Orange Defeat Eagles, Advance to ACC Semifinals Friday

Thursday, April 28

Blacksburg, Va.

5 p.m.

Syracuse University

15-4

Boston College

10-8

Boston College

Syracuse

Photo by: Atlantic Coast Conference

Orange Defeat Eagles, Advance to ACC Semifinals Friday

4/28/2016 8:56:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Defending champion Syracuse opened ACC Women's Lacrosse Tournament play with a 16-11 victory against Boston College on Thursday, April 28 in Blacksburg, Va. The second-seeded Orange led by one at halftime and opened the second half with five consecutive goals on their way to their third straight first-round victory. Freshman Nicole Levy led the Syracuse offense with a career-high five goals. Senior Kayla Treanor also had five points on a goal and four assists and moved into seventh place on the NCAA Division I all-time scoring list with 377 points.

Syracuse will face third-seeded Notre Dame semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on RSN and ESPN3. The Fighting Irish defeated Louisville, 12-10, on Thursday.

Boston College (10-8) jumped out to an early lead, scoring twice in the first 2:35 of action. Levy put the Orange (15-4) on the scoreboard with a free-position goal at the 24:52 mark to spark Syracuse on a 5-0 scoring run that gave the Orange its largest lead of the first half. Levy made it two in a row with an unassisted goal, and senior Erica Bodt and redshirt sophomore Taylor Gait both found the back of the net. Levy capped the run with her third goal of the day on an assist from senior Gabby Jaquith to put the Orange up 5-2 with 16:20 on the clock.

Kate Weeks halted Syracuse's offensive outburst at the 13:23 mark for Boston's College's first goal in 14:02 to cut the lead to two. The squads traded tallies before the Eagles recorded back-to-back goals to even the score at 6-6 with 4:22 remaining. The score remained tied until senior Kelly Cross scored an unassisted goal at the 2:09 mark to give Syracuse a 7-6 halftime lead.

Gait got the scoring started in the second half when she converted a free-position attempt at the 27:40 mark. That goal was the first of five straight for the Orange as they took their largest lead of the game. Sophomore Riley Donahue found the back of the net off an assist from Treanor before Levy scored on an assist from freshman Emily Resnick. Donahue tallied an unassisted goal and Bodt scored on an assist from Gait to give Syracuse a 12-6 lead at the 16:50 mark.

Tess Chandler recorded the Eagles' first goal of the second half and one of her five with 15:29 on the clock as Boston College tallied three of the game's next four goals to cut the deficit to four, 13-9, with 11:24 to play. But that was as close as Boston College could get. Senior Halle Majorana scored twice in the final 9:44 and the Orange went on to the 16-11 victory.

"The kids just stepped it up a notch," said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait on his team's start to the second half. "Kayla Treanor got a couple of great draw controls and that allowed us to keep possession. We were patient, we took our time and got good quality shots and scored on them."

Syracuse outshot Boston College, 29-19, and picked up 15 ground balls to 12 for the Eagles. Treanor finished with 13 draw controls to help the Orange to an 18-11 advantage in the draw circle. Syracuse goalkeeper Allie Murray made four saves, while Zoe Ochoa made five saves for the Eagles.