The Syracuse Orange’s evening in Ithaca got off to a slow start before another defensive flourish came in to wash away the Cornell Big Red, leading the Orange to a 10-8 victory for their 10th straight win on Tuesday night.
The game was delayed by roughly 50 minutes due to torrential downpour at Schoellkopf Field, and the Orange got off to a bit of a sluggish start. In the early going, it was more like they were the ones fighting to keep up with Cornell than the other way around.
They trailed by two
goals for much of the second quarter, but the defense took over with a 27-plus minute scoreless streak that paved the way for a 5-0 ’Cuse run to take control of the game and never look back.
This was an intriguing matchup of two strikingly similar teams that are light-scoring on offense and use punishing zone defense to frustrate teams and win games, and it lived up to exactly that billing.
Molly Guzik and Caroline Trinkaus were the offensive stars of the night. They both finished with four points, with Trinkaus nabbing a hat trick and Guzik a pair of goals and assists. Ashlee Volpe added a pair of assists, and six other players scored a single point. Coco Vandiver led on defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.
Cornell opened the scoring on the night when midfielder Lexie Tully found a seam in the middle of the zone to cut through and finish after receiving a pass for a goal less than three minutes in.
SU struggled in their opening few possessions to generate decent looks, primarily due to the intensity of Cornell’s zone. In the early going, it felt like the Orange were fighting to keep up with the Big Red’s pace of play in every phase of the game, as they clearly had it in their minds that they were going to pull the upset on their home field.
That was especially true on defense, as they packed their players in and around the eight-meter arc, but were also highly aggressive when the ball got near their area of the zone. When they made a move, they came charging out with sticks flailing, quick-moving feet and physical play. It was an impressive display that SU took a little while to adjust to.
They finally found their space about eight and a half minutes into the game, when Guzik found Emma Muchnick camped out on top of the eight-meter for a little run-in and finish in front of the crease to knot the game up at ones.
The next goal came quickly. After Guzik won the ensuing draw, Mackenzie Rich, operating from the right wing, found a darting Alexa Vogelman in the middle of the eight-meter after Cornell lost track of her on the backside of the zone. Vogelman’s shot was deflected by a defender’s stick, but had enough strength behind it to float up and into the net to give ‘Cuse a 2-1 lead.
Cornell’s defense wasn’t the only unit showing intensity, as their movement on offense was excellent in the early going. They were able to beat SU’s defensive rotation for back-to-back goals thanks to quick, disciplined ball movement that helped them re-take the lead at 3-2 with two minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
But ‘Cuse had an immediate answer, as Caroline Trinkaus took the ball after a draw win and, with Cornell high-pressuring her in the corner of the field, beat her defender and raced towards the crease to throw the ball past goalie Mackenzie Clark to tie the game at three 24 seconds after Cornell had taken the lead.
It was 3-3 heading into the second, where the Big Red quickly re-took control with a pair of goals in the first few minutes in which their offense was beating SU’s defense to their spots and getting good looks at goal. In the first half of the second quarter, it felt like there could be a little danger for the Orange with Cornell’s offense attacking more efficiently and their defense difficult to penetrate.
The Orange were able to turn the tide, however, starting with a free-position finish by Trinkaus midway through the second to make it 5-4. Cornell wasn’t done, though, as they beat some full-field press and eventually found Kathleen Michaud cutting up from below GLE to receive a pass, turn and score to re-take their two-goal advantage.
That was the point in which the ’Cuse defense finally asserted their dominance, giving way to the offense’s five-goal run to take lasting control of the evening’s proceedings.
It started late in the second, when Trinkaus surveyed the field from below GLE and found Mackenzie Borbi in some space up top after Cornell lost track of her for a nice catch and quick finish down low. Roughly 90 seconds later, Guzik slipped a free-position shot past the goalie to tie the game up and send us to halftime with a 6-6 scoreline.
The third quarter started with both teams thinking they’d scored goals, only for them to be reviewed and disallowed as the Orange went in the crease on their goal and the Big Red had a dangerous follow-through on theirs.
That follow-through came with a yellow card, which ‘Cuse took advantage of on the other end when Joely Caramelli found a seam with the woman-up and Ashlee Volpe hit her with the feed for the goal and the 7-6 lead.
Cornell’s aggressiveness, which worked so effectively in the first half, came back to bite them in the second as they started to get called for fouls that helped lead to SU goals. A few minutes after the first woman-up goal, Cornell picked up a green card for an illegal use of the stick on defense, which the Orange made them pay for when Volpe found Bri Peters on a nice cut through the eight-meter for ‘Cuse’s second consecutive EMO score and an 8-6 advantage.
SU wasn’t done making them pay, as Guzik was fouled a few minutes after that and proceeded to finesse home a free-position in which she went for placement over power with her side-arm shot, completing the Orange’s 5-0 run and taking over the game with a 9-6 lead with 3:13 left in the third.
That was the score as the teams went to the fourth, with the ‘Cuse defense having already held Cornell scoreless for 20 minutes.
Izzy Lahah didn’t have as statistically dominant a game as she has been having all season, with one CT and one GB, but she made a couple critical plays in the second half that helped keep the Big Red off the board during that run. With about four and a half minutes left in the third, she made a perfectly-timed trail check to help create a turnover and send the ball down for Guzik’s eventual free-position. Then, she did the same exact thing with just under 11 minutes left in the fourth, trail-checking her mark to create a turnover for her team again.
On the very next possession, Dan Guyette went low to make a big stop with a little under nine minutes to play. Guyette did not have a good night, making zero saves in the first half as Cornell scored on all six shots they put on frame. In the second half, though, she made three saves while only surrendering two goals as she and the defense helped make the stops that helped the Orange grab momentum and the lead away from the Big Red.
With about seven and a half minutes to go, the defense did lose touch with leading-scorer Ellie Bergin up top, who connected on a pass from leading-assister Ella Wilmot to end their 27-plus minute scoreless streak.
SU was able to keep their distance, however, as Guzik opted for a pass on a subsequent free-position, tossing down on the wing to Trinkaus who ran it in for the score and a 10-7 lead.
The Big Red would add one more in the final minute, but that was all she wrote as ‘Cuse took the game with a 10-8 win and extended their winning streak to an incredible 10 games.
A final glance at the stats shows that Cornell nipped the draw controls, 11-9, but SU dominated on ground balls, 13-5. In the long run, the Orange did a better job of generating looks as they out-shot the Big Red, 22-15, including 18-11 in shots on goal. Both teams limited the turnovers on a wet night, with Cornell eking those out, 10-11.
The biggest difference in the game might have come down to free position opportunities. ‘Cuse was able to generate seven free-positions thanks to three-second calls, shooting space and fouls. In contrast, Cornell finished the game without a single free-position attempted. The Orange converted three of their seven looks, and of course won the game by two goals.
The Orange will be back out on the road this weekend when they travel down to Durham for a big ACC contest with the Duke Blue Devils this Saturday at 4 PM.
