The Syracuse defense bent in the first half, allowing seven Loyola goals on 15 shots.
But in the second, it broke.
After scoring to open the second half, the Orange allowed six straight Greyhounds goals – four coming in a span of less than seven minutes – and Loyola opened up a nine-goal lead with just eight minutes remaining.
SU managed three goals in the final minutes, but it was too little too late.
The No. 2 Orange entered Saturday’s Big East tournament championship game riding a program-best 15-game winning streak, but left the Carrier Dome with its first loss since Feb. 29.
‘When you watched us play, it didn’t look like a Big East undefeated team playing out there today,’ SU head coach Gary Gait said. ‘It looked like a team that hadn’t been together for a little bit. We just didn’t play with the confidence level that we normally would.
No. 2 seed Loyola (13-5) handily upset the favored top-seeded Orange (16-3) 13-7 in front of 527 in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, earning its second consecutive conference tournament crown. The Greyhounds racked up 26 shots on the afternoon and capitalized on a slow SU defense to pull away in the second half.
‘I’m very proud of the girls and this effort they put forth today,’ Loyola head coach Jen Adams said. ‘I’d say it was probably our best game we’ve played all season. They could have not waited until this late in the season for it, but it’s what you want to be doing is playing your best lacrosse at this point in the year.’
Loyola freshman Annie Thomas tallied two goals and an assist in the opening 30 minutes, but served as the catalyst for the Greyhounds’ decisive run.
Leading 7-4, Thomas stood behind the cage two minutes after the break. She waited as teammate after teammate cut in front of the net, but not until junior midfielder Kathleen Barranco broke for the right doorstep did she make a pass.
Barranco beat Janelle Stegeland and Katie Webster to the spot, caught the pass from Thomas and quickly whipped it past SU goaltender Kelsey Richardson and into the top-right corner.
‘It’s hard for me to be patient, but Jen (Adams) just kept saying from the sideline ‘patience, patience,” Thomas said. ‘So I just waited and I just waited for the right time. I love playing behind there and seeing the whole field and hitting my teammates when they’re open.’
Thomas found sophomore midfielder Marlee Paton just over a minute later to give Loyola a 9-4 advantage. That moment – with 26:51 left in regulation – marked the Orange’s largest deficit of the season.
From there, it only got larger.
Joanna Dalton burned Natalie Glanell down the right side for an easy score and Paton tacked on two more to break it open.
Trailing 12-4 with eight minutes left, the Orange had little chance of a comeback.
Glanell forced a turnover in the defensive zone, but lost possession trying to clear.
Loyola freshman attack Kara Burke picked up the loose ball and put it in back of the net, finishing the 6-0 Greyhounds run.
‘I think we just shocked the world, proved everyone wrong, and it feels great,’ senior goalie Kerry Stoothoff said.
Syracuse scored the three late goals, but the game was long decided. After winning all of its games for the last nine weeks and completing its Big East regular-season slate undefeated, the demoralized Orange trudged off the Carrier Dome turf, forced to watch the Greyhounds celebrate and receive the tournament crown SU was expected to win.
‘(The game) didn’t quite go as planned, but I give Loyola a lot of credit,’ Gait said. ‘They played an outstanding game. They’ve really come into their own and I think they’re a very good team.
‘… They made big plays in the first half when they needed to and followed it up in the second half by making a big run and developing a lead that was just a little too much to overcome.’
sebail01@syr.edu