Meaghan Tyrrell leads No. 4 Syracuse to 23-13 win over Louisville
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Olivia Adamson caught the ball behind the net and took a small step forward as if she was going to attack the net, drawing Louisville’s defense closer to her. She quickly passed it to Meaghan Tyrrell who snuck in behind the goal on the right side. With the Cardinals’ defense a step behind, all Meaghan needed to do was put herself in front of the net and fire a shot to score the goal.
With five and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter, Meaghan’s score marked her fourth of the afternoon. It gave Syracuse a 6-5 lead to help the Orange overcome a poor first half outing, which included seven turnovers.
Meaghan finished the game with five goals and two assists to lift No. 4 Syracuse (12-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) to a 23-13 win over Louisville (6-9, 1-6 ACC). She scored all but two points in the first half, setting the Orange up for a 15-goal second half.
“We were down and we went to Meaghan,” head coach Kayla Treanor said. “She played pretty well today.”
Despite the rainy weather and playing a home game away from the Carrier Dome, the Orange looked in control early on as they were coming off a 20-9 win over Cornell. Kate Mashewske won the initial draw, and Jenny Markey, who had only scored six goals prior to her three-goal performance today, scored the opening goal with ease off a free-position shot.
But Syracuse’s offensive production slowed after that. Mashewske won the ensuing draw, but Sam Swart couldn’t bring down the pass into her stick, giving Louisville the possession.
Goalie Kimber Hower, who finished the game with eight saves and two ground balls, was able to pick up a ground ball after a Nicole Perroni shot, but Hallie Simkins never got full control of the ball and lost it at midfield. Louisville took advantage of the mishap and scored its first goal and Perroni then scored another for the Cardinals on their next possession as Syracuse trailed 2-1 halfway through the first quarter.
Eventually, Syracuse was able to tie the game at two. Hower then picked up another ground ball and the Orange successfully transitioned, but a long shot from Meaghan went high over the net.
Still, Syracuse’s leading scorer made an impact, as 20 seconds later Louisville gave Natalie Smith a free-position opportunity with an open net. Smith found a wide-open Meaghan in front of the cage for her easiest goal of the season.
“We just had a really slow start,” Treanor said. “We just weren’t able to execute the game plan.”
Even with Syracuse differing from its usual offensive setup, it was able to quickly respond because of Meaghan and Savannah Sweitzer. Meaghan crisply passed it to Sweitzer right outside the crease and Sweitzer took a low bouncing shot that brought the Orange within one goal.
Syracuse had a chance at tying the game after Mashewske won the draw, but Syracuse failed to get Meaghan involved on the next possession. First, Swart shot high over the net. Then, Markey shot wide, followed by a forced shot from Emily Hawryschuk as the shot clock wound down. Adamson then tried to recover the ball but turned it over, allowing Louisville to take the ball in transition for Perroni’s third goal of the game to give the Cardinals a 5-4 lead.
After a media timeout, Meaghan picked up her play. On Syracuse’s next offensive possessions, she stood with a Louisville defender alone on an island in the far right corner of the field. Meaghan then accelerated, stopped, then sped up again to give her an edge over the defender.
The defender shoved her forcing her to go behind the net but Meaghan was too quick and dodged to her left and got in front of the net, scoring her third goal of the day to tie the game with seven minutes remaining. On the next goal, Syracuse connected a string of passes before Adamson and Meaghan connected behind the net, and Meaghan scored her fourth to help Syracuse take the lead.
With momentum on Syracuse’s side, Markey scored her second goal of the day, as she attacked right, turned over her left shoulder, and got close enough to the goal for a high quality look. Still, Syracuse couldn’t quite pull away in the first half, and Perroni scored two more times to tie the game again.
In the second half after the Cardinal defense keyed in on Meaghan it opened up the game for the rest of the Syracuse offense, which up until then struggled to work together and get different players involved. The Orange didn’t need to rely on Meaghan, scoring 12 goals in the third quarter.
“(Meaghan’s) one of our most composed players for when we’re not scoring as much as we want to,” Mashewske said. “She does a really good job of bringing everyone back together.”
