No. 3 Syracuse escapes No. 18 Duke 10-9 for 11th straight win
No. 3 Syracuse defeated No. 18 Duke 10-9 on the road Saturday for its 11th-straight win. Emma Muchnick scored the game-winner for SU. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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As she watched Ashlee Volpe’s third goal trickle off Amanda Paci’s stick into Duke’s net, all Molly Guzik could do was smile.
She jumped with her hands above her head and then extended them to the side. Like a bird soaring in the sky, Guzik flapped her arms. Syracuse had soared to a 9-6 lead after scoring four unanswered goals.
Any reason for the Orange to smile evaporated in 89 seconds. An eight-player buoyant mosh pit gleamed after the Blue Devils tied the game at nine off three consecutive woman-up opportunities, flipping SU’s smiles upside down.
That was until Emma Muchnick ripped a bender to win the game with just over two minutes remaining, and SU had something to rejoice about. That instilled enough strength in it to hold off Duke’s last offensive breath as time trickled down.
Despite an array of mood swings down the stretch, No. 3 Syracuse (11-3, 6-2 Atlantic Coast) outlasted No. 18 Duke 10-9 (9-5, 5-3 ACC) to lengthen its win streak to 11 games, the second-longest surge in the country. Muchnick’s go-ahead tally gave her a hat trick, alongside Guzik and Volpe. SU grappled with fending off Ava Biancardi’s fiery scoring and Eva Pronti’s passing prowess, with five assists, but survived the Blue Devils’ last effort.
“We got a little frazzled, but I thought our kids showed really good poise and calmness and composure,” head coach Regy Thorpe said.
He couldn’t have chosen better nouns to detail how his squad was never fazed. Even though Pronti whizzed a screamer across the goal for Avery Doran to finish just a minute in, Syracuse never fretted.
Muchnick then galloped at Madison Beale, lifting the ball in the kitty-corner direction, left of Duke netminder Hope Schoudel to knot the game at one. Even though she misfired her first two free-position shots, Muchnick couldn’t be deterred.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well on the 8-meter (arc) and the free-position shot tonight, and I know she wanted a couple of those back,” Thorpe said.
The tie remained until Mackenzie Rich shifted diagonally off the goal, locating Guzik on a run starting well outside the 12-meter fan. The sophomore caressed the ball and showcased her ambidexterity with a lefty finish. They united again early in the second, with Rich feeding Guzik on her dominant right, and she cut toward goal to extend the rout to 3-1.
While Biancardi comes off the bench, she makes her presence felt as the Blue Devils’ leading scorer. Biancardi fooled Coco Vandiver, lifting her stick and nonchalantly scoring.
Bri Peters helped the Orange rebound from their ugly free-position start, doubling the lead, which it wouldn’t surrender that half. But a minute and a half later, Pronti sent a cross-field dime to Quinn Whitaker, who beat Daniella Guyette.
The back-and-forth contest persisted, as Guzik side-stepped toward the goal to nab a first-half hat trick four minutes later. In the waning moments, Pronti snatched the ball from Izzy Lahah’s reach and delivered a picture-perfect centering feed to Biancardi. Lahah’s six ground balls led all players.
“Izzy’s been saving our butt on defense all year long,” Thorpe said.
The Blue Devils kept their foot on the pedal in the second half. Biancardi went toe-to-toe with Guzik, completing her hat trick 50 seconds into play on a woman-up chance to tie things at five.
Duke could’ve taken a lead had Doran converted a free-position chance, but it cashed in as Pronti found Bella Goodwin after contemplating at X for a few seconds to take the reins, anyway.
“We knew they were going to come out flying in the second half,” Thorpe said. “I said this team plays with a lot of calmness and composure, but I think when we got away a little bit in the third, we settled back down.”
SU was pitted in its most desolate patch yet. It seemed it wouldn’t recover from a nearly quarter-long goal drought. But Volpe, who didn’t start, ignited a fire. She flung a whimsical shot over her left shoulder to tie the game at six.
It didn’t stop there. With just over three minutes to go in the third frame, Volpe ripped a deep pellet between the outer arcs to give Syracuse a 7-6 advantage.
“She made some big plays to give us a little breathing room,” Thorpe said.
Muchnick grabbed her second goal of the game from the right flank, and the cherry on top was Volpe’s season-high third goal off the bouncer that barely nicked Paci’s stick.
But those aforementioned 89 seconds changed everything.
With just under seven minutes to go, Pronti and Goodwin connected on the left side to cut the deficit to two. The Blue Devils bolted upfield after Ellie White, the ACC’s foremost draw specialist, won a tie-up, as she helped them conquer the battle 13-8 Saturday. That draw allowed Duke to sustain momentum, and Doran seamlessly trimmed the lead to one with tension building.
The climax of the Blue Devils’ comeback came in the same manner as the last two goals — a woman-up opportunity. Pronti passed out of free position, and Sadie Stafford tied the game.
“Under fire, you get used to playing tight games,” Thorpe said.
Paci and Caroline Trinkaus traded turnovers, and it seemed the nine-goal split would persist into overtime, a point the Orange haven’t reached this season.
That was until Volpe released a righty pass, her off hand, to a cruising Muchnick to score the go-ahead goal with just over two minutes left and two seconds on the shot clock.
“She wants the ball,” Thorpe said. “She got a bounce and attacked the ball and made a play. Big energy goal for us.”
Peters picked up a green card with 19 seconds left, giving the Blue Devils an opportune chance on their last limb. But Biancardi pinged the post with just three seconds left, and SU survived its scariest ending yet.
“When you get into so many dog fights, you get immune to it,” Thorpe said. “You don’t get too rattled.”
