No. 5 Syracuse worked ever so hard to overcome an early three-goal deficit against Northwestern on Sunday.
But it ultimately came up one play short.
Former Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Kayla Treanor [13] was shout out for the fourth time this season, and the Orange offense failed to capitalize on a number of late opportunities in an 11-10 loss to the seventh-ranked Wildcats.
"It's a tough game," Syracuse head coach Gary Gait [14] said. "We came up just short again. We couldn't quite get back to a tied situation. We couldn't make the stop and get it to the next level. We had opportunities, but we didn't finish our shots."
SU (8-3) quickly fell behind after Northwestern attacker Kara Mupo torched its defense with four goals in the first half, but manged to stay within two scores by the break.
Erica Bodt quickly scored to bring the Orange within one with 27 minutes remaining, but Northwestern (5-2) seemingly had an answer for each SU goal. Mupo finished with five scores, while teammate Selena Lasota added four of her own to keep the Wildcat lead safe.
Kelly Cross [15] and Halle Majorana [16] both continued their stellar offensive seasons, recording a pair of hat tricks to keep SU within striking distance. Majorana leads the Orange with 45 points this season.
Syracuse will take on Duke this Saturday at 1 p.m. in Durham.
