CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — As soon as the ball bulged in the back of the net, the Syracuse bench erupted, jumping in celebration and flooding the field at Klockner Stadium.

They rushed to join Kayla Treanor, who had just scored the game-winning goal to beat Boston College in double overtime.

BC players stood frozen where they were when the game ended with their hands on their heads. The SU celebration paused, momentarily, as the referees checked Treanor’s stick.

The Orange huddle that had formed near the Eagles’ net fell as calm as a team that knew it had won could be, creating just a small buzz rather than a ruckus. The referee put the ball in the stick, before signaling a goal.

For a second time, the huddle erupted, with players jumping and yelling.

“Every team has been faceguarding her, triple teaming, double teaming her …,” Majorana said. “She really stepped up. That’s what good players do, they step up.”

No. 6-seed SU (12-6, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) took just 1:24 in the second overtime to dig out a 14-13 win on Thursday night, although No. 3-seed Boston College (14-3, 5-2) dominated possession through the end of regulation and the first overtime period. The Orange advanced to the semifinals of the ACC tournament to play No. 2-seed Duke (14-2, 5-2) on Friday at 3 p.m.

“Having known that we didn’t make the plays and didn’t finish games like this during the regular season,” SU head coach Gait said, “here we are first kind of playoff game and they’re done.”

On the first draw control of the second overtime period, Kailah Kempney popped the ball toward SU defender Haley McDonnell, who tried to scoop up the ball. She couldn’t quite get her stick under the ball, but flipped it to defender Mallory Vehar instead.

Gait immediately called the timeout he had been looking for before.

“I just said, ‘Get the ball in (Treanor’s) stick and get her to this side and let’s see what they do.’ She made the play.”

Early in the game, Eagles head coach Acacia Walker used a double team on Treanor and tried putting Tess Chandler — she held Treanor without any points in the teams’ prior meeting — on SU’s star player.

Instead of scoring, Treanor fed Halle Majorana and Lisa Rogers, and she opened the field for her teammates. SU scored five unanswered goals to start the game and Walker pulled the double team and Chandler off Treanor.

On the final possession, Treanor worked midfielder Caroline Margolis down the right side of the field and then ran from right to left behind the net. She cut on her right foot and curled back around the crease. Treanor faked high and buried a low shot. She threw her hands in the air and ran around the offensive end of the field.

“We just didn’t do our job,” Walker said. “We were supposed to be pressuring her and sending an early double and we didn’t do it and it cost us the game.”

The players came back to the sideline to chants of, “Let’s go Orange.” As the teams lined up for handshakes, Kathy Rudkin picked up two sticks strewn on the field in the aftermath of the celebration. Next to the silent line of BC players, she began bowing with her hands straight out toward Treanor.

The youth girls’ lacrosse team that played on the field at halftime converged on Treanor, having Taylor Gait snap a picture with four girls and Treanor. When Treanor put SU ahead 11-10, part of Rihanna’s  “Rockstar” played over the loudspeaker. The words, “I’m a rockstar,” played as Treanor fist pumped and celebrated her goal.

During the game and after, that’s what she was. In SU’s biggest win of the season, its best player made its biggest play.

On the field, SU celebrated the win and indulged in the atmosphere, but on Friday the Orange will again gun for its biggest win of the season against Duke, another team that beat SU by a goal in 2015.

“I think we gotta kind of tone it down a little bit right now, get some rest and focus,” SU goalkeeper Kelsey Richardson said. “… It was a great win and we can celebrate it for a little bit, but we gotta lock in to Duke.”

Published on April 24, 2015 at 12:59 am

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati