ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Loyola Greyhounds women's lacrosse mounted a late fourth-quarter push behind 14 saves from Kennedy Buntrock, but the Syracuse Orange women's lacrosse team held off the Greyhounds 8-6 on Friday night in the NCAA Tournament first round.
With eight draws in today's game, Mae Murphy broke the Patriot League single-season draw control record, as she finished the season with 238 draws.
Loyola (12-8) cut a four-goal second-half deficit to two twice in the final quarter and controlled the draw circle for much of the second half, winning draws 11-5. Mae Murphy led the effort with eight draw controls, while Anna Kaplan added three and the Greyhounds outdrew Syracuse 7-2 after halftime.
Buntrock kept Loyola within striking distance throughout with 14 saves, including five in the opening quarter and several point-blank stops. Emily Scorcia added four ground balls and Mim Suares-Jury caused three turnovers as Loyola's defense forced 14 Syracuse turnovers.
Delaney Jackson scored twice for Loyola, including a goal with 4:32 remaining that trimmed the deficit to 7-5. Mim Suares-Jury added a goal and an assist, while Morgan Quade finished with a goal and an assist. Ava Kane and Lauren Perfetto also scored for the Greyhounds.
Syracuse (14-5) built a 4-1 lead midway through the second quarter behind goals from Emma Muchnick and Mileena Cotter before Loyola answered with Kane's score off a Morgan Ruhnke assist to stay within 4-2 at halftime.
The Orange extended the margin to 6-3 late in the third quarter as Trinkaus completed her hat trick, but Loyola continued to respond. Perfetto scored off a feed from Suares-Jury with 4:08 left in the third, and Quade opened the fourth-quarter scoring to pull Loyola within 6-4.
After Syracuse pushed the lead back to three on Cotter's second goal, Loyola again rallied. Jackson scored off Quade's assist with 4:32 left, and Suares-Jury converted a free-position opportunity with 1:26 remaining after consecutive Syracuse penalties cut the deficit to 8-6.
Loyola finished with advantages in saves (14-6) and draw controls while limiting Syracuse to 8-for-29 shooting despite the Orange holding a 23-17 edge in ground balls.
