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With Syracuse up by four in the third quarter, Meaghan Tyrrell received a pass on the right side. She needed one more point to make history, playing in a sold-out SU Soccer Stadium.

Meaghan started spinning back-and-forth on the right side, unable to shake her defender before she meandered to X with time winding down. There, defenders converged on her, and she was forced to juke herself free before looking up to see a wide-open Emma Tyrrell outside the crease. The feed found Emma’s stick high in the air, and she pulled down the score.

That gave Meaghan sole possession of first place on Syracuse’s all-time points list with her 397th career point, and her sister was on the receiving end of it.

“I really wasn’t thinking about it [the record],” Meaghan said about her mindset on the record-breaking play. “It was kind of just like, she was open so I passed it to her. I guess knowing that now, it’s a little sweet, it’s awesome. I’m sure my mom probably loved that.”

Meaghan made Syracuse history in a way consistent with her play this season, facilitating more than ever at SU. Three points were enough to cement her as SU’s all-time leading point scorer, passing Katie Rowan Thomson.

Highlighting a list with now-head coach Kayla Treanor, Alyssa Murray, Rowan, Emily Hawryschuk and other Syracuse greats, Meaghan now stands alone. Despite Syracuse (15-1, 8-1 Atlantic Coast) failing to complete its first undefeated regular season in a 17-16 loss to Boston College, history was still made.

“I’m so proud of her,” Treanor said of Meaghan’s accomplishment. “It’s just been so fun to coach her. It’s an incredible accomplishment and what’s so exciting is that she has a lot of lacrosse left to play.”

Meaghan came out hot with two scores in the opening quarter. With the score tied 1-1, Meaghan wrapped around the crease looking for a feed, and she got one from Sierra Cockerille on the outside. Meaghan slammed it through the right side when she cleared the post for her first goal of the game.

Just under seven minutes later, she scored again. Meaghan dodged past her defender on the right of the cage, fighting through contact before absorbing a big hit from the backside defender as she shot. The ball went straight down into the net, tying Meaghan with Katie Rowan at the top of the leaderboard to give the Orange a 6-1 lead.

After that, Meaghan teased the anticipatory crowd. As the first quarter wound down, Megan Carney sent a pass too high for Meaghan on the edge of the crease. It would have been an easy lane to the net if the pass connected, but the crowd was forced to wait for the next quarter.

In the second, there were even more missed opportunities. Midway through, Meaghan caught a transition pass right outside the cage, but the shot hit off BC goalie Shea Dolce so hard that it sped out of play on the right sideline. And as the half pulled to a close, Meaghan found Emma Ward in the middle, but her behind-the-back shot was weak, and fell right into Dolce’s stick.

Finally, she made the pass to Emma who scored with 3:10 left in the third quarter, and the SU crowd erupted with applause. Earlier this week, Meaghan said that finishing her career with her sister by her side was a primary reason for her returning to Syracuse. Now, they’ll forever share that historic moment.

“It’s everything that I could have hoped for,” Meaghan said earlier this week about playing with Emma again. “Especially to be able to have one more chance to be out on the field with her and kind of finish my lacrosse career with her on the field is one of the reasons I came back, so I’m just over the moon about it.”

Despite the accomplishment, Meaghan said postgame that it lifts no weight off her shoulders. This game showed her that Syracuse still has some things to work on to prepare for an ACC Tournament with multiple top-five teams.

But earlier in the week, Meaghan briefly reflected on being mentioned in the same breath as some of the best players in Syracuse history. She tries to emulate different things from SU’s greatest attack in her own play, and to be considered among them now is baffling to her.

“It would be absolutely crazy to think about,” Meaghan said earlier this week when asked about breaking the record. “Especially just knowing the history of Syracuse lacrosse and all these great athletes that were here prior to me, being able to even be considered on that list is just absolutely mind-blowing to me.”

Published on April 20, 2023 at 11:40 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu