On May 3 against Loyola, Alyssa Murray's [10] late-game heroics propelled Syracuse to a victory.
But on Sunday, it was her hot start that put SU ahead for good.
The senior scored four goals in the first nine minutes to help the second-seeded Orange (19-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) dominate Stony Brook (17-4, 4-1 America East) in a 13-6 win in the second round of the NCAA tournament at SU Soccer Stadium. With the victory, Syracuse advances to face fellow ACC contender Boston College in the quarterfinals Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.
"I was very happy with the way the team played today," Syracuse head coach Gary Gait [11] said. "They came out and executed from the opening whistle. That's one of the better goalies in the country, and we shot incredibly well."
Murray needed only 1:18 to open the scoring, as she received a pass from Kayla Treanor [12] and buried it for her 52nd goal of the season. Then she added three more to give the Orange a substantial 4-0 lead at the 21:24 mark of the first half.
After a tally by Amber Kupres cut the deficit to three, SU used a 6-1 run to put the game out of reach. A pair of scores came courtesy of Kailah Kempney [13], who also added two draw controls for the Orange.
Stony Brook's Courtney Murphy scored four times in the second half, but it was nowhere near enough to mount a real comeback. The pesky Syracuse defense picked up eight ground balls in the latter frame and held the Seawolves to only six shots.
Murray has now scored 23 goals in tournament play, which ties current assistant coach Katie Rowan for the most in program history. She'll look to break the school record this Saturday against the Eagles, who fell to the Orange 11-9 earlier this season.
