Mary Rahal jumped into the passing lane. Colgate was trying to advance in transition, but Rahal thrust her stick out to cause the turnover.

She planted, turned and carried the ball from SU’s 20-yard line into the attacking zone. Twenty-five yards from the net, she dished to freshman Bianca Chevarie who took a step before passing to Meaghan Tyrrell at the right block. In one motion, Tyrrell turned to her right and passed the ball across the crease to Megan Carney, who promptly deposited it for her second of the game.

Throughout the game, promising Raider attacks turned into Syracuse goals within seconds. The No. 4 Orange (5-1) caused turnovers at will in their 21-4 win over Colgate (2-1). SU’s 16 caused turnovers were the most in a game since Feb. 12 of last season, when the Orange forced 20 in a win over Binghamton.

“A couple times we had great opportunities to score and we didn’t recover and they scored,” Colgate head coach Kathy Taylor said, “So it almost feels like a 2-goal swing.”

From the outset, the Orange seemed poised to impose their will. Senior Emily Hawryschuk controlled the opening draw and scored 17 seconds later. But, Colgate answered with a draw control of their own and a goal 30 seconds later. Senior defender Kerry Defliese referred to the goal as a “wake-up call.”

Following two Syracuse fouls, midfielder Sam Swart caused SU’s first turnover of the game. The junior gathered the ground ball and carried past midfield before passing to Hawryschuk. Her shot was stopped, but Chevarie scooped up another ground ball and set up SU’s second goal of the game.

Three minutes later, senior Lila Nazarian gave chase to a Colgate midfielder carrying toward the Syracuse net. While her efforts didn’t show on the stat sheet, she forced Colgate’s Olivia Duarte to drop the ball multiple times before eventually turning it over to SU’s Allyson Trice.

On the Raiders’ ensuing offensive possession, Defliese lunged in front of a Colgate pass from X out to the right side. Defliese hustled for the ground ball and pushed it upfield to Swart for the clear.

“I think that’s our defense wanting to have that mentality we come into every game with,” Defliese said, “Starting with that fire in the beginning led our defense to many caused turnovers.”

Swart’s progress was then halted, and she subsequently lost possession. But, Hawryschuk rode Colgate’s Grace Bowers for 15 yards before dislodging the ball from her stick — and the stick from her hands. Hawryschuk took the ball back toward the Colgate net, finding Chevarie for the freshman’s second goal of the season.

Syracuse controlled the ensuing draw but lost possession on the attack. The Raiders tried to clear but failed again. This time, Chevarie turned Colgate over on the ride, and two passes later it was 4-1 Syracuse with 22:02 minutes to play in the half. Taylor was forced to call a timeout.

“My team went back to carrying the ball which really played into Syracuse’s ability to strip the ball from my players,” Taylor said, “and we need to really embrace moving that ball and not running with it.”

Even after the timeout, Taylor could tell that Syracuse was “wearing (Colgate) down.” The Orange had 11 caused turnovers to Colgate’s two in the first half. Syracuse was first to 13 of 19 ground balls in the half as well.

“Every time you put effort in there’s an opportunity to turn the ball over,” head coach Gary Gait said.

Less than three minutes into the second half, Asa Goldstock, Hawryschuk and a number of other Syracuse starters left the field. Even without their more experienced riders and defenders in, Syracuse’s second-team continued to disrupt Colgate passers and carriers.

“That second group of defense went in, turned the ball over several times and did a great job on that,” Gait said, “So it’s just nice to see that the practice (the defense) put in every day pays off.”

Published on February 24, 2020 at 9:27 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu