Emma Tyrrell’s 7 points allow No. 4 Syracuse to hold off No. 6 Loyola 14-13

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Syracuse had watched the five-goal lead it had with 13 minutes left dwindle down to just one with 30 seconds to play. Loyola looked like it had scored to even the game up, but a pair of offsetting fouls negated it and forced the Greyhounds to reset with 13.4 seconds left.

Loyola quickly tried to pass the ball in hopes of finding a goal, but Tessa Queri intercepted it and ran downfield as time expired, securing a 14-13 win for the Orange.

After a poor offensive performance for most of the first half without Megan Carney in the lineup — who didn’t play because of a lower-leg injury — No. 4 Syracuse (9-2, 4-0 Atlantic Coast) handed No. 6 Loyola Maryland (9-1, 2-0) its first loss of the season behind strong defense late in the game. The Orange were sloppy to start the game and went quiet toward the end, but they escaped with offensive spurts in the second and third quarters.

In the first quarter, Loyola’s leading scorer, Livy Rosenzweig, backed down Sarah Cooper in an isolation situation and spun over her shoulder before rocketing a shot past Kimber Hower to give the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead.

For the next five minutes, though, neither team could score as both were facing heavy defensive pressure and struggled to get a clean look.

As Loyola attempted to clear after one SU shot, Shay Clevenger passed the ball too high and Sam Swart swooped in and recovered it. In a flash, she took it from midfield to goal and put an easy shot in the net to tie the game up at one.

After an Elli Kluegel goal a minute later, Emma Tyrrell responded with her first goal of the night off a free position. Emma was fouled for shooting space, but she calmly twirled her stick around, picked up the ball and raced to the goal. Even with Jillian Wilson and Clevenger applying pressure, she kept her composure and netted the point-blank goal.

In the second quarter, Loyola played with confidence, and the Greyhounds scored two straight goals while also holding Syracuse scoreless for the first eight minutes of the quarter.

Then, down 5-3, Syracuse turned to the Tyrrell sisters. Emma saw Meaghan Tyrrell on a backdoor cut behind her defender and passed to her. Meaghan was able to get close enough to the goal for an easy shot to score, cutting the deficit to one.

With one minute left in the quarter, Syracuse evened the score after Hower made a save and Syracuse quickly pushed upfield. The ball eventually found sophomore Maddy Baxter, who delivered a shot from 10 yards out into the net.

Less than a minute later, Emma was the lone player on Loyola’s half and pressured Riley Olmstead. Olmstead attempted to pass it over Emma, but her stick was high enough to deflect the pass and scoop up the ball. Emma ran all the way from the left side of the field to the right before she got double teamed. She tried spinning through but was fouled by Katie Detwiler. From roughly 35 yards out, Emma eyed Emily Hawryschuk close to the goal and launched the ball toward her.

The ball, however, sailed over Hawryschuk’s head, but the sixth-year senior did just enough to tap it and put it in the goal and past Loyola goalkeeper Kaitlyn Larsson, giving Syracuse a 7-5 lead headed into the second half.

“(Hawryschuk’s) stick was open for a second so I honestly just threw it in there,” Emma said. “She thankfully just tipped it in the goal and it worked really nicely”

To score her fourth goal of the night, Emma, in the free-position once again, calmly hit the back of the net with a shot from the left side to give SU a three-goal lead. Even when Emma wasn’t the one taking the free-position attempt minutes later, Syracuse still found a way to get her the ball. Jalyn Jimerson had Emma to her left, and Emma hit the back of the net for the fourth time of the night.

Midway through the quarter when Syracuse was in a lull, Hawryschuk came alive and scored twice to boost Syracuse’s lead. Both times, she came from behind the net on the side and wrapped around so she could shoot the ball coming off her right shoulder, and both times she was successful, extending SU’s lead to 11-8.

As the third quarter was winding down, Emma was fouled and subbed off as she grabbed her wrist in pain, leaving Syracuse — already missing Carney — without two of its best attackers. Still, Syracuse’s depth was displayed when Meaghan drew Olmstead and Detwiler while driving toward the net. Before either of them could get to her, she tossed it to Swart, who took two steps and had an easy shot to give Syracuse a four-goal lead.

With 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Kluegel scored for Loyola off a pass from Georgia Latch, keeping the game within reach for the Greyhounds. But Emma returned to the field for the fourth quarter and made an instant impact by assisting on freshman Olivia Adamson’s goal a minute into the quarter. Adamson widened the gap to 14-9 a minute later, this time taking a pass from Hawryschuk on the cut.

Syracuse’s offense, which had looked fluid and in control at the end of the second quarter and throughout the third, struggled to close the game out. For the remaining 13 minutes of the fourth quarter, Syracuse was held scoreless.

Hawryschuk had an open look with three minutes remaining but she shot it wide, then Meaghan forced a shot after Syracuse got the ball back, but her shot went right into Larsson’s net and Loyola was able to bring the ball down the other way and score.

The Orange weren’t turning the ball over like they were in the first half, but they only managed five shots and relied heavily on the defense to hold off the Greyhounds by just one goal.

“Lacrosse is a game of runs,” head coach Kayla Treanor said. “We went on runs and they went on runs.”