Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/26/14
From Press Release and Staff Report
No. 2 Syracuse’s comeback attempt from a seven-goal second half deficit came up just short in a 15-12 loss to No. 1 Maryland in the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship final on Sunday in Towson, Md. The Orange finishes the year with a school record 21 wins as it made the second appearance in the national championship game in program history.
“Unfortunately, we came up short today,” said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait. “(We) played hard to the end. We’ll go back to drawing board next year.”
The Philly connection of Upper Dublin grads Amy and Kelly Cross and senior defender Kasey Mock (Pottstown) made a key contribution to Syracuse’s efforts in defeat.
Amy Cross (senior) had two goals and a caused turnover and sophomore sister Kelly had three draw controls and a caused turnover. Mock had a groundball and a caused turnover. All three helped the Orange rally from a 15-8 deficit to give the Terps a scare with four straight goals.
Maryland (23-1) got off to a fast start, scoring on the first five possessions of the game. Kristen Lamon had two goals during the run, while Kelly McPartland had a goal and an assist. Sophomore Kayla Treanor put the Orange on the scoreboard when she came around the left side of the goal and put her shot in the back of net. Treanor’s goal was the first of four straight for the Orange. Senior Amy Cross scored on an assist from senior Alyssa Murray before Treanor scored on a shot into the top left corner of the net. Murray capped the run with her first goal of the night at the 9:42 mark, cutting the deficit to 5-4.
Taylor Cummings halted Maryland’s scoring drought of 16:06 with her second goal of the day. Beth Glaros followed with a free-position goal and Cummings scored off a restart to push the Terrapins’ lead back to four at 8-4. Syracuse responded with back-to-back goals by seniors Bridget Daley and Katie Webster to cut the lead to two, but Glaros scored the final goal of the half with 45.8 seconds remaining to give Maryland a 9-6 lead at intermission.
Murray started the scoring in the second half when she muscled her way around her defender and found the back of the net for her second goal of the day to cut the lead to 9-7. Brooke Griffin responded 17 seconds later with her first goal, sparking Maryland on a 4-0 scoring run that gave the Terrapins a 13-7 lead.
Junior Kailah Kempney picked up a ground ball in front of the crease and put her shot past Abbey Clipp to briefly halt the run, but Glaros scored her fourth and fifth goals of the game to push Maryland’s advantage to 15-8 for its largest lead of the day.
Webster started Syracuse’s comeback attempt with an unassisted goal for the Orange’s first tally in more than 10 minutes. Webster completed the hat trick with another unassisted goal before Cross scored on an assist from Treanor. Murray followed with an unassisted goal at the 4:21 mark to cut the lead to 15-12, but that was a close as the Orange could get. Syracuse had two costly turnovers on back-to-back possessions as the Terrapins ran out the clock for its third win against the Orange this season and 11th national title.
Maryland held a slight advantage in shots, 25-22, and both teams recorded nine ground balls. After the Terrapins won 12-of-16 draw controls in the first half, Syracuse won 9-of-13 after intermission. Goalkeepers Alyssa Costantino and Kelsey Richardson each recorded three saves.
Three members of the Orange, Murray, Treanor and senior Natalie Glanell, were named to the All-Tournament team. The game was played in front of a championship game record crowd of 10,311.
Murray recorded four points on three goals and one assist. She ends her career with 362 points, which rank second on Syracuse’s all-time scoring list. She also ranks third in career goals (226) and assists (136). Treanor had two goals and finished the year with a school-record 79. In addition, her 117 points rank second on Syracuse’s single-season record list.
The Orange finishes the season with a 21-3 record, set the single-season school record for wins and won a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular-season title. Syracuse advanced to the national semifinals for the third consecutive year for the first time in school history and played in the national final for the second time.
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