The Syracuse women’s lacrosse team defeated Villanova 20-6 Sunday, earning a share for the regular-season Big East title along with Georgetown. Senior Tee Ladouceur led the Syracuse (10-7, 7-1 Big East) offense with a career-high eight points.

The Orange also beat No. 5 Loyola 10-9 Friday. The game went into halftime deadlocked, but SU went on a 5-0 run to break it open. Loyola stormed back from a 10-5 deficit, but SU pulled out the one-goal victory. Syracuse defeated a ranked team for the first time in eight tries this season.

The win capped off a strong finish to the regular season after a 3-6 start. The two wins over the weekend pushed Syracuse’s winning streak to five.

The Orange begins play in the Big East tournament Thursday. SU is seeded second and will face Loyola in a rematch at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that game will face the winner of Georgetown vs. Notre Dame. The tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Syracuse is not guaranteed an at-large bid to the tournament.

Softball

The Syracuse softball team swept Seton Hall over the weekend to tie the program record for wins in a season with 36. The Orange (36-11, 12-5 Big East) beat the Pirates (15-32, 3-19) 10-0 and 5-0 on Saturday and finished the sweep with an 8-0 victory Sunday. SU has now shut out its opponent in six straight games.

Jenna Caira led the way in the circle again. The junior pitcher earned all three wins for the Orange. Sophomore Stacy Kuwik pitched six scoreless innings in relief on the weekend.

SU scored eight runs in the first two innings to put the first game Saturday out of reach. Hallie Gibbs hit a two-run home run in the first inning. SU took advantage of two Seton Hall errors and came through with some big hits to score six runs in the second.

Freshman Jasmine Watson and Gibbs powered the Orange offense on the day. Watson and Gibbs each hit two home runs and combined to drive in eight runs.

The Orange broke out again in the second inning Sunday. After Veronica Grant was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Stephanie Watts hit a grand slam to cap a five-run inning. Morgan Nandin went 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in the team’s first run on a single that inning.

Syracuse didn’t score again until the seventh inning when it added three more runs.

With the sweep, SU has now won 12 of its last 13 games. The Orange returns home to play Niagara Wednesday before closing out the regular season with a three-game series against Louisville this weekend.

Tennis

After defeating St. John’s 4-0 in the opening round of the Big East tournament, the Syracuse tennis team suffered a 4-1 loss to eventual runner-up South Florida on Friday.

Freshman Aleah Marrow picked up SU’s only victory at the No. 6 singles position, winning 6-3, 6-3.

Marrow was unable to secure a win in doubles play, however, falling with senior co-captain Simone Kalhorn at the No.2 spot 8-0. After senior co-captain Christina Tan and junior Alessondra Parra earned an 8-2 victory in the No.3 match, senior co-captain Emily Harman and freshman Maddie Kobelt dropped the deciding No. 1 bout 9-7.

Harman and Tan also lost at the No. 1 and No.5 singles spots, falling 6-4, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-3, respectively. Kobelt lost the deciding match at the No. 3 slot, falling 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Parra and Kalhorn, both trailing in their singles matches at the time, walked off the court mid-match.

The Orange defeated Rutgers and Georgetown in consolation matches Sunday and Monday. SU posted 4-1 and 4-2 victories in the matches.

With a victory against the Hoyas and an incomplete match against the Scarlet Knights, Marrow has won 10 consecutive completed singles matches.

— Compiled by The Daily Orange Sports staff

Published on May 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm