No. 5 Boston College hands No. 1 Syracuse 1st loss, wins 17-16
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McKenna Davis ended Syracuse’s dreams of a perfect regular season.
Boston College’s Andrea Reynolds started toward Superia Clark and pitched the ball behind the cage. At X, the Eagles worked the ball from side to side before Belle Smith drew a double team. Coco Vandiver and Hallie Simkins rushed forward as she pitched it to a wide open Davis.
Catching the ball, the sophomore attack kept her stick high and swung down. Aiming for the bottom left, Davis scored past Delaney Sweitzer. With 1:30 remaining in the contest, Syracuse trailed for the first time since the Eagles led 1-0 in the opening quarter. SU Soccer Stadium fell silent.
“It’s a game we definitely could’ve won,” SU head coach Kayla Treanor said. “They made plays at the very end when they needed to to secure it.”
No. 1 Syracuse entered tonight’s game against No. 5 Boston College on the cusp of history. A win at home meant a program-best 16 consecutive wins and the Orange’s first-ever undefeated season. Yet, despite trailing by as much as six, Boston College (13-3, 8-1 Atlantic Coast) outscored Syracuse (15-1, 8-1 ACC) 7-2 in the final 10 minutes, preventing SU’s potential story-book ending. The Eagles’ eventual 17-16 victory meant the two sides were named conference co-champions. BC will enter the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.
“We’ll watch the film, we’ll learn from it and hopefully we do play this team in a week,” Treanor said.
From the jump, an aggressive Boston College offense tried time and time again to penetrate into the Syracuse 8-meter. Delaney recorded two saves in the early going and BC shot just wide of the target during its first free-position opportunity of the night. Finally, after holding possession for just over three-and-a-half minutes, Boston College’s Kayla Martello slipped a score in, past Delaney for the game’s first goal. But, the advantage would be short-lived.
On numerous occasions this season, when the Orange have needed an offensive spark, Maddy Baxter has answered. Starting several paces behind the 12-meter, Baxter began running right. She beat one, then two defenders, before sending a cross-body attempt into the top left corner to knot the contest up at one. Then, less than five minutes later, Sierra Cockerille did essentially the exact same thing.
After recording six points in SU’s 14-12 away win over North Carolina last week, Meaghan Tyrrell moved into second place, ahead of Treanor, on the Syracuse all-time points list. She needed just three more to eclipse Katie Rowan Thomson’s record of 396 points. With a little under three minutes remaining in the first, Meaghan drew level on the leaderboard off of an impossibly angled shot. Her goal also provided Syracuse obtain a five-goal lead.
Standing near the 12-meter, BC’s Brooke McLoy missed her target completely on the left wing, resulting in an unforced BC turnover. A couple of possessions later, Martello opted to pass backward off of winning a free-position, and later, the shot clock would expire on Ryan Smith. At the 1:45 mark, Martello sparked a quick two-goal run by scoring on Boston College’s third free-position opportunity. Soon after, Jenn Medjid, the nation’s leading goal-scorer, netted her 62nd of the season to make it 7-3.
Holding the ball at X, Cockerille put on a burst of speed to circle the right side of the crease and inch closer to goal. Instead of driving forward, Cockerille strayed to her right, backpedaling away from the middle, and played the ball to Emma Tyrrell. From point-blank range, Emma slotted home to give SU its first goal of the second.
“It was one of my last home games this season and I just came out to play,” Cockerille said. “I just wanted to give it all my effort and that’s what I did.”
A Boston College shot-clock violation opened the second half as SU led 11-6. Swinging the ball around the perimeter, from right to left, then right again, the Eagles couldn’t crack SU’s zone.Reynolds and Belle Smith tried to dodge past Natalie Smith and Baxter at the top of the 12-meter, but both were forcibly pushed out of Syracuse territory. In the end, despite the shouts of warning from the visiting sideline as time ticked down, the Orange retook possession.
Well inside the 12-meter, Smith picked out an unmarked Olivia Adamson in the middle. Angled in an awkward position, with her side facing the Boston College net, Adamson pulled off a behind-the-back shot. All seven attacking players, including the goalscorer, put their hands up in a mix of celebration and disbelief as the Orange opened up a six goal cushion.
Meaghan assisted her sister, Emma, for the record-breaking point. Twisting and turning at X, Meaghan ran to her right, losing Shea Baker and passed to the middle where an unmarked Emma lay waiting. Without hesitation, Emma caught the ball and swung towards net in one fluid motion, finding the bottom left corner near the end of the third.
“I really wasn’t even thinking about it, she was just open when I passed it to her,” Meaghan said. “I guess knowing that now, it’s sweet, it’s awesome, I think Mom probably loved that.”
But, the Eagles didn’t go away. They stayed persistent on both ends of the field. To lead Boston College, Davis and Martello both finished with four goals while Belle produced a team-high seven points. Before Syracuse could find the net in the final period of play, BC slotted home two in quick succession, trailing by only a couple of scores.
The initial game-tying goal came out of nowhere. Boston College’s attacking core of Belle, Davis and Martello passed the ball amongst each other around the perimeter, unable to find space in the middle. As the shot clock neared 20 seconds, Courtney Weeks held possession behind the cage. Circling around the right side of the crease, the placed a shot into the bottom right corner.
“They really ran the same thing multiple times and we just had trouble making that adjustment,” Treanor said.
Sitting at the press conference, Treanor said that questionable officiating wasn’t to blame in Syracuse’s loss. But, when asked about penalties, and Boston College’s lopsided advantage (10-4) in free position opportunities, she brought up the “biggest non-call.”
Ahead by one, after Cockerille netted her hat trick, Emma Ward fired a bullet pass to an unmarked Tessa Queri in front of net. Almost immediately, BC’s Hunter Roman rushed over, clocking Queri in the head with her outstretched stick. The officials motioned to play on, unfazed by the home crowd’s moaning nor by Syracuse’s assistant coaches who had started to make advances onto the field in protest.
Not even a minute later, Boston College went the other way and Cassidy Weeks tied the game up after receiving a pass from X. For the first time all season, Syracuse couldn’t recover. But, Treanor doesn’t believe it’s panic stations.
“I think this team’s going to go far,” Treanor said. “They’re determined and we’re going to get it right.”
