With a win over Georgetown on Sunday, Syracuse defended its Big East regular-season title and repeated as champions.

The No. 5 Orange (14-3, 8-0 Big East) topped the No. 7 Hoyas (12-4, 6-2), 13-7, in Washington on Sunday after defeating No. 17 Loyola (Md.) (10-7, 6-2), 19-9, in Baltimore on Friday. SU has put together a nine-game winning streak while extending its Big East regular-season winning streak to 20.

Syracuse finished undefeated in Big East play for the second straight year and third time in program history. The Orange claimed its sixth league title in the last seven years and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament next weekend.

Freshman attack Kayla Treanor tied her season high with five goals against Loyola, then bested it with a six-goal performance at Georgetown. With an assist in each game, Treanor finished the weekend with 13 points.

Junior attack Alyssa Murray recorded three goals and five assists on Friday night and followed it up with a three-goal, two-assist outing against the Hoyas. Murray’s 13-point road trip gives her a Big East-leading 83 on the season.

Sophomore goalie Kelsey Richardson set a season-high with nine saves against Georgetown while allowing just two goals. The Syracuse defense held GU to only five shots in the first half and the Hoyas committed 19 turnovers throughout the game.

On Thursday, the Orange returns to Washington for the Big East tournament, where it’ll play No. 4 seed Connecticut at 5:30 p.m. in the first round. Syracuse is looking to win it for the third time. SU won the inaugural tournament in 2007 and captured the title again in 2008.

Softball takes 1-of-3 at South Florida

Syracuse (20-26, 8-11 Big East) dropped two of three games at South Florida (40-14, 18-3) this weekend and senior Stacy Kuwik threw all 20.2 innings.

The Bulls have been one of the toughest teams in the Big East this season, and snapped a three-game Orange winning streak by bookending the series with two one-run victories. Kuwik gave up just four earned runs on the weekend.

In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, South Florida edged the Orange 3-2. SU fell behind early and could only muster two unearned runs thanks to spotty fielding from the Bulls.

Kuwik threw a complete game in the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits, and striking out four. Junior Sara Nevins notched her 22nd win of the season for the Bulls, striking out 14 Orange hitters in six innings while giving up no earned runs.

SU battled back in game two, winning the second game 4-1 on the back of Shirley Daniels. Daniels hit two doubles, drove in two runs and broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning, plating senior Emily Thompson. Junior first baseman Jasmine Watson followed Daniels with a two-run home run to extend the lead.

Kuwik pitched another complete game to earn her 14th win of the season, matching her total from a year ago. Kuwik gave up just one run on six hits.

In Sunday’s rubber match, the Orange fought into extra innings but fell to the Bulls, 2-1. Kuwik threw yet another complete game, but SU could only score one run on three hits against senior Lindsey Richardson and sophomore Sam Greiner.

Next the Orange will meet Cornell for a doubleheader at SU Softball Stadium on Tuesday, before wrapping up Big East play hosting a weekend series against Providence on May 4-5.

Track & field takes competes in pair of meets

Syracuse competed at two different meets last weekend.

The sprinters and hurdlers traveled to Pennsylvania to race in the 119th Penn Relays, the oldest track and field competition in the United States. The meet’s Saturday attendance has averaged 45,000 spectators for the last six years, and makes the meet the best attended track event in the country each year, and one of the best attended in the world.

In front of the large crowd, junior Donald Pollitt finished in second place in the 110m hurdles championship race (13.85 seconds), just 0.18 seconds behind Wayne Davis II from Texas A&M, who finished in first. Pollitt’s time was a personal record.

In the same race, senior Amadou Gueye placed in fifth with a time of 14.03 seconds, tying a personal record.

Pollitt also competed in the 4×100 IC4A relays with seniors Colin Reno and Will Watson and junior Jaquan Holland. The quartet finished in fourth place with a time of 41.25 seconds.

On Sunday, the distance runners competed at the Big Red Invitational at Cornell.

In the women’s 100-meter, junior Sa’De Lewis took second place (13.53 seconds), finishing .09 seconds behind first.

Freshmen Brianna Nerud and Margo Malone took first and second in the women’s 1,500-meter run, finishing in 4:30.77 and 4:31.02 respectively. In the same race, SU sophomore Maura Linde finished in seventh (4:42.41).

Sophomore Molly Malone won the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:11.13, while freshman Ryan Urie won the men’s 800 with a time of 1:52.91.

Also taking a first place finish for SU was sophomore Juris Silenieks, who won the men’s 10k in 31:45.18.

Next weekend, SU will compete in the Big East Outdoor Championships at Rutgers on May 3, where runners will attempt to qualify for the NCAA East Regional in Greensboro, N.C., on May 23.

– Compiled by The Daily Orange Sports staff, sports@dailyorange.com

Published on April 29, 2013 at 12:19 am