Syracuse bounced in ACC Tournament 1st Round with 15-10 loss to Stanford
Syracuse squandered an 8-4 first-half lead against Stanford, falling 15-10 in the first round of the ACC Tournament Wednesday. Courtesy of the Atlantic Coast Conference
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It was almost exactly a year to the day when Syracuse entered the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Orange cruised to the conference title game by defeating Louisville and Virginia by a combined plus-24 margin.
A year later, times have changed. SU entered Charlotte as the No. 6 seed reeling from a catastrophic loss to Boston College and on the precipice of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 14 years.
Wednesday, the Orange took another step backward. No. 6 seed Syracuse (9-8, 5-4 ACC) fell to No. 3 seed Stanford (14-4, 7-2 ACC) 15-10 in the ACC Tournament First Round, putting it at risk of missing the national tournament. After exploding in the first quarter, SU head coach Kayla Treanor saw her team collapse down the stretch.
“We looked really tired. We still had plenty of opportunities, but we didn’t make plays when we needed to, and (Stanford) did,” Treanor said.
As SU trailed by one with 15 minutes left, it needed to snap out of a monumental offensive breakdown to come out victorious. Despite an explosive first quarter, Syracuse’s 20-plus turnovers and one goal in nearly 30 minutes put it in a hole.
Rather than the Orange making a push, the Cardinal sealed the deal. With SU goalie Daniella Guyette briefly being benched, she never found a groove as Martha Oakey sniped multiple lasers into the top corners. Time was up. Syracuse couldn’t survive.
But the signs were there from the beginning. Just as they finished their last game, the Orange started slow. SU was already down 2-0 before it gained possession. The Cardinal worked inside with slick passes through the fan and beat Guyette on their first four shots. Stanford continued to cut through the Orange until they battled back through Meghan Rode’s success in the draw circle.
SU built a 3-0 run in two minutes on the backs of Gracie Britton, Emma Muchnick and then Alexa Vogelman, who each found the back of the net to tie the game at 4-4. The Orange then took their first lead on a player-up with Britton making an extra pass to Joely Caramelli for the tally.
Syracuse’s final eight minutes of the first quarter looked like a team in survival mode. It was one of the best sequences for the Orange in weeks. And less than a minute into the second frame, Caramelli added another goal.
The Cardinal were all of a sudden reeling while Rode and Co. won six straight on the draw. Six straight Syracuse goals after Vogelman buried a free position caused a goalie change for Stanford. In was freshman Ella Morton. Out was the reigning Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year Lucy Pearson.
The change didn’t do much initially. SU leading scorer Emma Ward was quiet through most of its early success. But on the cusp of becoming the program’s all-time assist leader, she moved from X to the top of the key and flipped a pass to Britton for a goal, capping a 7-0 run and giving Ward the record.
Meanwhile, a streak of nine-straight draw controls mixed with lockdown defense by the Orange kept Stanford’s attack at bay. The Cardinal failed to record a shot from 8:34 remaining in the first quarter to 8:05 left in the second. Syracuse switched between a suffocating player-to-player defense and a high-pressure zone. Stanford had little answer, notching just two goals across the final 24 minutes of the first half to help SU build an 8-5 lead.
Pearson returned in the second half despite Morton holding Syracuse out of the net over the final 12 minutes of the second quarter. And as Stanford found a slight groove on the draw, its attack cut into the deficit.
Lindsey Devir struck first. Twenty-four seconds later, it was Rylee Bouvier. The game flipped on its head as the Orange were now the ones limited on offense.
“They just went on a run, and we got really frantic,” Treanor said. “We didn’t play with as much confidence as we were early on in the game.”
A 26-minute SU drought featured multiple misplaced passes, giving the Cardinal repeated offensive opportunities. Their high-powered attack, which entered averaging just under 14 goals per game, broke out for four goals in just over five minutes. Amid a horrid performance, Guyette was substituted out for freshman Allie Hanlon. She’d played in just two games all season. But Hanlon entered with the Orange’s fate on the line as Treanor said it felt like they “couldn’t buy a save” all night.
The Cardinal added on despite the goalie change to build a 10-8 lead, and Guyette was quickly substituted back in. Britton broke the streak with a minute left in the third quarter, and Syracuse needed a strong fourth quarter to come out on top. Instead, Stanford took over for the final blow.
Facing the Cardinal was as favorable a matchup the Orange could’ve drawn for the ACC Tournament, already defeating Stanford earlier in the season. But despite signs of turning the tide, the same mediocrity took over.
Following their loss to BC six days prior, Treanor declared the ACC Tournament a “fresh start.” She attempted to wipe the slate clean, using depth pieces like Annie Parker, Payton Rowley and Izzy Lahah in larger roles. Though this isn’t the same No. 1 seed in the tournament like a year ago. The Orange couldn’t simply breeze by their opponent at will.
They’ll likely make the national tournament due to the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country. Treanor said postgame that in the 12 days between Wednesday’s loss and the selection show, she’ll give her team time to rest before making a final push. But riding a three-game losing streak, Syracuse will need a colossal flip of the script to reach the Final Four for the third consecutive year.
