Men’s cross country wins ACC championship; women’s soccer falls in double overtime
In their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the No. 14 Syracuse men captured the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in Kernersville, N.C. The win gives the Orange a second straight conference title. SU won the Big East in its final season in the conference a year ago.
Martin Hehir led the way for Syracuse with a third place finish. He won the individual title at the Big East championships last season. Robert Molke was the only other Orange runner in the Top 10 with an eighth place finish. SU also had runners finish in 15th, 17th and 21st place.
The No. 19 women finished in third behind the only two teams in the conference ranked higher than them. No. 5 Florida State won the women’s ACC championship, and No. 10 Virginia finished in second. Margo Malone’s ninth-place finish led Syracuse. Meredith Speakman also finished in the top 21 to earn All-ACC honors.
The Orange now has two weeks off before competing the NCAA Northeast Regional on Nov. 15 in the Bronx, N.Y.
Women’s soccer
Last Thursday, the final game of the season for Syracuse (7-11-1, 3-9-1 Atlantic Coast) came down to double overtime against Boston College (9-9-1, 5-6-1). BC defender McKenzie Meehan scored her league-leading seventh game-winning goal of the season three minutes into the second overtime period.
She received a goal-wide cross from forward Stephanie McCaffrey that sealed a 2-1 Eagles victory.
Meehan also scored the first goal of the match, seven minutes into the first half. Midfielder Maddie Damm recorded the equalizer for the Orange in the 72nd minute on a long shot to the back-right corner of the goal to even things at 1-1. Syracuse played the final 43 seconds of the game with only 10 players on the field due to a red card issued to an SU defender.
Orange goalie Brittany Anghel posted six saves in the match to end her collegiate career with 303 total saves. Anghel joins Eliza Bennett-Hattan as the only Syracuse players to record 300 saves in program history.
Syracuse was held to one goal or fewer for the ninth time in ACC play this season and finishes the season ranked 12th out of 14 teams in the conference.
Volleyball
After winning its last four matches, Syracuse split a weekend series on the road. The Orange took on No. 18 Duke on Friday night and Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon.
Against Duke, Syracuse took the first set 25-16. The final three sets would be a different story. Syracuse got crushed in the second set, dropping it 25-10. The Orange followed this up by dropping the final two sets 25-17 and 25-20.
Outside hitter Silvi Uattara led the team with 12 kills. She also added seven digs. One week removed from winning ACC freshman of the week, setter Erica Handley led the team with 30 assists while adding six digs.
Sunday afternoon was a completely different story for the Orange. SU beat the Demon Deacons in four sets. Syracuse jumped out hot, winning the first set 27-25. The set was won on an error by Wake Forest.
The second set was taken over by Syracuse as the set went 25-15 in favor of the Orange. In this set, SU jumped out to a 22-10 lead on an error by Wake Forest. Silvi Uattara was a force yet again, notching seven kills in that set alone.
The two teams split the third and fourth sets. Wake Forest took the third and Syracuse claimed the fourth to win the match.
Syracuse remains .500 in conference play on the season. The team will play against Notre Dame on Wednesday, wrapping up play in the Dome for the season.
—Compiled by The Daily Orange Sports staff, sports@dailyorange.com