Sierra Cockerille crouched, her left foot toeing the eight-meter mark and her back to the Syracuse bench as she prepared for a free position shot. But instead of shooting when the whistle blew, Cockerille straightened up from her squat, turned and found Julie Cross cutting through the middle of Georgetown’s defense.

Earlier in the game, Cross missed a shot that deflected off the crossbar of the goal. This time, she capitalized, finishing to the right of the Hoyas’ goalie. As Cross ran to the sidelines, Vanessa Costantino jumped into her arms. After missing too high before, Cross adjusted and went lower. The celebration that she was inches away from having in the first half was finally hers.

No. 5 Syracuse (16-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast) started slow, scoring just one goal in the first 16 minutes of the game. But during the messiest game of its season, SU rebounded from its early faults and made the adjustments necessary to defeat Georgetown (12-9, 3-2 Big East), 14-8, and advance to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.

Last year, the Orange lost five games by one goal, including their lone NCAA tournament game — a double-overtime heartbreaker versus Princeton. The year before, Syracuse was decimated by Boston College, 21-10, in the first round of the tournament. The Orange have come close, but they haven’t gotten there. Prior to Sunday, Syracuse hadn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 2016, when it made the national semifinals. With a win next weekend, it’ll reach those heights again.

“It’s been really hard for us these last three years, being so close to getting that first win in the tourney,” SU goalkeeper Asa Goldstock said. “We knew that we could be better every single time. I think now, we feel like this is our time.”

On Sunday, the cold and rainy conditions were a factor from the start. Emily Hawryschuk appeared to win the opening draw control but slipped and fell, losing possession. When Georgetown got its first scoring chance of the game, the ball slipped out of the stick and flew over the goal. At the other end of the field, SU’s passes struggled to reach their targets, often falling short or sailing high.

After scoring the first goal of the game three minutes in, Hawryschuk had a free position shot with a chance to double the Orange’s lead. But when she took a step and swung her stick forward, the ball harmlessly dribbled away from her.

After the Hoyas scored their first goal to tie the contest at one with just under 17 minutes left in the first, they won possession back. A foul gave them another free-position opportunity, but a seemingly clear path to the net was spoiled by another turnover, when the ball slipped and flew off-target.

“We could’ve executed better at times, but some of that credit you have to give to the Syracuse team,” Georgetown head coach Ricky Fried said. “Defensively, they’re gonna put a lot of pressure on you. How well are you gonna handle that pressure? That had a lot to do with our execution.”

Eventually, Syracuse’s offense adjusted to the conditions. Its passes were shorter and more meticulous. Cutters found their footing and the Orange put multiple scores together. After Georgetown tied the game at two, SU won its first draw control of the game, leading to a Costantino goal.

Then, another. Nicole Levy found her way to the middle of the Hoyas zone, drawing a double team once she caught a pass. Levy realized the defense, spun and found Megan Carney cutting from behind the net. Carney corralled the pass and the Orange scored again. The short but significant run culminated just over a minute later when Carney found a lane and took it herself, putting SU up 5-2 with 9:24 left until half.

“It was more just not turning over the ball, getting it cleared, taking our time on the offensive end and just making good decisions,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “That was the real adjustment we did, was to relax a bit and take more time on offense and make sure we limited our mistakes.”

A near-buzzer-beater by Hawryschuk gave the Orange a three-goal lead at halftime, which it maintained for the first 15 minutes of the second half. During one second-half possession, Levy nearly committed a turnover by overthrowing Meaghan Tyrrell, but the ball stopped on the wet field. Hawryschuk scooped it up and slowed the offense down, assessing the Hoyas’ zone before throwing a pass that set up Carney’s third goal of the game.

Georgetown kept making mistakes. On one possession, the Hoyas worked the ball around SU’s defense until a player broke open, only to throw the ball over her head and out-of-bounds. With just under 13 minutes left, GU faltered again. A long, multi-shot possession ended in a bad turnover, with a pass five feet over a player’s head.

“I thought we got good opportunities, but we rushed our shots,” Fried said. “When we got the opportunities in the second half, Asa (Goldstock) came up big, but I thought we could’ve shot a little better.”

Three minutes later, Syracuse turned another Georgetown giveaway into points. Ella Simkins picked off a pass on a Hoyas fast break, leading to another free position shot for Hawryschuk. The junior converted for the fourth time that day, and from there, Syracuse built on its lead. Cross scored first, and was followed by back-to-back free position shots by Tyrrell and Sam Swart.

During the rainiest game of its season, Syracuse found its footing when it needed to most. While Georgetown struggled to adjust to the weather conditions and pace of the game, the Orange thrived, something they failed to do in years past.

“This is the team that’s gonna do it, going to the end,” Hawryschuk said. “If we didn’t win this game, it would be a problem, so we’re gonna take this and we’re gonna run with it.”

Published on May 12, 2019 at 5:15 pm

Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34