Women’s Lacrosse: No. 3 Syracuse Escapes No. 17 Notre Dame, 17-16

For the second time in four days, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s lacrosse team trailed a Top 6 team by five goals with 11 minutes remaining.

And again, as they were against No. 6 Northwestern on Wednesday, the Irish fell 17-16 to their higher-ranked foe — this time an overtime defeat Saturday against the Syracuse Orange at the Loftus Sports Center.

The No. 3 Orange (4-0, 1-0 ACC) and No. 17 Irish (1-4, 0-1 ACC) appeared to be evenly matched in the first half, with the visitors staking at 6-2 lead after one quarter but the Irish charging back to make it 10-8 at half.

Both teams were capitalizing on free position opportunities, with the Irish converting all five of their eight-meter chances and the Orange netting five of six. The Orange were more careful with the ball, going a perfect 11-for-11 in clearing it out of their own defensive zone in the first half. The Irish were a bit more sloppy, turning over the ball 12 times and allowing the Orange to outshoot them 18-10 before halftime.

The Orange began to pull away in the third quarter, outscoring the Irish 4-1 in that penultimate period. But the Irish locked in after trailing 14-9, scoring seven of the game’s next nine goals.

Sophomore Mary Kelly Doherty tied the game at 16 apiece with a free position conversion with sixteen seconds left, only to see Syracuse attack Meghan Tyrrell scuttle the upset with a goal 49 seconds into overtime.

Juniors Madison Ahern and Kasey Choma provided most of the Irish’s offensive firepower, with six and five goals respectively. Fellow junior Jackie Wolak added two goals and an assist, while Doherty — a sophomore — also had two goals, two ground pals, two caused turnovers and two draw control wins.

Graduate attack Emily Hawryschuk and junior midfielder Emma Tyrrell — Meghan’s younger sister — scored four goals each for the Orange. Emma Tyrrell also led all players with nine draw control wins.

Irish goaltender Bridget Deehan saved nine of 26 shots on goal, including two big stops in the fourth quarter to keep the Irish’s hopes alive.

The game featured aggressive play from both Deehan and Orange netminder Kimber Hower. Both drew fouls in collisions with attackers, leading to empty net free position goals for their opponents.

The Irish committed 42 fouls in total, with the Orange called for 40 of their own.

Notre Dame will continue its ACC schedule with a noon game Sunday against Virginia (3-3, 0-1 ACC), while the Orange travel west to Evanston to face the Wildcats.

Here’s how the Irish’s 2022 opponents have fared so far:

• Central Michigan Chippewas: 1-2, including 24-5 loss to No. 5 Notre Dame
• Michigan Wolverines: 5-0, including 11-7 win over No. 5 Notre Dame
• Vanderbilt Commodores: 3-0, including a 14-12 win over No. 12 Notre Dame
• Northwestern Wildcats: 3-1, including a 18-9 loss to No. 1 Boston College
• Syracuse Orange: 4-0 (1-0 ACC), including wins over No. 13 Stanford and No. 4 Stony Brook.
• Virginia Cavaliers: 3-3 (0-1 ACC), with a 22-15 loss to Boston College
• Virginia Tech Hokies: 2-3 (0-1 ACC), with a 14-11 loss to Louisville
• Jacksonville Dolphins: 2-2, with a 15-6 win over Virginia Tech and a 17-10 loss today to No. 2 North Carolina
• Yale Bulldogs: 2-0, who have beaten Sacred Heart and Albany
• Duke Blue Devils: 5-0 (0-0 ACC), with its most recent win over Wofford
• North Carolina Tar Heels: 5-0 (1-0 ACC), with a 15-5 win over Pittsburgh.
• Boston College Eagles: 5-0 (1-0 ACC), with its most recent win over Brown
• Pittsburgh Panthers: 3-2 (0-1 ACC), in its inaugural year of ACC women’s lacrosse
• Marquette Golden Eagles: 2-3, which lost to No. 5 Northwestern by a 24-13 score Feb. 14.
• Louisville Cardinals: 3-2 (1-0), with wins over Marquette, Central Michigan and Virginia Tech