Not much went right in this one as ‘Cuse suffered their worst loss of the season.
The long and winding road of a challenging season caught up with the Syracuse Orange on Saturday afternoon down in Blacksburg.
Playing the final game of a three-game road trip at the Virginia Tech Hokies (8-7, 2-5 ACC), the No. 11 Orange (9-6, 5-3 ACC) delivered their worst performance of the season resulting in a damaging loss for their ACC seeding and their NCAA Tournament resume.
It was a flat showing from ‘Cuse, who came out of the gates slow and sloppy and never fully recovered against a Virginia Tech team that fought hard and were able to keep SU at bay all afternoon long. The Orange never led and never got it closer than two after the mid-second quarter.
‘Cuse wasn’t ready from the start, turning it over four times before they got their first shot off. Joely Caramelli tied the game at the end of a nice dodge through traffic at 1-1, the last time SU would even be tied for the day.
The Hokies scored three straight to take a 4-1 lead into the second quarter, where Emma Muchnick and Alexa Vogelman scored back-to-back goals to make it 4-3. But Virginia Tech scored four goals in the final five minutes of the quarter to storm to an 8-4 lead at the half.
A big theme of this game was VT’s late-quarter execution. Six of their 14 goals came in the final two minutes of a quarter, and they scored in the final minute of every single frame to keep pushing them further away from SU as each quarter wound down.
They also opened the scoring in the third quarter, pushing them to their biggest advantage at 9-4. At this point, the Orange looked like they were finally ready to make their mark on the game as they scored three straight goals for their best stretch of the day, making it 9-7, as they looked like they were grabbing the momentum to make a defining run.
But the Hokies showed their toughness as they once again scored twice in the final 76 seconds of the third to push that lead right back out to 11-7 with only 15 minutes remaining.
A Mileena Cotter goal made it 11-8 just 38 seconds into the fourth, but that solid start was wiped away with back-to-back VT goals that allowed them to equal their biggest lead at 13-8. The Orange scored three of the final four goals, and even had some other solid chances to do even more, but it wasn’t to be on this day as they fell, 14-11.
Final from Blacksburg. Syracuse closes out the regular season Thursday against Boston College at CBA. Admission will be free of charge. pic.twitter.com/NN85GHNLwR
— Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) April 12, 2025
Virginia Tech deserves credit for the way they played on both ends; they simply made plays where the Orange didn’t. SU could have done so much more, though, and they just didn’t have it all day long.
A lot of the stats favored ‘Cuse. They won draws, 16-13. The outshot the Hokies, 36-29 overall, and 24-22 on goal. But the difference was VT goalie Aaliyah Jones, who made 13 saves where Danny Guyette only made 8.
It was just an awful shooting day for the Orange, shockingly coming against a Virginia Tech defense that was averaging almost 13 goals-against per game. SU finished 11-of-36 for the game for a cringe-worthy 30.6 shot percentage.
Special situations were also a huge key in this one for the ‘Cuse offense. They only capitalized on two of their five woman-up opportunities, but the real killer was their free positions. The Orange came into the day over 50 percent for the season, but they went 0-for-6 in this game. If they hit their season average in that department, that’s a tie game right there just on missed free-position opportunities.
Defensively, the Orange had a nightmare of a time dealing with VT’s two stars, leading goal scorer Lauren Render and leading point scorer Mia Pozzi. Render was flat-out dominant with seven goals, while Pozzi, a Baldwinsville native, finished with four goals and five points.
The duo combined for 11 of their 14 goals, and did much of their damage off the dodge in the first half before ‘Cuse switched to more zone in the second. The Orange defenders just had a difficult time staying in front of VT when they got a head of steam, and they made SU pay.
Emma Ward (2G, 3A) led for the game with five points. Mileena Cotter (3G) had a hat trick, while Emma Muchnick (2G) and Alexa Vogelman (2G) had a pair each. Joey Caramelli (1G, 1A) finished with a goal and an assist, and Ashlee Volpe (1G) chipped in a goal.
The Orange will return home to conclude the regular season against the Boston College Eagles next Thursday, April 17 at 7 PM on ACC Network Extra. The game will be played at Christian Brothers Academy.