Gait wins 100th game as head coach of women's lacrosse

Coming off two ACC road victories against No. 9 Virginia and No. 10 Boston College last week, No. 2 Syracuse returned to the Carrier Dome Sunday afternoon to face No. 15 Towson.

Recently named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List, Kayla Treanor recorded her 23^rd goal of the season today leading the Orange (6-0) with five goals in a 12-7 victory. The sophomore attacker scored four of her goals in the second half in a team effort to pull away.

“I give a lot of credit to the defense for keeping the pressure on them and continuously giving us the ball back,” head coach Gary Gait said. “That was key in allowing our offense to put some goals away.”

The Orange led 5-4 at halftime, but the Tigers started the game with the lead. Junior Midfielder Paige Duncan scored off a pass from Andi Raymond to give Towson the advantage just 34 seconds into the game. But less than a minute later, Treanor made her first strike on the net to tie the game 1-1. 

Katie Webster continued the momentum for Syracuse scoring off an assist from Treanor to give the Orange their first lead of the game, 2-1. But the lead didn’t last long. Towson’s Alyssa Ferro scored seconds later to tie the game up again 2-2.

The Orange and the Tigers continued to trade the lead throughout the first thirty minutes of the game, but it was Webster’s third goal late in the first half that gave Syracuse the one-goal lead going into the locker room at half time.

SU maintained the lead early in the second half. In the first two minutes, senior attacker Alyssa Murray connected with Treanor who found the net and gave Syracuse the 6-4 advantage. Murray finished the game with four assists and one goal.

After Towson redshirt-junior Andi Raymond tied the game again at 7-7, the Orange took charge of the field.

“We were realizing timing of cuts better in the second half and the later part of the second half especially,” attacker Alyssa Murray said. ”In the beginning we felt a little rushed but once we settled in and realized what would be open and what opportunities we could take advantage of that’s when we started to really click.”

The Orange certainly did click, going on a 5-0 run with 11 minutes remaining in the game. Treanor registered two more goals and attackers Gabby Jaquith, Devon Collins, and Kailah Kempney all netted single goals to seal the win.

The victory for Syracuse gives Gary Gait his 100^th win as the head coach of the team, extending his record to 100-31.

Syracuse continues its seven game home stretch Monday, March 10 against the University of Maryland at 7 p.m.