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Syracuse entered its contest against Stanford on the cusp of history. Just not the good kind.

Across their first 27 seasons, the Orange had never lost four straight games. A recent 0-3 stretch against No. 2 UNC, No. 3 Northwestern and then-No. 12 Clemson flipped Syracuse’s season on its head following a 3-0 start. So when SU attacker Mileena Cotter’s shot beat Stanford goalie Lucy Pearson Friday, it was pure jubilation.

The Orange survived.

No. 10 Syracuse (4-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) took down No. 6 Stanford (6-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) 14-13 in double overtime, bouncing back for a much-needed victory. The Orange blew a three-goal lead in the fourth quarter, but Cotter’s overtime score sealed the deal for SU, putting it back over .500 and handing the Cardinal their first loss.

“These past couple games, we took personally,” Cotter said postgame. “It’s just really nice to put it away.”

Across the first overtime, both sides turned in sloppy displays with few shots on net. But in the second, the Orange had no time to waste. Their season was on the line.

Cotter’s clincher caused a sudden spring of joy through SU’s roster. As the Orange worked the ball around the 12-meter fan, Emma Ward emerged upfield and passed low to a cutting Cotter. The freshman — who tallied five goals through her first games entering the matchup with the Cardinal — corralled it low to her left, brought it high to her right and buried it.

Then, chaos. Cotter threw her stick 10 yards to her right as her teammates embraced her. She then packed a dead sprint toward the rest of the squad across the field. Ward came from behind and tackled her to the ground as the team cavorted in a frenzy.

The connection between Ward and Cotter sealed the game; however, it was the heroics of SU’s defense that gave the attack an opportunity. Across the first two overtimes, the Cardinal and the Orange combined for five turnovers. Both teams failed to get their attacks going, and someone needed a closer.

Stanford won the opening draw of the second overtime and worked the ball around. Though as Maddigan Miller possessed it, SU defender Coco Vandiver forced a turnover to give the Orange another opportunity. Syracuse then finished it on the other end with Cotter.

“That’s hard to do,” SU head coach Kayla Treanor said of her defense’s late stops. “But they rose to the challenge.”

Syracuse’s double-overtime win over Stanford Friday was head coach Kayla Treanor’s second overtime win helming the Orange, improving her record in overtime games to 2-4. Angelina Grevi | Staff Photographer

The game ended in SU’s favor, just as it started. With a full week of preparation, the Orange sported a new lineup. Out from the draw circle was junior Meghan Rode — who helped Syracuse to just a 40% success rate on the draw — and in was Joely Caramelli. SU’s last two weeks featured midweek games, which stifled any chance at development between the two games in a week. Treanor said the five-day window this week aided more training, allowing Caramelli to reinvigorate the draw unit early.

The sophomore’s flip on the opening draw was collected by Cotter along the circle and Syracuse controlled it to start. Caramelli and Co. won four of the first six draws, putting the game all in SU’s direction. Gracie Britton drew a free-position and instantly passed off to Ward emerging from X. Ward buried it to jump in front 1-0, SU’s first lead to start a game since its win over then-No. 7 Maryland on Feb. 15.

Syracuse continued to pour it on across the first 20 minutes. Its defense suffocated the Cardinal as Superia Clark face-guarded Stanford leading scorer Aliya Polisky, and Daniella Guyette saved five of the Cardinal’s first six shots. The Orange added to their advantage with Ashlee Volpe scoring two to lead the way to a 5-1 advantage.

Then came a Cardinal wave.

While SU found an early groove, Ava Arceri eventually got going for Stanford against Caramelli. Led by Arceri, the Cardinal won nine straight draws in the second quarter, helping build a 6-0 run to flip the game on its head into a Stanford 7-5 lead. As Arceri thrived, the Orange flipped back to Rode. She had no answer either, as SU soon went back to Caramelli to close the first half. Syracuse eventually broke the drought with a goal from Emma Muchnick with 1:52 to play in the half, but the damage was already done.

A 7-3 second quarter, which featured a 9-2 draw disadvantage for the Orange, took away any control SU possessed and put the Cardinal in the driver’s seat into the break. The Orange, however, fought back.

The two sides wrestled back and forth with the lead as both Guyette and Pearson made key saves for their sides. The Orange built up a 12-9 lead entering the fourth quarter, as Muchnick scored, then Molly Guzik added two. But Stanford, who entered averaging 16 goals per game, sporadically piled on a 4-1 fourth quarter to tie the game. With seconds to play in regulation, a scrum ensued right in front of Guyette.

Arceri threw a shot at Guyette, which was deflected and Guyette lost track of where it was, right at her feet. Miller collected it, flipped to Elise Murphy and she dished to a wide-open Lindsey Devir point blank with Guyette. SU’s goalie silenced the threat, pushing the game to the extra period.

SU held on by a thread to get to overtime. When it got there, Caramelli expressed postgame the obvious nervousness that comes with a sudden-death finish. Still, the Orange stayed the course, battling until the end.

“A lot of teams, in the stretch we were just in after we had a couple losses, in a tight game would fold or not rise to the challenge,” Treanor said. “This team did quite the opposite.”

The grueling schedule continues for the Orange. They’ve already faced five teams in the Inside Lacrosse Poll’s Top 25 and are set to face six more. Syracuse was previously 1-4 in overtime games under Treanor. But Friday was survive and advance for its second overtime win under the fourth-year coach. SU couldn’t afford a fourth-straight loss. And it did just enough to come out on top.

“The team really wanted to win this game tonight,” Treanor said.

Published on March 7, 2025 at 8:08 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky