No. 14 Syracuse pummels Cal 13-3 with 11 unanswered goals
Syracuse jumped back to .500 with a dominant 13-3 victory over Cal Tuesday, its largest margin of victory in a contest this season. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
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After probably the hardest possible way to begin a season, with matchups against the top three teams in the country, the Orange unsurprisingly emerged winless. So, after defeating then-No. 13 Loyola on Feb. 24, head coach Regy Thorpe dubbed the past seven days “Operation: Get Back To .500.”
Coming off a win over Louisville Saturday, SU had the chance to complete that mission against Cal Tuesday. And the Orange did so with their most complete performance of the season.
The No. 14 Orange (3-3, 2-2 ACC) ignited for 10 first-half goals as they destroyed Cal (3-4, 1-2 ACC) 13-3 at the JMA Wireless Dome Tuesday. Syracuse had 11 different goalscorers combine for 13 goals, while the Orange defense locked down the Golden Bears. Cal had just seven total shots, 25 turnovers and went scoreless for over 36 minutes across the first three quarters.
“Our defense gave us multiple opportunities to get our offense going,” Thorpe said. “It was good to see us bury the ball.”
Thorpe and the Orange have been waiting a few weeks for an offensive explosion like Tuesday.
In Syracuse’s first three games, it scored just 6.67 goals per game, one of the worst marks in Division I. SU scored 20 goals on 75 shots for a 26.7% shot percentage. After a 9-5 defeat to then-No. 7 Maryland, Thorpe said the Orange “certainly need to clean up that side of the ball.”
In the three games since, the Orange have heeded his call to action. SU tallied a season-high 43 shots Tuesday, 26 of which were on target. Most of that damage came in a dominant second period, where the Orange tallied seven goals in a nine-minute span and held Cal scoreless.
Entering the period with a 3-1 advantage, SU first struck blood with a Mileena Cotter score five minutes into the frame. Bri Peters then followed it up a minute later with another unassisted goal, and Alexa Vogelman teed up Ashlee Volpe for a third in three minutes. The flood gates were wide open at that point.
Mackenzie Borbi, Gracie Britton and Mackenzie Rich found the net soon after — with the latter becoming Syracuse’s first repeat scorer of the evening when scored SU’s ninth tally. Rich, one of six Syracuse scorers in the frame, finished off her first career hat trick a few minutes later.
“We want everyone to get a chance with the ball and have their moment,” Rich said. “And I think we’ve been doing a great job of taking advantage of our opportunities as well.”
Syracuse’s defense essentially allowed the Orange to play make-it-take-it. Even though the Golden Bears won four of seven draws in the quarter, the SU defense forced eight turnovers. Cal didn’t register a single shot in the second quarter and had just one in the first half.
“They’ve been the backbone of our team,” Thorpe said of his defense.
It would’ve taken a near miracle for the Golden Bears to overturn that fortune in the second half, especially facing a nine-goal deficit. And SU didn’t make it much easier, extending the run to 11 in the third quarter.
Molly Guzik — who entered Tuesday as Syracuse’s leading scorer — nabbed an early goal, charging from the 8-meter arc to the doorstep for her 14th of the year. From there, the Orange embarked on an uncharacteristic 10-minute scoring drought, although Annie Parker — SU’s 10th scorer of the evening — broke the silence with a free-position goal at the 2:52 mark.
“Everyone wants to eat,” Rich said. “And we all want to go back for seconds.”
Eventually, Cal finally found an answer to Syracuse’s spread-out attack after 36 scoreless minutes. On just the Golden Bears’ fourth shot of the night, Ashleigh Masterson beat Daniella Guyette to trim the lead to 10.
Any momentum that may have created for Cal was short-lived. As the Orange emptied the bench, Grace McHugh scored her first goal of the year to restore an 11-score advantage. The Golden Bears finished the game on a brief 2-1 run, but Syracuse still comfortably secured its biggest win of the season.
And with it, Thorpe’s team has completed an important mission. Now, with an even record, it’s granted a fresh slate after its worst start to a season in 25 years.
Next objective: make it a winning record.
