With 12:30 to go in the second half, backup Taylor Nims received a pass from fellow reserve Marley Ciferri. She turned her stick, whipping a behind-the-back goal into the net.

The goal gave Syracuse an eye-popping 18-goal lead. It was that kind of day for the Orange, which completely dominated Cincinnati on Saturday in arguably its most complete game of the season.

‘Solid effort from top to bottom today,’ SU head coach Gary Gait said. ‘Challenged the players not to play down and give their best effort and stay focused throughout the entire game, and they did everything we asked today.’

Every player who dressed for the game played. And 13 scored for the Orange (7-7, 5-1 Big East) in its 20-3 thrashing of Cincinnati (2-13, 0-7) on Saturday in front of 508 inside the Carrier Dome. SU knew going into the game that Cincinnati wasn’t one of the better teams it would face this season. The Bearcats are at the bottom of the Big East and have never beaten the Orange in the program’s five years of existence.

But unlike many teams that often overlook lesser opponents, the Orange didn’t look past the Bearcats. Instead, it scored a season high in goals while allowing a season low in a complete-game effort.

‘You’re going to give 100 percent whenever you’re out there, and that’s what we always talk about every game,’ Gait said. ‘Not just taking it easy, not relaxing, but if you’re out there, play hard.’

The Orange scored early and never let up. SU ran out to a 9-0 lead and led 12-1 at halftime. Even the lucky shots found their way into the goal for SU. A little more than four minutes into the game, attack Tee Ladouceur sent a shot at the goal. It bounced off Cincinnati goaltender Jen Walsh and into the net, giving Syracuse an early 2-0 lead.

Later, Ladouceur passed to Sarah Holden as players from both teams crowded around the goal. When it looked like SU had missed its opportunity to score, Holden was able to poke the ball into the net on a sloppy but lucky play to put SU up 9-0.

Ladouceur, a senior who had a game-high six points on Senior Day, emphasized it was the things Syracuse did right that won it the game — not what Cincinnati did wrong.

‘Definitely, we came together,’ Ladouceur said. ‘After part of the Louisville game, we didn’t really do our best as an attacking unit, so that’s something that we worked toward today.’

As impressive as the offense was, though, the defense was equally dominating. Cincinnati managed only nine shots in the game. The Syracuse goaltenders only had four saves, but that was a product of the SU defense. The Bearcats couldn’t get any shots off.

The defense hounded Cincinnati all day, forcing 17 turnovers.

‘It’s just a confidence builder for our defense,’ senior goaltender Liz Hogan said. ‘It’s good for our confidence.’

Six minutes into the game, Hogan made a difficult save and passed it back to the SU offense. On her lone goal of the game, attack Michelle Tumolo stuck a laser into the right side of the net.

With both sides of the ball working flawlessly for much of the game, anything Cincinnati tried didn’t work. It switched goaltenders, but Haley Marvine allowed six goals in relief. It tried to be physical, but picked up four yellow cards. It couldn’t keep up with SU.

‘It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you’re not going to take it easy or relax,’ Gait said. ‘It’s nice to see that the practice that they do pays off. It was well done by all.’

The win was necessary for Syracuse’s push to the conference tournament — the Orange clinched a spot in the Big East tournament with the win. But it was also a confidence booster as the season winds down.

It was the kind of game where everything seemed to go right for the Orange.

‘Hopefully it’s a good game to build off of,’ Gait said. ‘You feel good, everybody feels happy, but you’ve got to stay focused and mentally tough.’

rnmarcus@syr.edu

Published on April 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu