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Caroline Trinkaus threw up a prayer. That’s all she could really do.

With four seconds remaining in the fourth overtime of Syracuse’s Saturday clash with Notre Dame, Trinkaus stood all alone on the left side of the field. Gracie Britton scrambled to restart play after Mileena Cotter’s close look sailed over the bar a few seconds earlier.

As Britton grabbed a ball from out of bounds and turned to her left, Trinkaus shuffled into some open space on the edge of the eight-meter fan. Britton dished her the rock with three seconds on the clock. Three seconds until this game — one that had already become Syracuse’s longest contest in program history — would turn over into a fifth overtime period.

Alone on the left flank, it was just enough time for Trinkaus to wind up, step down and hurl a last-ditch effort to send the Fighting Irish home. The result of those actions was — as Emma Muchnick put it postgame — “gross.”

Trinkaus’ last-second shot hummed past the outstretched arms of Notre Dame goaltender Isabel Pithie and sent a ripple through the net. The only thing that could possibly drown out the noise of the ball snapping into the cage was the pop of the crowd at the JMA Wireless Dome and the buzzer, indicating the period was over. But at that point, from the second that ball touched the twine, so too was the game.

Trinkaus’ game-winner capped No. 3 Syracuse’s (12-3, 7-2 Atlantic Coast) ridiculous quadruple-overtime victory over No. 15 Notre Dame (11-4, 5-4 ACC) at the Dome Saturday afternoon. But her win-sealing score was just the cherry on top of a second-half hat trick that lifted the Orange to their 12th consecutive victory.

“I’ve ​​never been in a game like that,” Trinkaus said postgame. “Everyone on my team was kind of in the back of my head… (I) just had to finish it for them.”

Caroline Trinkaus’ teammates pile onto her after she scored SU’s game-winner in quadruple overtime. The goal capped Trinkaus’ second-half hat trick. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor

Before Saturday, SU hadn’t played a single overtime game this season. But even if Trinkaus and the Orange had some sort of experience in overtime this year, nothing really compares to four of them — especially when the fourth required a last-second, hold-your-breath kind of goal to end it.

Muchnick and Trinkaus agreed they’d never seen anything like it. Head coach Regy Thorpe said the only comparable game was SU’s last quadruple-overtime affair, a 12-11 win over Notre Dame in 2010, Thorpe’s first year as an assistant.

But close games certainly haven’t been a foreign feeling for Syracuse recently. SU’s 12-game winning streak has been riddled with close contests, with six of SU’s last seven wins coming by two goals or less. Saturday’s matchup felt like it’d be another dogfight from the start, when the teams traded goals throughout the first half.

Trinkaus stayed relatively quiet through the early chaos, her only point coming on an assist to Ashlee Volpe in the first quarter. She teed up the junior — who finished with a career-high five points — for a smooth bouncing shot into the bottom left corner to tie the game at one. The teams entered halftime tied at four. Syracuse never led.

Eventually, SU began to break down the Fighting Irish defense in the third quarter for four goals, but Trinkaus stayed off the scoresheet. That was, until crunch time rolled around.

With the Orange offense flying at the end of the frame, taking their first lead of the game, Trinkaus added to the advantage.

Up 7-6, Volpe received a pass at the goal line extended and whipped the ball across the field to Trinkaus. She planted one foot to her right, dodged a defender, slipped through a double-team and whipped a sidearm shot into the bottom corner while falling to the ground. It gave Syracuse its first multi-goal lead of the game.

Five minutes later, she extended it to three. In transition, Alexa Vogelman dumped a pass to Trinkaus, who dodged a defender to her right and cut toward the crease. With two defenders in her face, she ripped a lefty shot that nicked the far post and nestled in the back of the net.

At that point, it looked like SU might’ve been in the clear. After all, most of the Orange’s recent contests involved them pulling away in the final two quarters and preserving a narrow lead. But Saturday, Notre Dame came crawling back, scoring three straight to send the game to overtime.

From there, though, neither defense would budge. Three extra periods came and went. Twelve shots failed to find the cage on both ends. The teams combined for 13 turnovers across the additional 20 minutes of play. It was, in a word, chaos.

Perhaps no 50 seconds of the game were more chaotic than the period that preceded Trinkaus’ game-winner, though.

After a Notre Dame turnover, Izzy Lahah charged down the left sideline before being fouled by Madison Rassas. The Notre Dame midfielder was issued a green card, putting SU on the power play.

The Orange promptly worked the ball to Volpe at X, who attempted a hidden ball trick with Britton. It worked, freeing up Trinkaus at the doorstep for a sure-fire game-winner. Pithie wasn’t fooled, though, snaring her attempt and spitting it back into the crease.

Courtney Maclay recovered the ground ball and swung it to Molly Guzik, who found Volpe at the goal line extended again. She fed a wide-open Cotter at the doorstep. Surely this would be the game-winner.

Of course, it wasn’t. Her shot rifled over the cage and out of bounds. Britton restarted quickly.

She didn’t have time to look at the clock. If she did, it’d read five seconds. Instead, as Notre Dame defenders scrambled to get back in position, she saw No. 24 open up on the left flank. Britton whipped it to Trinkaus for one last prayer.

Trinkaus couldn’t describe what was really going through her mind at that moment. Something about winning it for her teammates. Maybe something about just wanting to end the longest game Syracuse has ever played. But time slowed down in those three seconds, from when she received the ball to when it rippled through the net.

The crisp sound of the ball snapping into the nylon meant Syracuse was finally safe. No fifth overtime. No loss to snap a historic winning streak. She made sure that the Orange didn’t flinch. They haven’t since February.

“At the end of the day, we made a big play,” Thorpe said. “This team’s been doing it all year.”

Published on April 11, 2026 at 6:07 pm
Contact Harris: harrispemberton@gmail.com | @HarrisPemb6