For the first 40 minutes of its Sunday afternoon matchup in the Carrier Dome, the No. 8 Virginia women’s lacrosse team looked poised to score an upset victory against No. 2 Syracuse. The Orange, however, rallied from an early deficit to pull out a 10-9 win.
The Cavaliers (2-1) stormed to 4-0 lead in the game’s opening 21 minutes on goals from a trio of attackers — sophomore Casey Bocklet, senior co-captain Caroline McTiernan and junior Dana Boyle — and a strike from sophomore midfielder Courtney Swan. After a pair of Syracuse goals and a tally from Virginia sophomore midfielder Morgan Stephens with under a minute to play, Virginia entered halftime with a 5-2 lead.
The Orange (2-1) worked their way back into the game behind its pair of 2012 First Team All-America attackers, junior Alyssa Murray and senior Michelle Tumolo. Murray scored the Orange’s only two goals of the first half, and Tumolo began an offensive flurry of her own with her strike just over five minutes into the second half. Syracuse closed the gap to 6-5 on Murray’s third goal of the game, but Virginia recovered to take an 8-5 lead when junior attacker Ashlee Warner found the back of the net with 20 minutes remaining and Bocklet scored off a McTiernan pass 12 seconds later.
Syracuse used a three-goal run to draw even with 13:18 to play and took its first lead of the afternoon when Murray tallied her fourth goal of the game about a minute later. The Cavaliers tied the game at nine courtesy of Stephens, but the Orange would have the final word. Syracuse freshman attacker and midfielder Kayla Treanor scored the game-winner with 4:56 on the clock.
Bocklet had a chance to tie the game late, but her shot was off the mark. Syracuse then forced a turnover with less than 10 seconds left in the game to end the Cavaliers’ comeback hopes.
Stephens paced Virginia with three goals, and Bocklet, McTiernan, Boyle and Warner contributed two points each. Senior goalkeeper Kim Kolarik saved 10 of 20 shots on goal and senior co-captain Megan Dunleavy led the defense with four ground balls and one caused turnover. In the second half, the Cavaliers committed seven turnovers and mustered eight shots to Syracuse’s 14.
The Cavaliers will play their home-opener at Klöckner Stadium March 1 at 7 p.m. against No. 4 Maryland.
—compiled by Matthew Morris
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