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With just two minutes left in the first quarter, Syracuse ran its weave offense at the top of the 12-meter. Meaghan Tyrrell cut down right in front of the crease and received a pass, but as she turned to shoot, she was checked in the face and awarded a free-position attempt. Meaghan easily scored the sixth goal of a 7-0 run to start the game.

A strong start, which SU has lacked in previous games, fueled the fourth-ranked Orange (13-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) to an 18-11 victory over UAlbany (6-7, 4-0 America East). Syracuse outscored the Great Danes 12-2 in the first half, putting the game too far out of reach even though UAlbany managed to cut the deficit to seven by the end of the game.

History was also made Tuesday as Emily Hawryschuk scored her 261st career goal to become the program’s all-time leading goal-scorer. Hawryschuk started from the right side of the goal and looked like she was going to pass, but instead dodged toward the crease and snuck it past goalie Katherine Chiarella with six minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Kayla Treanor, Syracuse’s current head coach, held the record for nearly six years. Hawryschuk broke the record in just 87 games played while Treanor scored all her goals in 94 career games. Hawryschuk finished with four goals on Tuesday, bringing her career total to 262 goals.

“I remember when she was being recruited here when she was in high school and we talked about how amazing her stick was and how she was going to come in and once again, be that next level attacker,” Treanor said postgame.

Hawryschuk’s record-breaking goal was her third of a solo 3-0 second-quarter run that extended SU’s lead to 11-1. On the second goal, Hawryschuk wound up from the left side and rifled the ball into the upper right portion of the net.

SU has gotten off to a slow start in recent games — against Cornell a week ago, the game was tied at three goals apiece at the end of the first quarter, and the Orange trailed by as many as three early in the second quarter. Syracuse only managed two goals against Louisville on Saturday, though an SU 12-goal third quarter separated the two sides.

Tuesday was much different. The Orange scored seven goals, tied for their most in an opening quarter and their most since against Temple in March. SU only conceded one goal when UAlbany’s Katie Pascale threaded a pass to Ava Poupard on the left side of the crease and Poupard quick-released into the back of the net with just .3 seconds left in the first quarter.

Syracuse had five different goal scorers in the period, including two goals apiece from Olivia Adamson and Savannah Sweitzer. On one goal after the Great Danes attempted to clear, Hawryschuk chased down Mackenzie Beam and checked her stick, resulting in a ground ball pickup from Savannah, who approached the 12-meter and passed down to Meaghan, who immediately connected with Adamson for the easy finish.

“It’s just been a focus of ours, just trying to work on our start and execute the game plan right away (and) don’t wait to get into it,” Treanor said of Syracuse’s first-quarter play. “There’s definitely room for improvement, but it was probably a better start than Cornell and Louisville.”

In the second quarter, the Orange once again limited the Great Danes to a one-goal quarter and scored five of their own. Besides Hawryschuk’s three goals, Natalie Smith scored on the free position and Sam Swart scored a goal with five minutes left to extend the lead to 12-1. The Great Danes got another before the break that cut the deficit to 10 entering halftime. In the first half alone, SU outshot UAlbany 25-6 and earned 11 more draw controls.

In the second half, it was the Great Danes who jumped out to a faster start, going on a 3-0 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter. Overall, Treanor wasn’t pleased with the second-half performance, saying the Orange had “lapses” as they were outscored 9-6 in the final 30 minutes. Still, the 10-goal halftime lead provided a cushion for SU and there wasn’t any danger of a UAlbany comeback.

“To win the games we want to win, you have to play good lacrosse for 60 minutes,” Treanor said. “Fortunately, we had a great lead going into halftime, that 12-2 lead which gave us a cushion, but we lost the second half.”

SU’s first two second-half goals came from Hawryschuk and Shira Parower, which stopped the brief momentum shift. To make it 14-5, Parower received a dump off from Meaghan at the top of the 12-meter. As Parower dodged toward Courtney Rowe, she spun to the left to create separation to score her first career goal.

The large lead allowed more opportunities for players who don’t frequently find themselves in the scoring column — including Smith, Savannah, Adamson and others — though Hawryschuk and Meaghan played the whole game.

Senior defender Sarah Cooper also scored her first goal of the season and second of her career. Cooper’s goal, which extended SU’s lead to 16-6, came with eight minutes left in the third period and was the final goal of the quarter by either team. With the game in hand, Treanor went to Delaney Sweitzer in goal for a little bit in the fourth quarter after Kimber Hower recorded eight saves and a 47.1% save percentage.

Though the Orange only scored six second-half goals and conceded nine, the win represented one of the best starts this season, which they will likely need when they travel to Boston College for a rematch of the 2021 National Championship.

“Having a fast start has definitely been a focus for us and something we’ve really been working on,” Meaghan said. “Something we really emphasized today coming into the game (was) starting fast, getting up on them and kind of just keeping a lead throughout the whole game instead of digging ourselves a hole and trying to climb out of it.”

Published on April 19, 2022 at 6:35 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini