Syracuse’s scoring attack was firing on all cylinders again. Just five days after scoring 22 goals against then-No. 6 Dartmouth’s 11th-ranked scoring defense, the Orange dismantled yet another stellar defense with 22 goals against Georgetown on Saturday. For the second consecutive game, Michelle Tumolo matched a career high with eight points, scoring three goals and finding freshmen Kailah Kempney and Devon Collins for her five assists.

‘She’s been kind of like a mentor to me since she also plays the crease,’ Collins said of Tumolo. ‘… She doesn’t do it for herself. She likes to make other people look good.’

With seven combined goals in the first half, Kempney and Collins powered No. 2 Syracuse (10-2, 4-0 Big East) to a 22-11 rout over No. 11 Georgetown (8-5, 4-2 Big East) after building an insurmountable eight-goal halftime lead. Kempney and Collins finished with five goals apiece against the Georgetown defense.

The Orange offense executed to near perfection with Kempney and Collins leading the way. And the pair’s production came off Tumolo’s playmaking ability.

At one point, Tumolo peeked out from behind the left side of the net and threaded a pass through four GU defenders to find Kempney for an easy finish past an unsuspecting goalie.

The freshmen have learned they don’t need to make the spectacular play to be efficient. They just need to do their part within the offense and the production will follow.

‘They’re playing well,’ Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said. ‘They’re filling their roles beautifully and that’s what we’d hoped they would do, and I think that’s what’s nice about this team is everybody kind of has their role and understands it, and they’re willing to expect it and do their best at it.’

Their job is to attack the crease, and both stayed aggressive to find the back of the net a combined 10 times Saturday. With Kempney and Collins scoring, SU didn’t have much trouble breaking the Hoyas’ defense.

‘They didn’t do anything that we didn’t expect them to do. They just did it better than we did on the defensive end,’ Georgetown head coach Ricky Fried said. ‘… They took advantage of the mistakes we made, and I think that’s what makes them a very dangerous team.’

Even when the plays aren’t spectacular, they still reflect the high lacrosse IQ of the freshmen pair.

Knowing the Hoyas place a lot of pressure up top during clears, Collins suspected she could get some easy opportunities by beating the GU defense down the field.

She exploited that hole in the defense about 10 minutes into the game. Collins sprinted downfield during a draw and positioned herself behind the Georgetown unit for an uncontested goal on a long pass from Becca Block.

‘I just like to get down there first because it gives you the best opportunity to have a man-up on offense, and you can play like a 2 vs. 1 game, a 3 vs. 2,’ Collins said. ‘So it just maximizes the team’s scoring opportunities, and I think it just works out for the best.’

All season long, Kempney and Collins have matched each other goal for goal. Each has 22 this season after their impressive five-goal efforts.

But the duo isn’t getting caught up in any competition to outscore each other. They’re just worried about helping the team.

‘We’re both just trying to contribute as much as we can as a team instead of individually,’ Collins said. ‘We kind of just look out for what’s best for the team, and we just want to win.’

dbwilson@syr.edu