The Golden Griffins women's lacrosse team fell to No.3 Syracuse University (2-0, 0-0 ACC) in the team's season opener on Saturday evening at the Carrier Dome by a score of 21-13.
The Orange took an early four nothing lead in the first six minutes of action, but the Griffs wouldn't back down, as the Blue and Gold scored seven goals to Syracuse's six in the final 24 minutes of the first half.
"I thought we played with a lot of grit and effort tonight and this game showed a lot of positives for our young team," said head coach Scott Teeter. "Anytime you play one of the top teams in the nation you really have to minimize your mistakes and Syracuse managed to capitalize on ours tonight, but overall I was extremely happy with our team effort tonight."
Freshman Erica Evans scored the first two goals of the season for the Griffs, one being an unassisted goal and the other being a free position shot and they were the first two of her collegiate career. Evans finished the game with two goals on three shots and recorded three ground balls for the Griffs.
Following up Evans' two goals was senior Tori Quinn with three of her own in the first half. All of Quinn's goals were unassisted and came within a four minute period.
Fellow freshman Lauren Smolensky also scored her first collegiate goal in the first half of action and Ashley Bull added one more with two minutes left in the half, helping the Griffs go into halftime only down three.
Sami Franco headlined the Griffs defense and really shut-down one of the top players in the NCAA in Kayla Treanor, holding the attacker to just two goals and four shots.
The second half was where the Orange capitalized on the Griffs mistakes, out-scoring the Blue and Gold 11-6 in the final 30 minutes of action.
The Griffs wouldn't go down without a fight though, as Canisius scored the final four goals of the game to close out on a 4-1 run in the final 10 minutes. Smolensky, Quinn, Megan Maloney and Taylor Giglio recorded the final four goals. Also adding to the scoreboard in the second half was freshman Allie Stewart and Meghan Cuddy.
Senior Kayla Scully (0-1) got the start in goal for the Griffs and recorded five saves in just under 41 minutes of playing time. Freshman Rebecca VanLaeken also made an appearance in net, playing in just over 19 minutes and making four saves.
"I'm looking forward to a strong week of practice from the team and hopefully we can bounce back and learn from our mistakes this week and get back to play the Orange again next week," said Teeter.
The Griffs next game will be against the Orange, when the two team's meet for a second time this season on Feb. 15 at 12:00 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.
Game Notes: This was the second season in a row that the Blue and Gold opened up against a nationally ranked Syracuse Orange team...Tori Quinn led the team with four goals and also had a team leading three assists...four freshman scored for the Griffs as Evans (2g), Smolensky (2g), Maloney and Stewart all recorded their first career points...Scully led the team with four ground balls, followed by the freshman Evans with three.
