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Just over four minutes into the third quarter, Olivia Adamson sprinted down the right side of the offensive zone toward the goal. Realizing she didn’t have an ideal angle for a shot, Adamson continued her run behind the left side of the goal, settling and waiting for trailing attackers.

Adamson then saw a trailing Maddy Baxter and sent a short cross-field pass from behind the goal to Baxter, who secured it and dodged right to the center of the cage, securing the easy finish for the Orange, who went up 12-8.

Baxter’s goal was the final of a 4-0 run and came within a 12-goal third quarter for No. 4 Syracuse (12-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) that increased its lead to 20-10 over Louisville (6-9, 1-6 ACC) at the end of the period. It was a complete performance in the third quarter, and the 12 goals are the most in a quarter all season as the Orange went on to defeat the Cardinals 23-13 on Saturday.

“We just had a really slow start,” head coach Kayla Treanor said. “We weren’t just executing the game plan. We just made a bunch of adjustments at halftime and sort of changed what we were doing on offense, and that allowed us to get into a flow.”

After Louisville’s Nicole Perroni leveled the game at eight, Emily Hawryschuk began the scoring onslaught by notching the Orange’s next two goals and finished with four in the third quarter alone, three of which came on woman-up opportunities for SU.

On one play in the third quarter, Hawryschuk possessed the ball just behind the goal on the right side. Similar to other plays this season, she dodged past her defender to create a big enough window to sneak the ball in the right side of the net. Later, as Savannah Sweitzer approached the 12-meter, she dumped it off to Hawryschuk, who was on the left side of the cage. Hawryschuk shot immediately while being trampled by a Cardinal defender, which extended the lead to 14-10.

“Being able to push that momentum especially off those transition goals for us, that was huge momentum for us,” Meaghan Tyrrell said of the third quarter. “That was kind of a game-changer for us on offense — people were stepping up, taking nice shots and attacking the defense.”

To make it 15-10, Tyrrell had the ball behind the net and quickly connected with Hawryschuk, who was standing just in front of the right side of the crease. Hawryschuk shot a simple, quick-release shot past the Cardinals’ goalie. With a five-goal performance, four of which came in the third quarter, Hawryschuk will enter Tuesday’s game against Albany just three goals away from breaking Treanor’s program record of career goals (260).

Besides Hawryschuk’s strong third quarter, six other Orange players scored a goal in the period led by Adamson’s hat trick. Sam Swart, Jenny Markey, Natalie Smith, Sweitzer and Baxter all recorded one goal each in the third quarter.

Markey, who recorded a career-high three goals against the Cardinals, sprinted down through the offensive zone and made it all the way to the crease, shooting it in for an unassisted goal that featured limited defensive pressure from Louisville.

Markey’s goal, however, wouldn’t have happened without the success on the draw circle. Syracuse draw specialist Kate Mashewske recorded a career-high 19 draw controls, which tied Treanor’s record for draw controls in one game. In the third period alone, SU outscored the Cardinals on the draw 12-2, which continuously set up scoring opportunities. Across the whole game, SU’s 28 draw controls almost tripled the Cardinals’ 10.

“The coaches put a big emphasis on when we score, we need to win the next draw control and build momentum,” Mashewske said. “I think in the third quarter, we really did that today.”

The scoring onslaught didn’t stop even in the final two minutes in the quarter, where SU tallied four more goals, all unassisted and from four different players. To make it 17-10, Smith started dodging from the top left of the 12-meter, juking her defender from left to go right for a shot inside the 8-meter where she launched high into the goal.

Adamson’s third goal of the quarter came as a result of a smartly set screen by Tyrrell. Adamson drew her defender into the screen, which allowed her to make her way to the center of the crease for an easy finish.

Defensively, Syracuse held the Cardinals to just four shots and three goals in the third period, one of which came on the free position. The Orange’s draw unit consistently secured the draw, including seven consecutive wins in the later stages of the quarter, which was ultimately key in securing their double-digit victory.

“We were just pushing it off of our draw, (and) we won a lot of draws,” Treanor said. “(The Orange) just executed what we tried to do out of halftime.”

Published on April 16, 2022 at 4:48 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini