Softball

The Syracuse softball team will take on the No. 4 seed Villanova in the first round of the Big East tournament Thursday at 10 a.m. The Orange enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed after finishing the regular season with a 10-10 record in conference play.

SU finished with an overall record of 29-24. This marks the second straight season in which the Orange has finished above .500 under head coach Leigh Ross.

The Orange will look to rebound after a disappointing end to its regular season against DePaul on May 8. The Orange dropped both games to the Blue Demons and failed to score a single run. SU dropped game one, 1-0, in eight innings and fell 4-0 in game two.

Jenna Caira continued her dominant streak despite the two losses, throwing eight innings of one-run ball in game one. She finished the regular season tied for third in the Big East with 17 wins and was second in the league with 241 strikeouts.

Veronica Grant and Lisaira Daniels finished the season as two of the best hitters in the Big East. Daniels’ .367 batting average landed her seventh in the conference, and she was tied for third in hits with 61. As a freshman, Grant tallied the second-most doubles in the Big East with 18 and finished fourth in runs scored with 45.

The winner of Thursday’s game takes on the winner of the matchup between No. 1 seed DePaul and No. 8 Rutgers on Friday.

Women’s lacrosse

The Syracuse women’s lacrosse team split two close games in the Big East tournament last week. The Orange received big efforts from its seniors during the tournament.

No. 9 Syracuse (13-6, 6-2 Big East) outlasted No. 16 Notre Dame (11-6, 6-2) in four overtimes 12-11 Thursday to win its Big East semi-final matchup. SU would stumble down the stretch against No. 8 Georgetown (13-5, 8-0) Saturday in the Big East final and lose 13-11.

Senior Halley Quillinan would tie the score 11-11 against the Fighting Irish with 12 seconds remaining to force the game into overtime. Quillinan’s fourth goal of the game in the second half was the 200th goal of her career.

Senior Christina Dove would net the game-winning goal at the 2:02 mark of the fourth overtime. Dove had three goals and an assist in the victory. SU used a shot advantage (32-18) to advance to the Big East tournament final.

The Orange would hold only one lead during the game against the Hoyas. Junior Tee Ladouceur would score at the 24:35 mark of the second half to give SU a 9-8 lead. Ladouceur , Dove and freshman Tegan Brown all contributed four points in the loss.

Junior goalie Liz Hogan broke the school record for career saves during the game. Hogan has saved 484 shots during her three-year tenure at SU, moving her into first place over Carla Gigon (475).

The game was tied at eight during the game before Georgetown went on a three-goal run late in the second half to lead 11-9. The Hoyas outscored the Orange 5-4 in the second half en route to the 13-11 victory.

— Compiled by the Daily Orange sports staff

Published on May 11, 2010 at 12:00 pm