No. 3 Syracuse bounces back with 16-7 win over No. 4 Boston College

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Kerry Defliese got called for a foul minutes into the first half, leading to a Boston College free-position attempt. The Eagles couldn’t convert, but they collected the ball behind the net and moved it around the 12-meter arc before a Boston College attack managed an underhand shot that flew over the top bar of the net. Again, Boston College scooped up the miss and attempted another as the horn blared, marking the Eagles’ first shot clock violation. 

“We changed into man-to-man from zone and just tried to really confuse them come the end of the shot clock,” head coach Gary Gait said postgame. “They had to make adjustments and change what they were doing to have success, and it worked pretty well.”

Syracuse would go on to force another three shot clock violations Saturday afternoon. After dropping Thursday’s matchup, 14-13, the No. 3 Orange defense contained No. 4 Boston College’s offense and held it to a season-low seven goals, fewer than No. 1 North Carolina did, in one of SU’s best defensive performances of the year. Without Megan Carney, who was on the sideline on crutches after she went down during the second half of the last meeting, SU outscored BC 10-4 in the first half. Emma Tyrrell notched six goals to close out the regular season and defeat Boston College 16-7. 

Following a late first-half goal from Jenn Medjid, Syracuse’s defense applied tight pressure on Boston College’s attacks. The Eagles fired left of the goal and picked up the rebound, but SU’s defense led the shot clock to expire before the Eagles could regather themselves.

In the dwindling minutes of the first half, Meaghan Tyrrell sent a high pass to Maddy Baxter, who corralled it. She set up in front of the goal and launched the shot past BC’s goalie. On the next possession, Sam Swart collected the ball off the draw and found Meaghan on the right side of the net. The junior attack bounced the ball between the BC goalie’s knees for her first goal of the game. Minutes later, Asa Goldstock ended the first half with a sliding save on her knees, cementing Syracuse’s six-goal lead at half.

Syracuse was 21-of-22 on clears and Boston College finished with 18 turnovers in its loss to the Orange. Courtesy of Rich Barnes | USA Today Sports

The Orange held Boston College to 12 shots and seven shots on goal in the first half. In the second half, Goldstock made six saves and finished with nine and a .563 save percentage. The Orange struggled to contain the Eagles in game one but adjusted to cut BC’s goals in half in game two.

“They studied the film, they met, they worked hard, we practiced, and they wanted to make adjustments,” Gait said of SU’s defense. “They wanted to improve, and they did, and I thought, in that area, that that was probably the biggest turnaround was their ability to get stops and turnovers.”

Late in the second half, Boston College retook possession after BC goalie Abbey Ngai blocked a shot from Meaghan. The Eagles passed the ball around the Syracuse zone as the clock ticked down to 15. Boston College sent two shots wide of goal in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock, and the Orange defense collected the stray ball but quickly turned it over back to the Eagles. 

Boston College looked for an open lane from behind the net, but each attack was well-marked by a Syracuse defender. Charlotte North misfired a pass and turned over the ball. Swart scooped the ground back and cleared the ball to the Boston College zone to Tyrrell. The sophomore pivoted and found Emma Ward wide-open for her third goal of the game. 

The Orange scored two goals in transition following a stop and recorded seven caused turnovers over the course of the game. Syracuse collected 15 ground balls, too. 

“We just played smarter, and we stuck to our offense,” Gait said about Saturday’s game. “And (we) had longer possessions, we were more patient.”

With under 15 minutes remaining in the game, Ward lifted her head to find Meaghan across the 8-meter arc, waiting in the crease. Ward sent a pass flying to Tyrrell, who caught it swiftly and sent a shot across her body and into the net for Syracuse’s 15th goal of the game. By then, though, it didn’t matter. Syracuse had trailed for 54 seconds during the contest, building its five-goal lead at the start of the second half into a six, then seven, then eight, and eventually nine-goal lead. 

“I can just see the whole team kind of moving as one,” Tyrrell said. “It was just so nice to know if we went up, they went down on defense, that I knew they would, no doubt in my mind, they would come back and get us the ball.”