Syracuse was backed into a corner after struggling to stop the Louisville offense several times in the second half. Allie Murray made a sweeping save with her stick and then stuffed another shot on the doorstep of the net.

Syracuse still needed one last stop. The Cardinals had battled back and cut a three-goal deficit to one. Jillian Balog threw a cross-field pass that Kelly Cross picked off. The turnover ended Louisville’s last come-back attempt.

“They’d get close and our players would make a play. We’d get a save and we’d get back up by a couple,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “I thought we finished the game, not quite stopping their run and building on it, but at least we stopped it.”

No. 5 Syracuse (14-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast) held the ball and scored twice more to preserve its lead and beat No. 7 Louisville (12-4, 3-4), 13-10, in the Carrier Dome on Saturday. Kayla Treanor broke SU’s goal-scoring record with the 251st of her career, also the goal that formally clipped UofL. The Orange’s biggest lead shrunk from four to one, but the Cardinals hardly ever got within true striking distance.

The win guarantees Syracuse will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s ACC tournament, which it won last season, beating the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds. This season, the ACC tournament could help Syracuse make its case for being a top four seed in the NCAA tournament, which would give it home-field advantage through the quarterfinals.

“(Louisville) didn’t give up, kept fighting back,” Gait said, “but the good thing is, we had answers.”

One Treanor goal and three assists accounted for half of SU’s goals by the end of the first half. The Orange built a three-goal lead by the time the final seconds were ticking down and Treanor had a chance for one last goal. The senior attack blasted a shot wide of the net, but had been decked as she got it off.

A buzzer sounded. The band started playing. Gait opened up his hands at his sides staring at the play, asking the referees for a call. Treanor was given a free position with one second left instead of the half ending.

She ripped her shot past UofL goalie Kelly Gielner.

The buzzer sounded again, the band started playing again. Brenna Rainone was one of a small group to congratulate Treanor as she ran off the field for breaking the school record in goals. This time it was Cardinals head coach Kellie Young who argued that the goal shouldn’t count.

After Treanor ran off the field, the referees called the goal off because it went in after the buzzer sounded. SU ended the half up, 8-5.

“In the locker room, the coaches told us (the goal didn’t count),” Treanor said.

The goal that never was would have given SU just a bit more cushion. Its lead steadied through the first 15 minutes of the second half until the Cardinals scored twice and brought the game within one.

After Cross picked off the Louisville pass, Syracuse cleared the ball out of its own end and Gait called a timeout. The Orange worked the ball around and 29 seconds after the timeout, Treanor slid around the right side of the crease. She faked a high shot, but bounced it off the ground instead to break the scoring record.

The goal buried UofL and gave SU the cushion it needed with her near-goal at halftime. In the second half this year against ranked and conference opponents, the Orange has scored two less goals (61-57) than its opponents.

On Saturday, SU managed a tie and that’s all it needed.

“I think definitely, that’s been a focus of ours, finishing our second half,” Treanor said. “Luckily today — fortunately today, I don’t think it’s luck — I think we did the job, we finished our game. A couple times during the season we haven’t done that.”

Published on April 23, 2016 at 4:49 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati