It’s been two weeks since the Syracuse Orange took the field for a lacrosse game, but on Friday night in Annapolis, it was like they never left the field as they defeated the Loyola Greyhounds, 8-6, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Navy-Marine Corp Memorial Stadium.
The game was exactly what we’ve come to expect from this ‘Cuse team in 2026. The SU defense was the dominant force in the matchup while the draw unit fought hard for everything they could get and the offense pieced together
enough moments of clarity to out-score a suffocated opponent.
They relied on their athleticism and dodging to create offense, but another poor shooting performance contributed to a 14-save game by Loyola goalie Kennedy Buntrock that kept the game close as the Orange never trailed but also never had more than a three-goal lead all night.
It was Caroline Trinkaus’s day on attack, as the sophomore led with a hat trick and took almost three times as many shots as anybody else on the team. Mileena Cotter had possibly her best offensive day of the season with a pair of goals and an assist. Mackenzie Rich, Emma Muchnick and Molly Guzik all tallied one goal, and Annie Parker notched an assist.
The defense had an awesome night as they, for the second time this season, held Loyola to a season low in goals. They played a versatile game, pushing out well beyond the eight-meter to pressure the Greyhounds at times, being aggressive with their stick checks at others, and baiting them to throwing passes into areas that weren’t as open as they seemed.
Ultimately, they did what they’ve done so many times this year: suffocated Loyola’s scoring chances to keep themselves in the lead despite offensive droughts of their own. For the game, Loyola finished with the untenable combination of 17 total shots, 12 shots-on-goal and 22 turnovers, 16 of which were ‘caused’ by SU.
As they have all season, Coco Vandiver and Izzy Lahah were chiefly responsible for the opponent’s carnage. Coco led with four caused turnovers and two ground balls, while Izzy had three CTs and two GBs. Mackenzie Salentre had an active night, too, with a CT and a team-leading four GBs.
In goal, Dan Guyette didn’t have a ton to deal with, but she saw the ball very well for much of the night. Sometimes, when the defense is limiting shots on goal like this, Dan can struggle to find a rhythm because she’s simply not getting many opportunities. But she made a bunch of saves early in this game and established a solid foundation from which to work. She finished with six saves, a .500 save percentage, two ground balls and one caused turnover.
Guyette got her night off to a fast start by going low to save a five-hole attempt at the end of the shot clock on Loyola’s second possession.
But before Loyola’s second possession came Syracuse’s first, during which Caroline Trinkaus opened the scoring on a power play with a nice move on a split dodge from up top that she followed with an overhand shot on-the-run for the game’s opening goal a little less than three minutes in.
That was followed by an extended stretch dominated by the goalies, who combined for eight saves in the first quarter. Loyola broke through, though, on a nice quick stick finish from Delaney Jackson on a X-feed from Emma Talago with a little more than five minutes left in the first.
‘Cuse would answer just over a minute later on a beautiful roll dodge by Mackenzie Rich, who came up from below GLE on the right side and rolled to her left in the direction of the crease. She showed good patience after pulling her move, waiting for the secondary defender to arrive before shooting over the top for the goal and a 2-1 SU lead they would take into the second quarter.
Emma Muchnick kept the good times rolling early in the second, when she dodged down the right alley and scored on-the-run with a low finish that she took from just inside the eight-meter arc. A few minutes later, Mileena Cotter took a pass from Annie Parker on the high wing, switched hands to her left and cut across the top of the defense for a goal that gave ‘Cuse their first three-goal cushion of the night at 4-1 with 9:06 remaining in the half.
The Loyola offense had gone cold for over 13 minutes thanks to some excellent team defense. On their first possession of the second quarter, Emma Talago thought she’d successfully dodged away from Mackenzie Salentre, but ended up getting sandwiched between her and Izzy Lahah, who jarred the ball loose for a caused turnover. When you think you’ve found space against the Orange D, it often collapses on you quickly to create havoc. Talago found that out the hard way on that possession. One possession later, Izzy struck again after a looping pass was thrown into the middle and caught by a Greyhound stick before being immediately knocked away by Lahah for yet another caused turnover.
They would end their scoring drought when Morgan Ruhnke found Ava Kane wide open in the middle of the eight-meter for a rare uncontested look against the SU zone. That goal made it 4-2, which would end up being the halftime score.
The second half started off with more defense as Guyette made a big save on a free-position opportunity that happened with one second on the shot clock of Loyola’s first possession of the half.
A handful of Loyola saves and ‘Cuse caused turnovers followed before the Orange finally ended their 16-minute scoring drought when Trinkaus scored her second with her right hand on a run down the left alley, restoring the three-goal lead at 5-2 with just over eight minutes left in the third.
A few minutes later, a pass by Mim Suares-Jury across the middle of the zone somehow snuck through everyone and found Lauren Perfetto wide open on the back side to bring it back to 5-3 with four minutes left in the third.
But SU answered when Trinkaus got her hat trick thanks to a fantastic individual effort. Loyola had made a habit throughout the game of being quick to slide to certain players when they dodged, including Trinkaus. On this play, Caroline very impressively dodged around both her initial defender and the secondary slide, lost her footing as she curled around them both, and scored with a shot as she was slipping to the turf with a third defender rushing at her.
Caroline’s effort gave ‘Cuse a 6-3 lead with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the third, which is how the game would go to the fourth.
The Greyhounds struck first in the final frame, when Morgan Quade shook free from Salentre, circled around her on the right wing and cut straight across the middle of the field to score on an open look, making it 6-4 with 12 minutes remaining.
The Orange were not looking to relinquish control, however, as Cotter scored her second just under a minute later when she pulled a juke move on a face dodge and ending up running across the top of the D, where she unleashed a lefty shot from the top of the key while on-the-run from at the eight-meter arc. It was a big moment in that it gave an immediate answer to Loyola’s goal and re-established the three-goal lead with 11 minutes to play.
The game would go cold again until the Greyhounds ended the drought with a wide-open cut through the middle of the zone for Delaney Jackson’s second of the game to make it 7-5 with four and a half on the clock.
With Loyola on a power play and less than four minutes to go, Coco Vandiver came up with the biggest of her four CTs when she deflected a pass and created a turnover in a moment when the Hounds had just scored to make it a two-goal deficit and then got the ball back with a woman-up chance. That could have led to quite the tough spot with Loyola having all the momentum, but the defense came up large while down a player and Coco made another huge play to keep them at bay.
The Orange capitalized on the opportunity when Molly Guzik split a double-team while coming up from X and scored her only goal of the day on a soft shot that totally fooled Buntrock to make it 8-5 with 2:31 left.
Loyola would get one back after a pair of SU green cards led to Suares-Jury going spin cycle on the power play to make it 8-6 with 1:26 on the clock. The Greyhounds continued to give themselves a chance by winning the ensuing draw, but Coco had one final CT left in her to regain possession and see the game out for an 8-6 victory.
Funny enough, this season, Loyola became both the first win of Regy Thorpe’s head-coaching career after their 0-3 start, as well as the first NCAA Tournament win of his head-coaching career. That’s a pretty good year for the Orange against the Greyhounds.
‘Cuse will now move on to Sunday’s second round game against the No. 6 seed and site host Navy Midshipmen, who they’ll play at 1 PM on ESPN+.
