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In her first season as Syracuse’s starting goalie, Daniella Guyette hasn’t crumbled under the pressure. Instead, she’s embraced it.

Heading into SU’s bout with Virginia, Guyette’s 109 saves led the Atlantic Coast Conference, and her .474 save percentage ranked fifth. Through 11 career starts, Guyette has been the epitome of consistency for the Orange. In all but three of SU’s games before Saturday, Guyette had notched a save percentage above .430. Her reliability has backstopped an Orange defensive core that’s seen more turnover than most in 2025.

But even the best goalies have off days.

In No. 7 Syracuse’s (8-4, 4-2 ACC) conference clash with No. 11 Virginia (7-4, 3-3 ACC), that was the case for Guyette. Despite SU’s strong start to the contest, notching five goals in the first quarter, Guyette’s 1-for-6 mark on saves allowed the Cavaliers to match its output. After showing improvement across the next two frames, Guyette’s struggles resurfaced via a saveless fourth quarter. Even without Guyette at her best, the Orange escaped with their third one-goal victory of the campaign.

Just under two minutes into play, Guyette stood ready as UVA’s Kate Galica danced her way across the 8-meter line. Face-guarded by Alexa Vogelman, she still dished the ball to Jenna DiNardo as she cut across the front of the cage, poised to shoot. Guyette turned aside the chance for her first — but ultimately only — save of the opening frame.

Looking to build on Emma Ward’s opening tally, SU head coach Kayla Treanor opted for a zone defense in front of Guyette and quickly paid the price. This time, instead of passing the ball, Galica took the shot herself and found twine.

In an effort to adjust to the Cavaliers’ speed, the Orange switched to man defense to try and cut off shooting lanes in front of Guyette. That didn’t work either. The strategy left Gabby LaVerghetta unmarked at the right post, who worked her way in front of the net and beat Guyette from close range.

As Syracuse continued to flip between zone and man defense, it only benefitted Virginia. Amid the confusion, the Orange fell into avoidable fouls that fed the Cavaliers’ 3-0 run late in the quarter.

Usual game-changers like Sam DeVito, Coco Vandiver and Kaci Benoit become nonfactors as UVA’s potent offensive core seemed to get whatever it wanted. Syracuse’s defense became mere turnstiles in front of Guyette, who allowed five goals on five consecutive shots.

Dating back to her high school days, Guyette has always tried to make goaltending into a game for herself.

“I make it a game where it’s like, ‘Sure, you may get a point for scoring, but if I get a save, that’s a point in my mind,’ and I’ll keep racking points as I go along,” Guyette said. “One save can change the momentum in my favor for the rest of the game.”

The mentality helps her focus on the next shot rather than dwell on the ones that get by her, Guyette said. Coming off one of the worst quarters of lacrosse in her career as a starter, the mentality helped Guyette find her footing across the next 30 minutes.

“It was a little bit of a rough start, but (I started) picking up on what Virginia is doing and what they were looking for,” Guyette said postgame. “Having DeVito out there helping us adjust and (Vandiver) out there leading us really helps.”

As SU’s defense finally settled down in front of her, Guyette reverted back to her competitive yet composed persona that’s become welcome in Syracuse’s locker room this season.

Whether it meant clearing the zone with a 60-70 yard shot, scooping up an occasional ground ball or making a timely save, Guyette helped Syracuse’s young defensive core bounce back. Throughout the second and third quarters, Guyette turned aside seven of the 10 shots she faced.

Propelled by Guyette’s efforts, Syracuse’s offense finally backed up its goalie’s performance at the other end of the field. The Orange accounted for seven of the game’s next 10 goals after their disastrous first quarter.

“(Our team) really pushed forward to give me better looks where I’m able to help backstop the defense,” Guyette said.

Ahead by a commanding 12-8 margin, Guyette and Syracuse’s backline hoped to hold down the fort for the final 15 minutes en route to a sure victory. Similar to its last outing against then-No. 21 Notre Dame, that didn’t happen. Instead of helping her team cruise to a win, Guyette once again became a shell of herself in the fourth quarter.

Allowing four unanswered goals, all the hard work SU had done to pull away from UVA was swiftly undone in just 2:41. Guyette would’ve invited another shot to come her way just to regain her confidence, but it never came. Instead, Caroline Trinkaus’ late free position tally bailed her out, restoring Syracuse’s lead for good.

Despite Guyette’s day of ups and downs in the crease, Syracuse showed against Virginia that even when she’s not at her best, it can pick up her slack. And even after Guyette’s subpar performance Saturday, her teammates won’t ever doubt her.

“Having (Guyette) in net, we’re pretty confident on our offensive side,” midfielder Mileena Cotter said. “It’s pretty inspiring when your teammates don’t give up, and it just makes you want to push even harder.”

Published on March 29, 2025 at 6:24 pm
Contact Matthew: mgray06@syr.edu | @ma77hew_gray