University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Fall at Syracuse, 16-13 in BIG EAST Opener
3/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, NY (March 27) – Five goals from Kariane Lauri (Memphis, NY) were not enough for the University of Connecticut women’s lacrosse team as the Huskies fell, 16-13, to Syracuse on Saturday afternoon in their BIG EAST Conference opener at the Carrier Dome. The loss snaps a two-game Husky winning streak and drops the club to 2-5 on the year, 0-1 in BIG EAST play. The Orangewomen improve to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in league action.
The Huskies have found their offense of late, scoring in double digits for the third consecutive game, a feat the team last accomplished from March 19-26 of last season. Meanwhile, UConn’s 13 goals are the most the Huskies have ever scored in seven games against the Orangewomen.
The teams swapped goals early as neither team led by more than a single score until just before half time. Tracy Mullaney (Cockeysville, MD) opened the scoring for the Huskies just 41 seconds into the game while UConn also got a pair of first half strikes from Lauri and single goals from Abbey VanDeusen (Fayetteville, NY) and Bonnie Levin (Swarthmore, PA). With the score even at 5-5, the Orangewomen would score three goals in the final 2:23 of the first half, and three more in the opening 1:36 of the second stanza, to take an 11-5 edge and command of the contest.
The resilient Huskies stayed in the game as goals 36 seconds apart by Shannon Burke (Camillus, NY) and Lauri cut the Husky deficit to 11-7 with 25:20 to play. The Orangewomen held a 14-8 advantage when UConn put together three straight scores as they kept chipping away at the Syracuse margin. Kristen Link (Slingerlands, NY) added a tally at 12:44 and Lauri netted two more, the latter on a free position shot, in the run that dropped SU’s lead to three goals at 14-11. The Huskies would draw no closer though as the teams scored twice each in the final 3:32, including a flurry of three goals in 22 seconds, to account for the 16-13 final.
Jennifer Wong went the distance in the net for UConn, making 13 saves. Jennifer Kasel had 11 stops in the Syracuse cage. SU held a 37-31 shot advantage and converted on all four of its free position shots while UConn was successful on just two of its seven.
Connecticut returns to the field on Wednesday when the Huskies play host to Massachusetts at 3:00 p.m. at the Sherman-Family Sports Complex.
