The Syracuse Orange took a day trip east on I-90 on Tuesday to face off with Orange legend Katie Rowan-Thomson and her UAlbany Great Danes, returning home with a gritty, 10-8 win over their in-state foes to extend their winning streak to eight straight.
It was the kind of day in which nothing came easy, as the Orange had to grind it out all the way until the end to secure the win. It maybe shouldn’t be a surprise given that it was a road game on short rest, their fourth game in 13 days that comes
on the tail end of three straight games against ranked teams.
Whatever the reason, ‘Cuse seemed to be lacking an edge to their play, especially in possession. They only had 11 turnovers, but a lot of them were simple mistakes in passing, including three failed clear attempts in the first half, that gave UAlbany extra possessions and kept putting themselves in difficult positions.
When they weren’t turning it over, the ball movement on offense was sluggish and virtually non-existent at times. They did execute very nicely on a couple of transition chances, but for the most part their cohesion in the 7-on-7 was largely lacking in this performance.
They got beaten in the middle of the field, too. After starting hot, winning five of the first six draws, they ended up losing 11 of the final 14 to drop the draw battle, 12-8. They also got out-ground-balled, 23-20.
The defense was more or less their usual dominant self, finishing with 12 caused turnovers while limiting UAlbany to 10 shots on goal. They’ve been so good that the eight goals they gave up is actually the most they’ve surrendered in their last six games, but is obviously still tremendous overall.
Coco Vandiver and Izzy Lahah continued their incredible play with three CTs and two CTs and three GBs, respectively. UAlbany transfer Mackenzie Salentre had a big game in her homecoming with three CTs, four GBs and one DC.
Dan Guyette had a so-so day in net with just four saves, although she did scoop up six ground balls, a lot of which were loose balls created by her defense.
On the score sheet, Caroline Trinkaus and Emma Muchnick led the way, each finishing with a hat trick, while Trinkaus also added an assist for four points. Annie Parker recorded a goal and two assists, while Molly Guzik had one of each. Bri Peters and Mackenzie Rich both had a goal, and Joely Caramelli nabbed an assist.
The day started fast for the Orange, who caused a turnover on the first possession and ran down the field for an early transition goal in which Annie Parker found Caroline Trinkaus for a nice finish as she downhill dodged between defenders.
After UAlbany was able to find some rare space cutting through the eight-meter against the SU defense, Molly Guzik was able to get on the board on the first of a handful of goals the Orange scored off the dodge in which a simple juke move was enough to beat the defender to get an open look at cage. On this one, Guzik initiated from the right wing with a face dodge, used the juke to blow past her defender and run all the way in to score over top of goalie Grace Cincebox right on the crease to give ‘Cuse a 2-1 lead.
About half a minute later, Trinkaus followed suit by dodging from up top to get around her defender and run straight down main street, scoring on a nice shot on-the-run to give SU quick back-to-back goals to extend the lead to 3-1. Less than two minutes after that, Parker scored on a free position to make it 4-1.
The second quarter started with a similar flourish, with the Orange scoring on a woman-up with a nice slashing dodge through the middle of the zone as Trinkaus completed her hat trick just 36 seconds into the frame, making it 5-2 ‘Cuse. This kicked off a second quarter tug-of-war as the teams traded goals all period long.
UAlbany answered with a transition goal of their own, before Mackenzie Rich showcased her shooting abilities with an absolute rip from the eight-meter off a feed from Trinkaus. It was a welcome sight from Rich, whose shown more as a feeder or finisher from in close so far this season.
After the Great Danes responses a minute later, the scoring went into a five-minute drought that was ended by a beautiful effort from Emma Muchnick, who scored her first of the game on a behind-the-back finish right in front of cage after receiving a pass from Joely Caramelli. It might have been the moment Muchnick’s been waiting on all season to kick start her senior campaign.
UAlbany got a late free-position goal to move within two at the half, 7-5.
The third quarter was a defensive battle as both teams struggled to create decent scoring chances. The lone tally of the quarter belonged to Bri Peters, who finished off a gorgeous display of transition attacking. Trinkaus received an outlet pass around midfield and ran the ball up into the offense herself, dumping a pass down to Parker at GLE. Annie quickly threw it back up-field to an on-rushing Peters, who caused the pass in stride and finished on-the-run to complete the transition magic.
It gave SU an 8-5 lead heading for the fourth, but the Great Danes would not go away. They never got closer than two in the fourth, but they also never let the Orange pull away, proving to be a tough out that lasted for 60 minutes.
The teams traded five goals in the final frame, with UAlabany scoring three and ‘Cuse netting two. The pair of Orange tallies were scored by Muchnick in nearly identical fashion that capped a day of one-on-one dodging goals for the visitors.
Both her late goals utilized the simple juke move to beat her defender before running down the left alley for an overhand finish on-the-run to beat the goalie low and help preserve the win for SU.
In the end, it proved to be a slog of a day in which ‘Cuse were never able to get themselves out of first or second gear. The lack of goals has been an issue all season, but this game felt a little more like a fatigue issue at the end of a difficult three-in-four road stretch.
And there’s still so much more to come, as SU will return home for an ACC battle with a Pitt team that’s been playing tough and actually has themselves ranked this year, currently at No. 24 in the IL media poll. The Orange and Panthers will face off in a little Saturday morning action with a 10 AM start time this Saturday on ACC Network Extra.
