Observations from SU’s 6-5 win over Yale: Strong Guyette, script flip
After Syracuse goalie Daniella Guyette’s statement 11-save performance in her last meeting with Yale, Guyette had another productive day against the Bulldogs Tuesday. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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As she did in all four of her seasons as Syracuse’s head coach, Kayla Treanor turned to a notebook to jot down her brain dump of the season. This wasn’t an ordinary way for her year to end.
The Orange fell to Yale in a narrow 9-8 loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Nobody knows what Treanor scribbled last May, but that was the last game she served as Syracuse’s head coach.
Perhaps she changed her notebook from a Pantone orange shade to Penn State’s deep navy blue after accepting its head coaching job. But SU still returned nearly two-thirds of last year’s team under Regy Thorpe, and that scary memory has remained with it. The goal remains constant: exacting revenge.
The Orange did just that. Here are observations from No. 9 Syracuse’s (6-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) 6-5 upset over No. 5 Yale (7-1, 1-0 Ivy):
Flipped 1st-quarter script
It was a sickening feeling for SU to start down 3-0 versus Yale with its season on the line last year. It answered back with two late goals in the first quarter, but it knows that conceding one less goal would have meant overtime and a possibly different fate.
On Tuesday, the opposite happened. The Orange were the ones who got out in front early with three tallies, holding the Bulldogs scoreless. Alexa Vogelman, Molly Guzik and Emma Muchnick achieved that three-goal advantage.
Last year, Ashlee Volpe answered the three tallies with two of her own. And the Bulldogs did the same Tuesday in the final five minutes of the first quarter. First, it was Ashley Kiernan after a Guyette miscue, with the ball trickling past her after she nearly grasped it. Kate Gould gave Yale even more life with her first-frame tally.
From that point on, it was a completely different game with nothing in the scoring timeline emulating last year’s clash besides it coming down to the final moments. But deep down, the Orange were keen on having an effective start, afraid of the risks last year’s early collapse ran. And it was especially important, as all five of their wins this year have come after halftime leads.
Same old draw story
Kate Mashewske set the standard to dominate the draw control in every game. She tallied 234 in 2024, marking a program record. Anything below that? Mediocre.
There aren’t many fish in the water like her. SU learned that the hard way with Meghan Rode running the show last year and in Yale’s 8-5 draw control rout Tuesday.
While Guzik dominates at many things on the field, it’s clear she’s still nestling into the responsibilities that come with taking nearly every draw.
She’s flashed her prowess in multiple games, but nowhere close to all of them. The Orange came into Tuesday losing the draw control in four of their eight games. Despite the .500 clip, a top-10 team in the country would expect better.
On top of being Yale’s assist leader, Gould takes its draws and came into the clash with SU with 41 draw wins on the year. She furthered her dominance, helping the Bulldogs take five to the Orange’s one in the first quarter. That continued late despite the Orange breaking even across the final three frames.
Mute third quarter
You could hear a pin drop in the JMA Wireless Dome during this frame. That’s how silent things were, and neither team had any urgency to move the ball. Oftentimes, a midfielder would stand still at the opposing 30-yard line and wait to kill off a green card.
The Orange haven’t played a quarter quite like that this season. In wins, their offense is surging and Guzik is scoring left and right. But one shot on goal in a quarter wasn’t something they could expect in every win.
The Bulldogs dominated possession but were timid to attack the net. Guyette had their number nearly every time. Yale was held scoreless for over 18 minutes but finally broke the dry spell with an Ashley Newman goal.
That triggered its momentum, and the senior tied things up in the fourth. While the scoreboard may not suggest it, the final frame was much more intense, and Caroline Trinkaus played hero with the go-ahead tally.
Guyette doesn’t let the Bulldogs out
Who let the dogs out? Guyette sure didn’t.
It can’t be a coincidence that arguably her best game of the season was in the NCAA Tournament against Yale. The netminder only had more saves than goals allowed once in the 13 games leading up to the second round of the tournament. In that contest, Guyette posted 10 saves on the Bulldogs’ first 16 shots.
While the fourth quarter didn’t go to plan, it was a comparable performance for the senior with 10 saves Tuesday. Sure, the early error was worrisome. But the senior hadn’t been tested in a long time.
Then-No. 4 Northwestern uncharacteristically gave Guyette an easy workload for its standards with just 14 shots on goal. Before that, she only saw nine shots on goal across wins over California and Virginia Tech.
Guyette was stalwart Tuesday. It’s difficult to stop free-position shots, but the Bulldogs converted none of their four attempts. She especially shone in the third, stymieing four shots while SU’s offense could barely buy its own attempt on net.
