The No. 19/15 Clemson lacrosse team fell to No. 1 Syracuse 19-10 in Upstate, New York, on Saturday, April 8.
The Tigers opened strong, with graduate attacker Chloe Willard placing Clemson (10-5, 2-5 ACC) on the board in the first two minutes of the game. The Orange quickly responded with four unanswered goals, broken up by midfielder Marina Miller’s only trip to the back of the net for the game. Syracuse (14-0, 7-0 ACC) then tacked on another two scores to put the Orange ahead 6-2 at the end of the first.
The second quarter offered an opportunity to play catch-up, but Clemson’s offense struggled to get the ball past the Orange’s stellar defense. Although the period itself was close in scoring, as the Orange earned three while the Tigers went up two, the score still stood at 9-4 heading into the locker room.
It was an aggressive game from the start, as the Orange wracked up 33 fouls, and four out of the game’s five penalties were awarded to them, meaning the Tigers had a man advantage for eight minutes of the game.
Two of Clemson’s goals came from this time, with attacker Hanna Hilcoff capitalizing off a free position shot late in the second quarter and fellow attacker Chloe Willard sending one to the cage off an assist from midfielder Jalyn Jimerson.
Syracuse goalie Delaney Sweitzer was one of the main drivers for Syracuse’s success and the Tigers’ lack thereof, as she ended the game with 14 saves.
The Tigers’ best performer against Sweitzer came from sophomore Miya Scanlan. In the final minutes of the game, the attacker scored two goals within 30 seconds of each other.
Consistent scorers for Clemson included Gianna New, Hilcoff, Willard and Scanlan, all of whom put up two goals. The remaining two points came from Jimerson and Miller.
Clemson ended with 10 goals on 27 shots compared to Syracuse’s 19 goals on 40 shots.
Saturday marked the Tigers’ fifth loss of the season, all of which have been at the hands of ACC opponents. The ACC is a notoriously strong lacrosse conference, especially when taking into account that four of the top 10 spots in the IWLCA Coaches poll belong to ACC teams.
With two games left in the season, Clemson will look ahead to its game against Virginia Tech on Saturday at noon EDT in Blacksburg, Virginia.
