Syracuse’s postseason began in a very similar fashion to the bulk of their regular season on Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte, where the fourth-seeded Orange defeated the fifth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers, 11-9, in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament.
In another relatively low-scoring battle in which turnovers were as common as shots on goal, the Orange were in control through the first 45 minutes after taking a lead in the first quarter and building on it throughout the middle of the game.
But they were facing a desperate, 8-8 Virginia team that had to win in order to be eligible for the NCAA Tournament. With ‘Cuse holding a 9-5 lead entering the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers season was running short and they had no choice but to come out of the corner swinging.
That they did, going on a furious 4-1 run that got them to within a goal as the Orange were suddenly faced with yet another tight, late-game scenario in which they were trying to outlast a pesky opponent while operating with the narrowest of margins.
And having lived that scenario for much of the last two months, SU was well equipped with the experience to handle the situation with aplomb.
There was a massive Dan Guyette save in transition, a phenomenal team effort scrapping for a loose ball on offense that led to an insurance goal late in the shot clock, and a game-clinching caused turnover by Emma Muchnick while a player down.
Those three things happened almost in succession in the final four minutes of the game. Three game-winning plays, all in crunch-time, to help see out a big postseason win. It’s how the Orange have been winning games all season, and they once again kept calm and carried on, in a tight spot, to win another.
It was an all-around team effort that they had to fight for. The defense did what the defense always does, as Virginia finished with more turnovers (16) than shots on goal (14) and ’Cuse held their 12th straight opponent to single-digits (15th of 17, overall). Izzy Lahah had three ground balls and three caused turnovers as she set the new program record for CTs in a single season with 46.
The draw unit had to scrap to keep pace with Kate Galica and UVA’s draw team, but they kept it to a close, 12-10 Cavalier advantage. Most importantly, they came up huge by winning five of six draws in the fourth quarter. Molly Guzik led with four draws, but the circle players had a great game with six combined wins, and that’s not even including a couple of times when the Cavs won the draw but the Orange pressured them into a turnover before they were able to move the ball into the offensive end.
Speaking of, the ‘Cuse offense had a big day against Virginia in exactly the way you want to attack a zone, with lots of crisp passing, body movement, and off-ball cutting to beat their defensive structure. While the 11 goals was a refreshing change after last week’s four-goal effort against BC, it was the efficiency that was the most eye-catching aspect. The Orange shot 55 percent (11-of-20) while assisting on nine of the 11 goals (81.8 percent), which is their second-highest percent for both numbers in a game this season. The nine assists is also the second-highest total they’ve had in a game.
Emma Muchnick led with easily her best game of the season. She scored four goals on four shots, with a critical late assist, two ground balls, two draw controls, zero turnovers and the game-clinching caused turnover when she picked off a late pass to preserve the win.
Ashlee Volpe had a big game with a career-high tying four assists, while Molly Guzik had a hat trick to go with her work on draw controls. Bri Peters had a career game with a career-high two goals as well as two draw wins, and Caroline Trinkaus added a pair of assists.
The first two quarters of this one played out in almost identical fashion, which the ‘Hoos scoring a goal in the opening couple minutes before being shut out the rest of the frame due to SU’s active defense, but also some very sloppy passing by a UVA team that was perhaps trying to shake out some nerves given the circumstances under which they were playing.
With the defense doing their job, the ‘Cuse offense did well to build a steady first-half lead. It started, appropriately, with Emma Muchnick, who helped scrap for a draw win before drawing a foul when trying to initiate early offense. She finished off the free-position for the Orange’s first tally of the day.
Ashlee Volpe got her first assist with a beautiful skip pass from her typical left-side, just-above-GLE spot to Bri Peters up top for a finish on the power play. That was followed by Muchnick getting her second on a nice cut towards the crease and feed from Mackenzie Rich before Emma fired home and tip-toed the crease for a 3-1 lead that SU would carry into the second.
After UVA made it 3-2 just over two minutes in, Bri Peters got her second on a pass from Caroline Trinkaus, but it was what happened before the pass that made it such a good goal. Peters and Courtney Maclay were standing together up top of the eight-meter arc. When Trinkaus got the ball on the right side wing, Maclay made a cut away from the ball to the left side of the arc, a move that drew the attention of Virginia’s zone rover. Once she did that, Peters cut towards the ball and the right side into wide open space with the rover already occupied, allowing a relatively easy connection from Trinkaus to Peters for the goal. It was a tremendous example of a play that doesn’t show up in the box score, referring to Maclay’s off-ball run, but is nonetheless crucial to the ultimate execution of that goal. It was fun to see.
Later in the quarter, Gracie Britton found Molly Guzik curling around the back of the cage and hit her with a pass before Molly finished the run by coming above GLE and scoring over the top of the goalie as she got the shot off before the double-team collapsed for her first of the day. Muchnick added another free-position goal for her hat trick and a 6-2 ‘Cuse lead going into the break.
The second half turned up the heat on the offensive end, especially for the Cavs, but it was the Orange who opened the scoring to extend their lead to five for the first time when Alexa Vogelman slipped away from the rover in the middle of the eight just after a power play expired to finish a Trinkaus feed right in front of goal.
After being held scoreless for over 20 minutes, the ‘Hoos found pay dirt on a free position with just over seven minutes left in the third that kicked off a run of three goals in four that brought the SU lead down to 8-5. The Orange would get the last say of the quarter, however, when Guzik threw a nice skip pass over the defense on a power play to Muchnick, who proceeded to execute a beautiful give-and-go with Volpe for a goal and a 9-5 lead heading for the fourth.
The Orange were just trying to see the game out, but the Cavs had a season to preserve, and didn’t waste time as they scored 17 seconds in at the end of their own power play.
‘Cuse struck back quickly, and funnily enough it happened because they almost lost possession. The Orange briefly lost the ball, but a perfectly-timed Mackenzie Borbi stick check helped the ball land in Guzik’s stick. Molly found Volpe down on the low wing, who swung a pass into the middle to Maclay for an unsettled goal that was created because the UVA defense was all out of position after unsuccessfully chasing down the loose ball. SU was able to take advantage and grab an important goal that helped restore their four-goal lead, 10-6.
A couple minutes later, the Cavs comeback really began in earnest. They scored the game’s next three goals over the course of the next six minutes to get within their closest margin at 10-9, and it would have been even worse if not for an incredible Muchnick stick check on a UVA free position attempt with 10 minutes to play that blocked a shot. Emma just did a little (or a lot) of everything in this game to help earn the win.
After Virginia brought it to within one, ‘Cuse won the ensuing draw but ended up turning it over on offense. The Cavs came streaking down the field like a runaway train. It felt like a surefire game-tying goal, but it ended up being Dan Guyette’s biggest play of the day as she stonewalled a potential tying goal on the tail end of a huge transition opportunity.
And a huge shoutout to Kaci Benoit for the play she made, stepping up at the perfect time to Livy LaVerghetta as she received a pass coming right down main street. Kaci stepped right into her path, forcing her to adjust and go around her. By the time she was ready to shoot after Kaci interrupted her, the angle of her shot had been significantly reduced, and it was easier for Guyette to make the save.
After clearing the ball and calling timeout, the Orange scored their insurance goal to make it 11-9 with 2:34 left in the game after an incredible sequence led to the tally. Guzik and Volpe tried to connect for a give-and-go, but Molly’s BTB attempt was blocked by a swarm of defenders. UVA briefly corralled the ball and tried to get it to goalie Elyse Finnelle, but there was a problem.
Finnelle tried to pick the ball up outside the crease, meaning it was fair game for any Orange sticks to come in and cause havoc. That stick ended up belonging to Joely Caramelli, who made one of the plays of the game when she crashed her stick down on top of Finnelle’s to jar the ball loose, but she wasn’t done. Joely made like a hockey player, sweeping the ball away from multiple UVA players before eventually pushing it back out on the ground to Muchnick.
Virginia never fully possessed the ball, so with the shot clock winding down, Muchnick showed great awareness in recognizing the clock as she brought the ball down to the low wing on the right side. It was there where she spotted Molly Guzik, through a handful of defenders, wide open in the middle of the eight-meter after another sequence of unsettled play in which the Cavs lost track of their marks due to the chaotic mess of the previous seconds.
Molly received the looping pass, avoided a defender, and finished for the insurance goal with a single second remaining on the shot clock.
The Orange would win the ensuing draw, looking to run most of the clock out. But, after a timeout, they turned it over, and Izzy Lahah committed a green card after UVA cleared the ball.
The ‘Hoos had a woman-up and just over a minute and a half on the clock, down by two. But even on the power play, they struggled to attack quickly against SU’s zone. And with just over a minute on the clock, Muchnick tracked back on a pass that was being thrown up top from X, and she made like a cornerback with a leap to pick it clean out of mid-air for one final key play. From there, the Orange were able to run out the clock and grab the 11-9 win.
After three quarters of control, the fourth was taken over by Virginia’s desperation. Despite losing the quarter, 4-2, and nearly giving up a four-goal lead, the Orange were the team that won the final five minutes with two massive defensive stops and one big goal on the other end.
They’ve been gaining experience all season being comfortable playing in close games and making the plays to win when it counts the most. And yesterday down in Charlotte, they began their postseason by doing it again to pick up a big win and move on to the next round.
The Orange will face their biggest test all season when they face the No. 1 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in the semifinals on Friday at 5 PM on the ACC Network.
