quickly, putting up a seemingly impenetrable wall. The first time Binghamton got into the 8-meter, Katie Goodale stepped in to make an intervention, stealing the ball. 

“I think our defense stayed consistent throughout the entire game and just our mental focus coming into this game,” SU goalkeeper Delaney Sweitzer said. “We were able to stop the ball and be ready for when (Binghamton) did come down.”

On the ensuing attack, the Orange earned a free-position opportunity. Meaghan assisted Smith for her first goal of the season to increase the Syracuse lead to 4-0. 

The Bearcats earned their first free-position opportunity with 7:10 left in the first period, but SU’s defense was there, forcing Kristen Scheidel to veer away from goal and take a difficult shot that Sweitzer saved. 

Baxter started the second quarter with a blistering run starting just a few paces past midfield. Cutting in from the left, she avoided the Bearcats in front of her, holding her stick high to finish past Manning just 10 seconds after play resumed. 

Ward added her name to the Syracuse scoresheet off an assist from Carney. Carney dished to Ward from the X right in front of the goal before Ward delivered a shot, fast and high into the back of the net. Shortly after, at the 8:28 mark in the second, Emma scored unassisted, giving the Orange a 10-2 cushion. 

At the end of the first half, Syracuse controlled the draw control and recorded 15 shots on goal compared to Binghamton’s nine. The Bearcats won the groundball battle after 30 minutes, but the differential posed no noticeable effect. 

“At halftime, we talked about playing with more intensity,” Treanor said. “It looked a little bit ‘half-speed’ out there throughout the first half, and we talked about adjustments at halftime. And I think the girls definitely responded to that.” 

Olivia Adamson jockeyed with the ball just inside the 8-meter. Unable to find any space to operate, she passed back to Smith, who immediately found an open Emma outside the crease. Emma turned and fired, netting to extend Syracuse’s lead to double digits for the first time. 

“We were moving the ball really well, just trying for an inside look,” Smith said. “I think it was just the right time. (Emma’s) defender slid off of her and she was wide open, so I just hit her in the middle.”

Smith scored her second of the game in almost identical fashion as her first. This time, it was Adamson who provided the set-up. On a free-position opportunity, drawn from a shooting-space violation, Adamson passed to the other side of the 8-meter where Smith stood. All Smith had to do was place the ball gently into the goal. 

With Smith emerging as an unlikely contributor, Syracuse finished the contest with 11 different scorers. Carney and Meaghan led the way for the Orange with four goals and six points, respectively.

“It’s awesome,” Treanor said of her team’s offensive versatility. “We want to move the ball. The girls are playing really unselfish and trying to find that extra pass.” 

With 9:21 remaining in the game, Treanor opted to replace Sweitzer with Tate Paulson. It was the first taste of action in her career — the junior goalkeeper redshirted her freshman year and did not see playing time her sophomore season. Paulson couldn’t keep a clean sheet, allowing Kenna Newman to score two minutes after she came on. 

For the rest of the contest, Treanor continued to replace her regulars with substitutes. Adamson lined up for the draw in place of Mashewske, and later Faith Wooters, as Syracuse featured a completely new look. Binghamton took advantage of the changes, scoring six goals in just as many attempts over the final seven minutes, achieving some consolation. Treanor, however, was unfazed during her team’s collapse in the waning moments. 

“Today’s a great day where you can play a lot of people, and a lot of people contributed, so I’m happy to see that,” Treanor said.

Published on February 20, 2023 at 6:12 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff