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Syracuse’s attack was on fire. Following 36 combined goals in its first two Atlantic Coast Conference tournament matchups, SU’s attack picked up where it left off.

Five goals in the first 11 minutes had Syracuse up 5-1. Then, following a quick 4-0 run from BC, Syracuse picked up with a 2-0 run to take a 7-5 lead with five minutes to play in the first half.

But then Syracuse’s potent attack went dead silent. The Eagle’s man-to-man defense upped the pressure as goalie Shea Dolce became a brick wall in net. SU fell out of its rhythm and was held scoreless from 5:30 remaining in the second quarter to the 13:22 mark of the fourth — a 22-minute scoring drought. BC went on a 5-0 run during SU’s drought, flipping the score from a 7-5 SU advantage to a 10-7 BC lead, resulting in No. 1 seed Syracuse (14-5, 8-1 ACC) falling to No. 3 seed Boston College (16-3, 7-2 ACC) 15-8 in the conference title game.

Boston College scored 10 of the final 11 goals in the contest, handing the Orange their worst loss in 2024 and sixth straight at the hands of the Eagles. For the first time all season, SU didn’t score in a regulation quarter.

“They’re a really good defense,” SU head coach Kayla Treanor said postgame. “They pressure you but we just really didn’t do any of the things that we had talked about. We were just unrecognizable.”

Syracuse’s offensive started with a bang as Natalie Smith opened the scoring 13 seconds in with a bullet past Dolce. The rest of the offense followed suit as Olivia Adamson notched two, with Savannah Sweitzer and Emma Ward each adding a goal.

After leading by four and looking well in control, the BC defense began to show signs of slowing the Orange. Sydney Scales switched on to Emma Tyrrell just as she did 10 days prior in Chestnut Hill, when she limited Tyrrell to just two points.

Scales’ defensive range helps Boston College’s player-to-player defense excel. She went on to win the tournament MVP for her efforts.

“I’m overwhelmed by Sydney Scales,” BC head coach Acacia Walker Weinstein told ACC Network postgame. “I think she’s been like superwoman and the team followed.”

With Scales on Tyrrell, Shea Baker defended Ward. The two defenders thwarted SU’s attack as BC slowly battled back, knotting the game 5-5.

As the pressure mounted on Syracuse, Tyrrell and Ward worked in tandem to shortly stop the bleeding. Ward found Tyrrell on a back door cut and with two defenders in front of her Tyrrell used a nifty twister shot to beat Dolce. Gracie Britton added another 36 seconds later, but then BC turned on a different gear.

Despite Kate Mashewske winning in the draw circle by a wide margin, Boston College attacked directly off the draws, causing 13 Syracuse turnovers and winning the ground ball battle 15-8. The Eagles’ midfielders were active in their pursuit and when SU did get through and set up its offense, it was rushed in its attack.

When it did break through, Dolce stood on her head.

With less than four minutes to play in the opening half, Sweitzer had a look from close range on Dolce. BC’s goalie kicked the ball out with her left foot, but Tyrrell quickly scooped the ball from right outside of the crease and shot it again. Dolce denied the point-blank opportunity again.

Dolce made two more saves in the third quarter to keep SU out of the net and finished with 10 saves on 18 shots faced, a 55.6 save percentage.

“We had some really wide open locks, especially in the end of the second quarter and we weren’t able to finish, and she made some great saves,” Treanor said of Dolce postgame.

Syracuse’s attack found shots on the net at the end of the second quarter, but as the scoring drought extended into the second half, they couldn’t even come close to the net. With the game tied 7-7, Mashewske won the opening draw of the half, but the BC defense quickly attacked, forcing a turnover and an eventual green card on the ground ball pursuit by Coco Vandiver.

On SU’s first possession of the half, Tyrrell was called for a charge, turning the ball over. On the next possession, Emma Muchnick had a clean look but fired it over the net. Ward attempted to operate from X on the backup, but Baker gave her no room to fire off a shot.

Following a stop by Syracuse’s defense, the attack moved the ball around for almost 60 seconds but couldn’t break through BC’s perimeter. The possession ended on a Sweitzer turnover. Following a Boston College goal and stopped possession, the Orange worked the ball around for 60 seconds again, but the pressure quickly thwarted the chance. Muchnick forced a pass inside that missed the mark.

“We didn’t really execute our game plan in general,” Treanor said. “We were just kind of like in a hodgepodge offense, and we’ve got to be more disciplined on the offensive end and run systems the way that we’ve been practicing them and running them in games.”

The next possession following a BC goal, the Orange offense was so drained that as the shot clock expired, all Adamson could do was dump the ball into the right corner. Syracuse’s offense had no answer to break through as the Eagles continued to pull away.

Just over 90 seconds into the fourth quarter, Ward ended the drought at 22 minutes. But the damage was already done. Ward’s goal cut the deficit to two, but Boston College ended the game on a 5-0 run.

While Syracuse’s attack was explosive throughout the week in Charlotte, a 22-minute stretch of scoreless offense dashed any hopes of winning the first ACC Tournament championship since 2015 and finally knocking off Boston College in the Treanor era.

“We’re so frustrated right now because there’s so much belief in the group and we know what we can accomplish. And we got to play a little better when the pressure is on,” Treanor said.

Published on April 28, 2024 at 5:30 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky