The Syracuse Orange looked like they want to play more games at 10 AM on Saturday morning.
‘Cuse started fast and dominated on both ends of the field in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the nine-goal win suggests it was, as the Orange were up 16-2 with 10 minutes to go before taking the majority of their starters out. With Pitt winning virtually every draw, they scored the final five goals of the game to eventually stop the running clock.
But it was no matter for SU, who put together one of their
most complete performances of the season against the Panthers.
The defense displayed much of what they have all season. They were aggressive. Their sticks were active, collapsing on passing lanes and clogging up the middle of the zone. Pitt had to force passes to try and generate looks, which did not go well for them.
The Orange overwhelmed them on defense, with the vast majority of Pitt possessions on the day ending in turnovers. Pitt finished with 20 turnovers against only eight shots on goal, and that’s even including the shots they racked up after the ‘Cuse starters came out.
Izzy Lahah’s breakout season continued with her best day yet, a massive performance of five caused turnovers and six ground balls to lead the charge. Meanwhile, Coco Vandiver had a pair of caused turnovers that she used to pass Katie Goodale and set the all-time career record for CTs in program history with 103 for her illustrious career in which she’s been a starter since day one.
But the real story of the day was on the other end, where the offense exploded for a huge performance of 16 goals in just over three quarters before the starters came out. The Orange surpassed their season scoring average in the first half with 10 tallies at halftime.
It was a comprehensive performance from the O, who attacked Pitt’s zone with purpose, energy and unity. The movement of both ball and feet was constant, quick and efficient, as the Panthers struggled to keep up with ‘Cuse’s movement and precision with the ball, leading to a ton of Orange goals (especially in the first half) right on the door step.
They finished with 12 assists on 16 goals and shot an incredible 64 percent (16-of-25) for the day. Mackenzie Rich had the best game of her career with seven points on a hat trick and four assists, while Molly Guzik led with four goals and added a pair of assists for six points. Caroline Trinkaus continued her surge with a pair of goals and assists for four points. In total, eight different players scored a goal, seven recorded an assist and 12 scored a point.
The Orange set the tone right out of the gate in this one, as Pitt picked up an immediate green card off the opening draw and SU made them pay on the power play. Guzik found Trinkaus making a beautiful diagonal cut through the eight-meter for a nice catch-and-finish right on the crease exactly one minute into the game.
After Mackenzie Rich scored a rebound goal off a loose ball scoop, SU score their second power play goal of the first quarter when Ashlee Volpe found Guzik right on goal-line extended for a slam dunk on the back end of more excellent movement
Some more quick ball movement led to Rich having space to come up from below GLE to sneak in her second goal just under 10 minutes in. Less than a minute later, Trinkaus curled around the front of the crease, took a pass from Annie Parker and deposited it for her second of the opening frame. With just over a minute to go in the quarter, Joely Caramelli got on the board with a nice cut down the alley before reaching high to receive a below-GLE pass from Rich. Her finish was SU’s sixth goal of the first quarter, and gave the Orange a 6-0 lead before Pitt could even put a shot on cage.
The second quarter started sloppily for ‘Cuse in possession with a number of early turnovers, but they found their rhythm in the back-half of the period. Alexa Vogelman opened the score book for the second after taking a pass from Guzik right in the center of the eight-meter before turning and finishing on a beautiful jump shot to extend the lead to seven. Just about a minute later, Mackenzie Borbi made it eight when she made a nice low catch after cutting down through the zone before evading multiple defenders, bringing the ball up and finishing over top of Pitt goalie Molly Cain to make it 8-0 with six minutes to go in the half.
Pitt finally got on the board with their first shot on goal after leading goal-scorer Kaitlyn Giandonato made a nice cut as Gigi Leonzi found some rare space for a smooth connection and finish with a little under four minutes remaining.
But the Orange would strike back a couple minutes later on a nice quick-stick finish from Emma Muchnick. At the end of the quarter, Rich found Guzik curling around the back of the crease for a catch-and-fire as she came up above GLE, a beautifully executed goal with one second left in the half that made it 10-1 at the break.
Rich and Guzik connected again for the first goal of the third, which ended up being a patented side-arm rip from eight meters by Guzik for her hat trick and Rich’s fourth helper of the game, which started the running clock for the first time at 11-1.
After Pitt tallied their second to temporarily halt the clock, Mileena Cotter got on the board with a sweeping side-arm finish on the run as she streaked across the middle of the zone. From there, the free-positions took over for ‘Cuse, as Rich got her hat trick and seventh point of the day on a nice bounce shot from a free-position a few minutes later to make it 13-2. Guzik added her fourth of the game a couple minutes later on yet another free-position laser beam shot, going low-to-high with the side-arm release to ripple the net.
The Orange added their third power play goal of the game from Caramelli, who scored on a nice bounce shot on the run to make it 15-2 to end the third quarter.
Cotter opened the fourth quarter scoring with a smooth overhand finish on a free position just under two minutes in to make it 16-2 with 13 minutes to play. Regy Thorpe started making substitutions all over the field, and Pitt dominated possession for much of the quarter to make it a closer game. Their starters scored five goals against ‘Cuse’s backups (and some starters) while draw taker Aidan Carr helped them play make-it-take-it in the final 10 minutes to bring it to a 16-7 final score.
The only area of weakness on the day for SU was the draw controls, which Pitt dominated to an 18-7 advantage. The Orange actually won five of the first eight draws of the game before Pitt won 15 of the final 17 to control the circle. ‘Cuse did respond by completely dominating ground balls, thanks in large part to all the turnovers they caused, 19-7.
Dan Guyette only made a single save in her three quarters of play before being taken out for Allie Hanlon, who did not have a save in the fourth. When the defense completely shuts down an opponent the way they did today, to the point where the opponent can’t even get shots off as much as they are turning it over, Guyette does tend to struggle. It’s hard for her, or any goalie, to get in a rhythm when you’re simply not facing shots with any consistency. No harm, no foul there as the defense made sure she had light work to do on the day.
Lastly, SU had a near perfect day on the power play. They went 3-for-4 on the woman-up and held Pitt to 1-of-5 on the woman-down in another example of just how much they controlled the play in this one.
The Orange will be back in action mid-week in Ithaca when they close out the month with a night game at Schoellkopf Field at 7 PM on Tuesday.
