No. 15 SU shocks No. 4 Northwestern 9-6, earns 1st top-5 win in 2 years
With odds stacked against it, No. 15 Syracuse upset No. 4 Northwestern 9-6 for its first top-five win since 2024. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Among the country’s 100-plus teams, Syracuse has the most arduous schedule.
Granted, the Atlantic Coast Conference has nine ranked teams, so it would make sense for the Orange to pencil in dates on their calendar to face top competition. But when that includes No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Stanford, there aren’t any gimmes.
Outside of conference battles, SU has never held back in trying to find the best opponents to play. It already got a taste of now-No. 3 Maryland and will host No. 6 Yale on Tuesday, seeking revenge for its NCAA Tournament exit. But another top-tier program loomed first.
The venue was the climate-controlled Ryan Fieldhouse and a familiar face in Olivia Adamson was on the opposing side.
That helped No. 15 Syracuse (5-3, 3-2 ACC) upset No. 4 Northwestern (5-2, 0-0 Big Ten) 9-6 for its second upset of the season and first top-5 win since 2024. Molly Guzik led the Orange with a career-high six goals, half of which Mackenzie Rich assisted. Likely Tewaaraton Award front runner Madison Taylor was held to just one goal, while Adamson was shut out.
On an early deep feed by Northwestern’s Aditi Foster, Annabel Child cut in from behind Daniella Guyette’s net for the game’s first goal. It seemed everything was going NU’s way. It’d surely bring the ball back for another opportunity after a Caroline Trinkaus high miss.
Well, the Wildcats would be mistaken. Rich stood at X and flipped her stick around, locating a cutting Guzik for the finish. She’s been the Orange’s first scorer three times this year and lives for the early moments.
About 50 seconds later, just three and a half minutes into play, it was the same story. Guzik received a pass from Rich, who stood behind the net, waiting for the right opportunity.
Both squads traded shots in the ensuing few minutes before the perfect formula took effect again. Trinkaus didn’t know where to go at X, but she knew Guzik was out there somewhere. So, she flung the ball a few extra feet in the air. Between three Northwestern defenders, she found the bottom-left corner.
A 12-4 shot rout was something the Wildcats were not accustomed to this year, having thoroughly dominated their opponents in all five of their wins. Yet, they remained efficient. After a deep bid from Foster that Guyette saved, Northwestern earned its second goal of the quarter, courtesy of a Taylor Lapointe low-post clink.
To start the second, Guzik marched down the field, and at X, decided to take the ball herself for SU’s fourth goal. Then, Bri Peters scored her fifth goal of the season from the right flank, marking the fifth time she’d scored in the last six games.
Later in the frame, with Kaci Benoit in her face, Child cut the SU lead to two. It took seven more minutes for another tally, but Maddie Epke got on the board from a free-position finish, courtesy of an Izzy Lahah foul.
Rich continued exercising her assisting prowess, standing at X and finding Volpe for a quick one-touch shot that sailed into the net. However, she nearly took the head off Anna Carroll with a dangerous release, and the tally was called off to keep the score at 5-4 in favor of SU.
While the Wildcats survived down one heading into the break, they didn’t look like themselves. Taylor, who’d set the single-season NCAA goals record last year with 109, didn’t even get a shot off in the first half, nor did Adamson in the game against her former school. Taylor did score late but after the game was sealed.
Only three shots on goal transpired across both sides in the first seven minutes of second-half play, but none of them were goals. That changed when Rich stood in the football end zone, decided to pivot inside and scored while being pushed by Smith to take a two-goal lead.
A couple minutes later, Trinkaus weaved through the Wildcats defense, with Jaylen Rosga’s stick on her head. It didn’t matter, as the sophomore slotted her 10th goal of the season. But the final five minutes of the third quarter saw countless turnovers, with neither squad altering a 7-4 scoreline. The Wildcats actually won that category 21-17.
Taylor was near-invisible, like she was in the national championship last year, when she was held scoreless at Gillette Stadium, watching North Carolina’s Chloe Humphrey net a hat trick.
But the one person who didn’t disappear down the stretch was Guzik. A seamless hunched-up finish from the left side helped the Orange double their lead and put the game out of reach, reaching her career-high fifth goal.
The Wildcats had a couple more opportunities, and on their final limb, in a game Adamson wanted more than anyone, she missed a free-position shot.
And for the dagger, who else did you think the ball was going to? What other play design would have worked? Of course it was a Rich pass from X to a cruising Guzik that cemented SU’s upset.
