No. 15 Syracuse beats Louisville 13-10 for 1st ACC win of 2026
Despite leading by just one goal at halftime, No. 15 Syracuse women’s lacrosse outscored Louisville 7-4 in the second half, leading to a 13-10 win. Brody Schuffler | Contributing Photographer
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The early stages of the gauntlet are finally over for Syracuse women’s lacrosse. A four-game stretch against four of the nation’s best teams concluded with a 15-7 victory over No. 13 Loyola Tuesday — the Orange’s elusive first win under head coach Regy Thorpe.
Now, the road looks a little smoother. The skies seem to be clearing up. The big, bad opponents that tormented SU in its first three games of the season will crawl back into the shadows for a few more weeks.
Meanwhile, the No. 15 Orange get a stretch of three straight games against unranked opponents. The first of them came Saturday against Louisville. And Syracuse got a feeling it hasn’t had often this season — a relatively comfortable victory.
No. 15 Syracuse (2-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) beat Louisville (2-4, 0-3 ACC) 13-10 on the road Saturday afternoon for its first conference win of the campaign. Despite leading by just one goal at halftime, the Orange rode a 7-4 second-half advantage to put away the Cardinals’ upset bid. Molly Guzik scored a career-high four goals to propel the Orange to victory.
It was undoubtedly a game of runs. Syracuse put together a five-goal stretch late in the first quarter which carried into the first few minutes of the second. Louisville instantly answered with a 4-0 run of its own, and the teams went back-and-forth from there. Eventually, SU’s 4-0 third-quarter run proved to be the difference.
Louisville made the first noise with a left-handed blast from Ella Berg six minutes into the first quarter. While Syracuse had four early looks snubbed by goalie Haley Richards — who finished with 15 saves — it finally broke her down with five straight scores.
The Orange first drew blood with a solo goal from defender Izzy Lahah. Mackenzie Borbi shoveled Lahah a pass at the edge of the offensive half, she sprinted towards the fan and finished with a right-handed shot over the left shoulder of Richards. The defender’s first goal of the season leveled the game at one apiece.
Right before the end of the first quarter, the Orange nabbed two unanswered goals on a woman-up opportunity. First, Gracie Britton located Guzik at goal line extended, and SU’s leading scorer finished past Richards to give Syracuse its first lead of the day.
A minute later, Alexa Vogelman caught her defender sleeping and made a cut to the cage, where Mackenzie Rich found her to extend the advantage to two at the end of the frame. SU outshot the Cardinals 8-2 in the first period and forced six turnovers.
Mileena Cotter and Rich helped Syracuse carry that momentum early in the second. Courtney Maclay fed Cotter from a few yards out for SU’s fourth goal. Then, after Guzik won the ensuing draw, Rich dodged a defender at the 12-meter, stepped inside and ripped a lefty shot into the bottom-right corner.
Louisville eventually settled down offensively and evaporated SU’s advantage, though, primarily through its proficiency on the draw. The Cardinals bested the Orange 9-3 in the center circle in the first half, leading a resurgence offensively.
First, at the 10:14 mark in the second, Maggie McMahon ripped an overhand shot past Daniella Guyette that stung the top-right corner. Then, the Cardinals got a third goal on a free-position look from Berg before McMahon scored again.
Charlotte Jackson then knotted the game at five with a free-position rip into the bottom-left corner. The Cardinals’ precise shot placement had Guyette all over the cage. They painted the corners to perfection to get back into the game.
The parity was short-lived, though. With two minutes remaining in the frame, Annie Parker dished a smooth feed to Bri Peters in front of the net, which she tucked away to put the Orange up 6-5. That score didn’t change before halftime.
To start the second half, the Orange opted for freshman Ireland Mistretta in the circle, although Louisville won the first draw of the half. Berg promptly shook a few defenders and finished with a bouncing shot past Guyette to tie the game again.
With Mistretta taking the draws, Guzik shifted to the offensive half, and the two helped each other out. Mistretta won a draw after her initial loss, which set up two nifty scores from Guzik.
Guzik first received a pass from Peters on the left flank and ripped a nasty low-to-high blast into the top-left corner. A minute later, she completed her hat trick with a lefty finish through traffic to put the Orange up two. Borbi made the advantage three less than a minute later with a score late in the shot clock.
This time, though, SU’s burst wasn’t fully answered. The Orange extended the lead to as much as four at the end of the third quarter. Despite two early goals in the fourth from Louisville, Syracuse answered with three of its own. The Cardinals chipped away late, but never again got within two scores.
So, for just the second time this season, the Orange came out on the winning end. And they hope it’s a sign of things to come in one of their most favorable stretches of the season.
