Before Friday, Syracuse had played just more than 100 minutes without Michelle Tumolo on the field. But with the senior’s torn left ACL sidelining her for the remainder of the season, the Orange’s offense has to replace her production.

That process started Friday night. And by head coach Gary Gait’s measure, it was a solid start.

“Minus Michelle Tumolo, it looked pretty good,” Gait said. “It’s our first game and hopefully we’ll get a little better, a little stronger as we connect a little more on the offensive end.”

In Tumolo’s absence, Syracuse’s attack struck fire early in the game. Despite a drop off in the second half, it still carried the No. 5 Orange (11-3, 6-0 Big East) to an 11-8 victory over No. 7 Notre Dame (11-2, 5-2) in front of 689 fans at the Carrier Dome Friday night. Freshman attack Kayla Treanor rose to the occasion with two goals and three assists, and junior Alyssa Murray scored four goals to lead the Orange.

Tumolo’s injury meant someone else needed to take her place behind the cage, and assume her role as facilitator – she leads Syracuse with 24 assists. That replacement was Treanor, and in the first 30 seconds of the game the freshman proved she could handle the part.

Standing behind the net, Treanor found Murray on a cut through the middle and Murray bounced the shot past ND goalkeeper Ellie Hilling’s right.

Twenty-four seconds in, SU led, and Syracuse went to that familiar connection for two more first-half goals.

“We’ve just developed a good chemistry so far and I think the beginning of that game really showed it,” Murray said, “and I was just trying to cut and get open. And luckily she saw me and fed me when I was open, so she did a great job.“

In addition to the three assists from Treanor, Murray whipped a free-position shot past Hilling in the opening minutes. Murray tallied all four of her goals and her assist in the first half as the Orange built a 7-3 lead going into the break.

“The first half – the beginning of the first half – showed how on fire we can be as an offense,” Murray said, “and that’s something that we are definitely going to work on, to keep pushing through and have more of those explosive runs throughout the game.”

Treanor and Brenna Rainone each capitalized on a free-position opportunity in the second half to extend SU’s lead to five.

But then the Orange’s offense stalled. An inaccurate pass from Bridget Daley rolled out of bounds. Treanor committed two of her four turnovers as she maneuvered around the cage, attempting to take defenders on one-on-one.

Turnovers, poor offensive execution and stiff ND defense allowed the Irish a 3-0 run, cutting the deficit to just two goals, spanning 12 minutes after Rainone’s score.

“They weren’t going to give up and they went after us hard at the end and got a couple of turnovers,” Gait said. “And that’s a good lesson for our attackers, that you may get tired but they’re not going to stop coming.”

A McKenzie Brown ND goal brought the score to 9-7 with 14:27 remaining, and gave the Irish momentum.

On the next possession, the Notre Dame defense shut off Treanor behind the goal, denied Murray on a one-on-one, didn’t allow Daley any penetration and slid just in time to prevent a Katie Webster shot from in close.

But Treanor took the ball once more, determined to regain momentum. She drew a foul inside the 8-meter arc, earned and buried a free-position shot. The goal pushed Syracuse’s lead back to three and gave the Orange some breathing room with 13:05 left.

“The Notre Dame offense was scoring a lot of goals,” Treanor said, “so I think we knew we had to respond and I just got an opportunity and tried to finish.”

Kelly Cross scored 40 seconds later for a four-goal lead, and SU put the game away.

It wasn’t a perfect performance – SU’s shooting percentage needs to improve, Gait said – but it was enough to maintain the Orange’s undefeated Big East record.

“I thought we definitely stepped up all over the field, on the offense especially,” Murray said. “There were plenty of people that just were stepping into bigger roles and I think it’s only going to improve.”