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Whether it was tackle football in elementary school or volleyball in high school, Molly Guzik played numerous sports growing up. The Spencerport, New York, native participated in every sport available to her, even trying cheerleading at one point.

But one sport stuck with her — lacrosse.

She played it for the first time in fifth grade, and fell in love with the sport for its creative freedom. Two years later, she was on Spencerport High School’s varsity team as a seventh grader, amassing 221 goals and 69 assists across five seasons.

Guzik’s offensive prowess led her to Syracuse, where she notched 14 goals in 19 games as a freshman in 2025. This season, she has blossomed into the heart of SU’s offense under first-year head coach Regy Thorpe, leading the team with 17 goals in its first seven contests. Entering Thursday, the Orange hadn’t beaten a top-five opponent since February 2024.

It’s no surprise Guzik was the one to snap that dubious streak. The sophomore’s career-high six goals propelled No. 15 Syracuse (5-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) to a stunning 9-6 victory over No. 4 Northwestern (5-2, Big Ten) Thursday night. After securing a hat trick with three first-quarter goals, Guzik tacked on two more in the fourth to seal Thorpe’s first win over a top 10 opponent.

“(Guzik) watches a ton of film. She’s a student of the game,” Thorpe said postgame. “I’m really proud of her and the whole offense. We scored some timely goals.”

Syracuse’s unforgiving season-opening slate made it difficult for Guzik to assert her dominance. In SU’s 9-5 season-opening loss to then-No. 7 Maryland on Feb. 6, the sophomore was held to just one goal on 10 shots. While she scored twice against then-No. 1 North Carolina on Feb. 13, it wasn’t enough to overcome a ferocious UNC defense.

But after scoring a hat trick in a 15-7 win over Loyola on Feb. 24, Guzik arrived for good. The sophomore followed that performance with four goals against Louisville on Feb. 28, and four more against Virginia Tech on March 6.

It didn’t take long for Guzik to make a similar statement against the Wildcats.

After NU’s Annabel Child opened the scoring, Guzik went low-to-high with her stick and rifled one past Northwestern goalie Jenika Cuocco to tie the game three minutes in. Despite a strong contest from Child, Guzik made the difficult angle shot look fairly easy.

Just 51 seconds after her equalizer, Guzik gave the Orange a 2-1 lead. Guzik came streaking from behind the net off a feed from Mackenzie Rich, fooling Cuocco for her second goal.

And three minutes later, she was back at it again. This time, she stormed in from the left flank, took a pass from Caroline Trinkaus and fired it through the net with authority. All Cuocco could do was jump as Guzik continued putting shots past her.

“(Guzik) does it every day in practice,” Thorpe said. “She locks it in, and she’s a good goal scorer.”

Syracuse entered the season with a noticeable void at attack. Emma Ward graduated after racking up 324 points in her time with the team, the seventh-highest mark in SU history. Olivia Adamson, a staple on the Orange’s offense who scored 129 goals from 2022-25, left for Northwestern.

While Guzik’s technically listed as a midfielder, she’s replaced Adamson’s offensive production better than any attacker the Orange have. Whenever Syracuse has needed a spark throughout its five-game winning streak, Guzik has answered the call.

The Orange thoroughly dominated the first quarter. They played with more aggression. They attacked the Wildcats from different angles. But yet they only led by one.

Enter Guzik, ready to extend their lead once again.

Despite pressure from Northwestern, Guzik weaved through defenders to restore Syracuse’s two-goal advantage. Her one-on-one capabilities were evident throughout the game, but especially prevalent on her early second-quarter tally as she beat NU’s Mary Carroll in a rundown.

Guzik was briefly silenced in the third quarter, but the Orange still needed insurance entering the fourth. Northwestern has made numerous comebacks, and the contest was far from over.

Guzik quickly put it out of reach.

Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Guzik cut into the crease from the left side and scored her fifth goal. Just when NU thought it might have found a recipe for limiting Guzik, the sophomore kept piling on. With five minutes remaining, SU was on the cusp of wasting a player-up opportunity. But with her stick in scoring position, Guzik stood in front of the net and scored to make it 9-4.

Cuocco slowly walked back into the goal, showing little emotion as a horde of Syracuse players came over to congratulate Guzik.

Syracuse may have had several question marks on offense coming into the year. But it took just eight games and 23 goals for Guzik to put all of those concerns to rest.

Published on March 13, 2026 at 1:40 am
Contact Spencer: sabrod@syr.edu | @spencerbrod20