Lacrosse Upsets No. 7 Syracuse 9-8 in the Regular Season Finale
April 22, 2017 | Women's Lacrosse
Cardinals use a strong first half to edge the Orange on Saturday Afternoon
LOUISVILLE, KY.— The Louisville lacrosse team upset No. 7 Syracuse 9-8 on Saturday afternoon at the UofL Lacrosse Stadium. Meghan Siverson led the Cardinals (11-6, 3-4) with three goals and Jillian Balog finished with two. Natalie Wallon led Syracuse (13-5, 5-2) with three goals. The win was the first in the series for the Cardinals against Syracuse.
"I can say as a coach, I'm so proud," said head coach Kellie Young. "This team continues to surprise me. We've had few games against teams and we've struggled to come out of halftime, today we were resilient. They said in the locker room, 'We're going to get that first goal.' To have that come from the players and not our staff, we know as a staff what a big deal it is for the rest of the season. I think they should be really, really proud of themselves. They run a zone. We spent a lot of time this week on it and we said don't worry about it. We felt like if we had more possession minutes we were going to have a chance to win the game. We ran a couple tweaks to our plays today that worked for the zone and that obviously showed with some of the goals that we had today."
The Cardinals struck first in the 24th minute, Hannah Koloski capitalized off a Syracuse turnover and raced to the crease to score and put the Cards up 1-0. Siverson found Balog in front of the goal in the 19th minute to put the Cards up 2-0. The Orange scored at 9:50 to cut the Louisville lead to 2-1. Less than a minute later the Orange tied it up at 2-2.
Louisville then went on a 2-0 run, Siverson scored on a free position shot at the 8:25 mark to put the Cardinals back in the lead at 3-2. Then on the next possession, Madison Hoover hit Siverson in front of the goal for a 4-2 Louisville lead. The Orange scored on a free position shot at the 4:26 mark to cut the lead to 4-3. Emily Howell scored on a free position shot with 1:28 remaining in the half to put the Cards up 5-3 at the break.
The Cardinals kept the momentum from the first half to start the second half. Siverson had a free position shot but passed to Balog who was to the right side of the net and slipped it passed the keeper for a score and a 6-3 lead at the 28:35 mark of the second half. The Cardinals scored again in the 24th minute when Elise Koehl picked up a ground ball in front of the goal and scored for a 7-3 lead.
The Orange went on a 3-0 run, scoring at the 21:45 mark and again at the 16:02 mark. Syracuse scored again at the 12:16 mark to cut the lead to one at 7-6. The Cardinals responded with a 2-0 run. On the next possession, Koloski won the draw control, raced down the field and passed to Hoover who found Siverson for the goal and an 8-6 lead. Then as time on the shot clock was about to expire, Hoover found McKayla Conti in front of the goal who slipped the ball past the feet of the keeper for a 9-6 lead with 7:56 left to play.
The Orange went on a 2-0 run, scoring with 2:12 mark and the 1:31 mark to cut the lead to 9-8. Louisville won the final draw and kept possession until a turnover with 11 seconds left. Syracuse had possession until the Cardinals intercepted a pass with one second left, securing the win for the Cardinals.
Louisville finished the game with a 27-23 edge in shots and a 12-7 advantage in the draw. While the Orange held an 18-17 advantage in ground balls. Brittany Read finished with nine saves for the Cardinals while Syracuse's Asa Goldstock finished with eight.
Defensively, Alex Rich finished with two caused turnovers while Stephanie McNamara finished with four ground balls. Emily Howell led the Cardinals with five draw controls. Hoover finished with three assists on the day.
"Today our defense held steady and playing under the ball today," said Hoover. "Our defense deserves major props for this game."
The Cardinals will be back in action this week at the ACC Championship. Louisville earned the sixth seed in the tournament and will face the No. 3 seeded Virginia Cavaliers on Thursday evening in the 8:00 p.m. game. The game will be televised on the ACC's Regional Sports Networks (RSN) and will also be available on ACC Network Extra.
"I can say as a coach, I'm so proud," said head coach Kellie Young. "This team continues to surprise me. We've had few games against teams and we've struggled to come out of halftime, today we were resilient. They said in the locker room, 'We're going to get that first goal.' To have that come from the players and not our staff, we know as a staff what a big deal it is for the rest of the season. I think they should be really, really proud of themselves. They run a zone. We spent a lot of time this week on it and we said don't worry about it. We felt like if we had more possession minutes we were going to have a chance to win the game. We ran a couple tweaks to our plays today that worked for the zone and that obviously showed with some of the goals that we had today."
The Cardinals struck first in the 24th minute, Hannah Koloski capitalized off a Syracuse turnover and raced to the crease to score and put the Cards up 1-0. Siverson found Balog in front of the goal in the 19th minute to put the Cards up 2-0. The Orange scored at 9:50 to cut the Louisville lead to 2-1. Less than a minute later the Orange tied it up at 2-2.
Louisville then went on a 2-0 run, Siverson scored on a free position shot at the 8:25 mark to put the Cardinals back in the lead at 3-2. Then on the next possession, Madison Hoover hit Siverson in front of the goal for a 4-2 Louisville lead. The Orange scored on a free position shot at the 4:26 mark to cut the lead to 4-3. Emily Howell scored on a free position shot with 1:28 remaining in the half to put the Cards up 5-3 at the break.
The Cardinals kept the momentum from the first half to start the second half. Siverson had a free position shot but passed to Balog who was to the right side of the net and slipped it passed the keeper for a score and a 6-3 lead at the 28:35 mark of the second half. The Cardinals scored again in the 24th minute when Elise Koehl picked up a ground ball in front of the goal and scored for a 7-3 lead.
The Orange went on a 3-0 run, scoring at the 21:45 mark and again at the 16:02 mark. Syracuse scored again at the 12:16 mark to cut the lead to one at 7-6. The Cardinals responded with a 2-0 run. On the next possession, Koloski won the draw control, raced down the field and passed to Hoover who found Siverson for the goal and an 8-6 lead. Then as time on the shot clock was about to expire, Hoover found McKayla Conti in front of the goal who slipped the ball past the feet of the keeper for a 9-6 lead with 7:56 left to play.
The Orange went on a 2-0 run, scoring with 2:12 mark and the 1:31 mark to cut the lead to 9-8. Louisville won the final draw and kept possession until a turnover with 11 seconds left. Syracuse had possession until the Cardinals intercepted a pass with one second left, securing the win for the Cardinals.
Louisville finished the game with a 27-23 edge in shots and a 12-7 advantage in the draw. While the Orange held an 18-17 advantage in ground balls. Brittany Read finished with nine saves for the Cardinals while Syracuse's Asa Goldstock finished with eight.
Defensively, Alex Rich finished with two caused turnovers while Stephanie McNamara finished with four ground balls. Emily Howell led the Cardinals with five draw controls. Hoover finished with three assists on the day.
"Today our defense held steady and playing under the ball today," said Hoover. "Our defense deserves major props for this game."
The Cardinals will be back in action this week at the ACC Championship. Louisville earned the sixth seed in the tournament and will face the No. 3 seeded Virginia Cavaliers on Thursday evening in the 8:00 p.m. game. The game will be televised on the ACC's Regional Sports Networks (RSN) and will also be available on ACC Network Extra.
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