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Meaghan Tyrrell stepped up to the right of Rachel Florek’s goal and readied herself for a free-position shot. As the whistle blew, the junior All-American lunged forward. She faked a shot toward the near post, cut across her defender to create space and sidearmed a shot into the top left corner. The goal, her sixth of the afternoon, broke her career-high.

Five minutes later, Jenny Markey ran toward the goal and delivered a deft pass over the top to Tyrrell, who took a few steps in and stopped on a dime, causing two defenders to collide. Tyrrell took one step to the left and fired her shot into the side of the net for her seventh goal of the day.

No. 3 Syracuse (10-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) steamrolled No. 15 Lousiville (5-8, 1-7) 19-5 on Friday behind seven goals apiece from Carney and Tyrrell — both career-highs. The pair added three assists each, and their combined 20 points were 12 more than Louisville’s entire team and 11 more than the rest of SU’s. Syracuse’s 19 goals were a season-high, too. For the second time in two games, the Orange’s defense held an opponent scoreless for an entire half. 

On a second-half breakaway, long after the game had been decided, Tyrrell turned provider for Carney’s seventh goal. Morgan Alexander ran the ball down the middle and saw both Carney and Tyrrell on either side of the goal. Alexander sent a swift pass to Tyrrell on her right, and the junior sent a quick tap pass across the face of the goal to her partner without hesitation. Carney lept, caught the high pass and slammed it into the net.

“Megan and Meaghan really clicked and connected today,” Gait said postgame.

The pair combined to score Syracuse’s first six consecutive goals. Tyrrell broke the only tie of the afternoon when she scored her first goal, one that stemmed from a caused turnover by defender Lila Nazarian. The Orange offense flew the other way, and Emma Ward launched a reverse pass to a cutting Carney, who was wide open. She found Tyrrell unmarked on the right of the goal to make it 2-1 for SU.

Louisville kept pace with the duo and came as close as 6-5 with seven minutes remaining in the half in what appeared to be another close game against a ranked opponent for SU.

Louisville took advantage of an injury to Syracuse’s top draw specialist, Katelyn Mashewske, and won the draw control battle 5-2 in the first half. But six different players, including Carney, won a draw for Syracuse to swing back momentum. Alexander, Carney, Tyrrell and Ward combined to score four goals in the final four minutes, gifting SU a 10-5 halftime lead. 

Out of halftime, Carney barreled through four defenders and threw a shot between the goalie’s legs for an unassisted score. The defense held Louisville to just four second-half shots after the Cardinals managed 14 in the first half. Syracuse’s zone pressure pushed Lousiville attackers backward every time they came close to Asa Goldstock’s goal. Syracuse held Caroline Blalock, who scored her 99th and 100th career goals in the first half, without a single shot in the second half. 

The Orange defense picked up 22 ground balls and caused 13 turnovers as they sprang counterattacks for the attacks to run the field the other way. It’s how Carney scored her seventh goal on the slam-dunk play. She finished with seven goals on 12 shots, and Tyrrell added seven off nine. The duo scored eight goals as part of the Orange’s 13-0 run, one that propelled them to another dominant win over another ranked opponent.

Published on April 16, 2021 at 6:41 pm

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu