With about 25 minutes remaining, Syracuse faced a rare second-half deficit. Georgetown jumped out to a three-goal lead to start the game, and went into halftime up by one.

In three minutes, that all changed. SU scored three consecutive goals to start the second frame to take the lead and control of the game.

‘We score in runs and throughout the year we’ve scored a lot of goals,’ Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said, ‘so we knew we could put some goals on the scoreboard and we did that.’

Syracuse used that three-goal run, its second of the game, to defeat the No. 4 seed Hoyas 7-6 in front of 524 in the Big East tournament semifinals in the Carrier Dome. Sarah Holden, Alyssa Murray and Katie Webster all scored during the run to give the top-seeded Orange (16-2) a 6-4 lead it would never relinquish to advance to the Big East tournament championship and likely end GU’s (9-8) season.

The Orange will take on the No. 2 seed Loyola (Md.) in the championship game at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Greyhounds (12-5) defeated No. 3 seed Notre Dame 11-9 earlier Thursday to punch their ticket to the conference championship game.

The last time SU took on Georgetown, Syracuse had one of its patented offensive explosions as it cruised to a 22-11 victory behind four runs of at least three goals. Though the offensive outbursts weren’t as numerous Thursday, they were still the ultimate deciding factor.

‘They’re a pretty talented team,’ GU coach Ricky Fried said. ‘They’ve got a lot of players that can handle the ball. I think one of the things outside of being pretty dynamic players, they have players that understand their roles and I think that combined with confidence going on a 14 or 15 game winning streak all adds up to them being able to go on some runs.’

After being held scoreless for nearly 22 minutes to open the game, the longest such stretch to start a game this season for Syracuse, the Orange used a 3-0 first half run to cut the deficit to just a goal at the half.

Without that run, SU may have found itself in an even bigger hole at the half. But with just over eight minutes remaining in the opening frame, Murray finally broke the ice for Syracuse.

‘We just drew a free position,’ the SU attack said. ‘It was a shooting space call and (Syracuse midfielder) Sarah Holden did a really good job of just drawing the double team and dumping it back out towards me so when they turned I was ready to shoot and that’s how we drew the foul. And after that it was just time to bury it and just put it in the back of the net.’

That goal sparked the first of the Orange’s two 3-0 runs and ended an offensive drought for the Orange.

A rare single-point performance from Syracuse attack Michelle Tumolo contributed to that long stretch without a goal. The last time these two teams met, Tumolo matched a career high with eight points.

Fried and Georgetown made an effort to change that on the second time around.

‘Last time we didn’t face guard her, this time we face guarded her,’ Fried said. ‘(GU defender) Carly Napora did an excellent job denying the ball to her and I think that took one of their dynamic players out of the game for a period of time and I think that had a lot to do with them not being able to go on a run.’

By focusing on Tumolo and other crease attacks, the Hoyas made their defense susceptible to offensive contributions from SU’s midfielders. Tumolo’s goal was the lone point from a crease attack as fellow crease attack Devon Collins registered just one shot.

GU employed a double team every time a Syracuse attack attempted to enter the eight-meter arc. While this shut down some of the Orange’s most potent options, it allowed midfielders Holden, Webster and Bridget Daley to combine for four goals, more than half of SU’s offensive output.

And without that contribution from the midfielders, the runs may have never been possible. Instead of preparing for Loyola, Syracuse would be sitting back and waiting for its NCAA tournament draw.

‘We had confidence in our team and in our players that we could make those runs and we did when we needed to,’ Gait said. ‘And that’s the reason why we came out with the victory, is we made two great ones’

dbwilson@syr.edu