The longest game in Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse history ended with one of the most thrilling finishes in program history, when the Orange outlasted the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 10-9 in four overtimes on Senior Day in the JMA Dome on Saturday.
A Caroline Trinkaus walk-off goal as time expired in overtime number four was the final exclamation point on an absolutely wild sequence to end the game that had the feel of a marathon race coming down to a sprint to the finish line. These
two teams weren’t satisfied with putting on a show of 80 minutes of highly competitive lacrosse; they wanted to end it with a bang!
And so it did. After ‘Cuse lost possession with about 90 seconds left in the fourth and final OT frame, Notre Dame brought the ball down for a clear, but they tried to force a pass into an attacking area and ended up throwing it out across the end line with about a minute to play.
Izzy Lahah picked up the ball and attempted to go for the solo clear, making it across midfield before being swarmed on the sideline in front of the ‘Cuse bench by three Notre Dame defenders. For a moment, she was trapped, but got bailed out when she was fouled by Madison Rassas, who picked up a green card with 39 seconds on the clock.
On the power play, the Orange worked the ball around and ended up doing a hidden ball trick behind the cage with Ashlee Volpe and Gracie Britton with roughly 25 seconds left. Volpe faked the flip and hung onto the ball coming around to the left side, where she found Caroline Trinkaus cutting back towards the crease for a catch-and-shoot that was saved by Irish goalie Isabel Pithie and maybe the pipe with about 20 seconds on the clock.
The loose ball was kicked around and impressively grabbed in one sweeping-up motion by Courtney Maclay with about 15 seconds left. Courtney and Molly Guzik combined to track down the ball, and Courtney passed out of pressure to Molly, who then dumped the ball back down to Volpe around left side GLE. Volpe picked out another perfect pass to Mileena Cotter, who was making a run straight down main street when she received the pass right in front of the crease. But Mileena’s point blank shot fired high and over the cage with about seven seconds on the clock.
At this point, Gracie Britton made a phenomenal play to not only back the ball up, but even more crucially, to display excellent hustle in scampering to pick up one of the extra balls placed on the end line. The clock doesn’t stop on a shot out of bounds in the women’s game, meaning Cotter’s missed shot with only seven seconds left was quickly going to wind down to nothing and send us to a fifth overtime.
But Britton had other ideas, spending mere seconds in scooping up a new ball with about five seconds on the clock and re-initiating from behind the cage.
With Britton re-starting so quickly, the Notre Dame defense, still down a player, was scrambling to find their assignments as the clock wound down. In their haste, they lost track of Trinkaus out on the right wing, but Gracie saw her perfectly. After receiving the pass with just a few seconds remaining, Caroline had so much space she was able to run up into her shot, which she released with a side-arm rip with one second left that went straight over the head of Pithie and top shelf into the net as time expired.
It was a mad scramble for the record books, a moment that finished off an historic ‘Cuse lacrosse game in the most epically hectic way possible. In a span of 25 seconds, the Orange did a hidden ball trick, fired off three great looks at cage, clambered for one massive ground ball, executed one of the quickest shot back-ups ever and nailed one incredible shot that will live long in the memory of Syracuse lacrosse fans.
It was an ironic finish to a ‘Cuse game, given that the final moments were defined entirely by the offense dictating play; obviously not something Orange fans are used to from this defense-oriented team, and not something you might have guessed given the majority of the 79 minutes that preceded it.
This was yet another defensive battle between two of the best defenses in the country, with SU coming in ranked fourth in the country in scoring defense with ND right behind at sixth.
The game lived up to that billing, with the teams combining for almost as many turnovers (47) as total shots (52) and way more turnovers than shots on goal (34). 32 of those 47 turnovers were credited as ‘caused’ by the defenses, emphasizing the difficulty they presented the offenses in this game.
For the Orange, it was more of what we’ve seen all season. They only surrendered 18 shots on goal in 80 minutes of lacrosse while creating 17 caused turnovers. Coco Vandiver was spectacular on her Senior Day, finishing with an amazing six CTs and two ground balls. Emma Muchnick (3 CT, 2 GB), Mackenzie Salentre (3 CT, 4 GB), Kaci Benoit (2 CT, 3 GB) and Izzy Lahah (2 CT, 1 GB) all came up huge in helping hold the Irish to nine tallies on the afternoon.
Dan Guyette was outstanding in net with nine saves and a .500 save percentage. Six of her nine saves came in the fourth quarter or later, including two gigantic stops in the third overtime to keep the game going.
On the other side, the Notre Dame defense was incredibly impressive, and really it was their entire roster. All over the field, the Irish displayed an athletic ability, a quickness of play and a physical nature that had them in control of the game for large periods of time. While it was a close game all the way through, it was SU who found themselves chasing much of regulation. They didn’t grab their first lead until a goal with 95 seconds left in the third quarter. They were playing catch up all game long to that point, and the reason was because of Notre Dame’s athleticism, physicality and aggressiveness dictating the play.
The first half was a tightly-contested affair in which the Irish defense almost completely shut off ‘Cuse in the half field offense. The Orange mustered three first-half goals, only one of which was scored in 7-on-7, with one coming in transition and another coming on a power play. ND’s pressuring of the ball carrier was extremely effective, whether they were creating turnovers and shot clock violations in the half field or on clear attempts where even normally simple tasks were turned into time and energy wasting chores for SU to have to deal with.
Meanwhile, the Irish’s offense was able to move the ball effectively enough to find enough space for four whole goals before halftime, a number that gave them a two-goal lead through a good chunk of the second quarter. But the Orange pulled one back with their only half-field goal of the first half, when Volpe found Muchnick in the middle of the eight-meter arc for a spectacular BTB finish that made it 4-3 with just under four minutes before the break.
About halfway through the third quarter, and down 5-3, ‘Cuse finally were able to take control of the game thanks to a switch at the draw circle. Molly Guzik won the first draw of the game, but then lost seven in a row to close the first half, which was a big factor in why SU was chasing ND throughout the first 30 minutes.
Coming out in the second half, Regy Thorpe made the switch to Joely Caramelli. While it ultimately didn’t work as the Irish completely dominated draw controls, 18-6, it was still a crucial decision as Joely went to the center circle and won the first three draws of the second half in a move that helped the Orange gain a foothold into the game that they used to fight back and take control.
Gaining even a little more possession was critical in reducing the impact of Notre Dame’s pressure and giving their own defense more of a chance to breath. The results were big, as ‘Cuse scored six of the next seven goals from the mid-third to mid-fourth quarters, including four in a row to take a 9-6 lead with 7:43 left in regulation.
At that point, it really looked like SU was entering into cruise control on their way to victory, but the Irish punched back with a pair of goals in 22 seconds to make it 9-8 in the blink of an eye and six minutes still on the clock. With two and a half minutes left, ND scored their fourth free-position goal of the day, an area where they had a huge advantage and used it to tie the game at 9-9.
About a minute later, though, Guyette made a massive save on a free position to keep the game tied and give her team one final chance to win it in regulation. But her opposite number was equal to the task, making a key save with just over five seconds left to send the game to overtime.
The first overtime was dominated by the defenses to the point where neither team got a single shot off in the opening five bonus minutes as every possession ended in a turnover.
The second overtime was a little different. The Irish continued to do nothing but turn the ball over, but the Orange were able to muster two shots on goal, both of which were saved by Pithie, including one on an Ashlee Volpe free-position.
In the third overtime, it was Notre Dame’s turn to test the keeper. On their first possession, they generated an excellent chance on a turn-and-shoot right in the middle of the eight-meter for an open look straight out in front of cage. Guyette answered the bell, coming up large and stealing a game-winner from ND.
They also got a good look at the end of the period, on an open look created by a dodge down the right alley. But, once again, Guyette was there for the stonewall with four seconds left to help send the game to the deciding fourth overtime.
The fourth was once again all turnovers until the Orange’s frantic final sequence ended it.
Ashlee Volpe led all scorers on the day with five points on a pair of goals and three assists. Caroline Trinkaus had a hat trick, all in the fourth quarter or overtime, including the game-winner. She also had an early assist for a four-point game. Gracie Britton had a great Senior Day with three points on a goal and two assists, plus the huge hustle play during the final sequence.
Mackenzie Rich had one of each for two points. Bri Peters, Emma Muchnick and Mileena Cotter all had goals, and Alexa Vogelman added an assist.
The Orange do not have too much time to enjoy the craziness, as they’re headed to Chesnut Hill to close the regular season against the Boston College Eagles this Thursday at 5:30 on ESPN U.
