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The game started with Kate Mashewske achieving her 300th career draw. Shortly afterward, Syracuse scored on the opening possession. Ten seconds later, Mashewske won again and then scored her second career goal after winning the ensuing faceoff.

Mashewske tipped the ball to herself off the draw and passed up the field to initiate the transition opportunity. Up ahead, Meaghan Tyrrell received the ball behind the cage and saw Mashewske flying down the middle. Meaghan sent a soft feed inside and Mashewske slammed it home, giving Syracuse a 2-0 lead before Pitt even took possession.

After Mashewske netted, the next draw went her way too, leading to a third SU score less than a minute later. Syracuse took a 3-0 lead in just over two minutes of play, all before Pittsburgh’s offense touched the ball.

In Syracuse’s (4-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) ACC opener, Mashewske set the tone by winning the first three draws of the game in the 16-4 win over Pittsburgh (2-2, 0-1 ACC) on Saturday, all of which turned into scores. She also matched her season total of two points last year in just the first quarter, both scoring and assisting in the first 15 minutes. The senior had a poor outing against Northwestern a couple of weeks ago, but she swung the pendulum completely in SU’s first conference game, playing her best 60 minutes of the young season.

Mashewske, a Tewaaraton Award watch list selection, ranked sixth in the NCAA in draw controls last season. But before the season started, head coach Kayla Treanor said that she would take more of an offensive role off the draw.

“Now, she has the ability to push transition a little bit more and feel confident going to the cage,” Treanor said.

That side of her game hadn’t been on display until Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, when Mashewske made her offensive presence known early.

As the first quarter drew to a close, Mashewske created another transition opportunity for the Orange.

Winning another draw, Mashewske tossed it up to herself and charged toward Pitt’s goal. In the open field, Mashewske saw Megan Carney ahead of her, cutting to the crease. Carney hauled in the pass but couldn’t get past her defender, so she spun left and sent a lefty shot across the goal, giving Syracuse a 6-1 lead with 33 seconds left in the quarter.

Against Northwestern, Mashewske took almost every draw, and Syracuse won the game but lost in the circle 23-11. Afterward, Treanor didn’t waver in her commitment to Mashewske.

“I love Kate. I think she’s the best draw taker in the country,” Treanor said. “But that’s an area we certainly want to focus on and be better against Maryland.”

She was better against the Terrapins, as Syracuse won the draw 19-14 and cruised to a 20-11 win over then-No. 2 Maryland. And today, Mashewske improved her stat line again, leading SU to control 15 of the 24 draws.

Mashewske has continued to improve her production each game this season. And today, she was finally able to add that offensive ingredient that Treanor mentioned before the season. Throughout the game, there were multiple other instances of Mashewske heading up the offense off the draw, but Syracuse wasn’t able to convert in transition or decided to slow up.

After losing the opening draw of the second quarter, Pittsburgh made it 6-2. But Mashewske came back and won the next one before being fouled. That possession ended in a crease roll score from Sierra Cockerille. After that, Syracuse scored six-straight goals – by the time the Panthers scored again it was 13-3.

Once the margin reached 10 goals near the end of the second quarter, the running clock started and Syracuse stopped pushing down the field as much. That meant Mashewske had to pump the breaks on offense, but still continued winning draws consistently.

As a result, some of Syracuse’s offensive firepower was muted today. Syracuse fans might be concerned if they heard that Mashewske and Meaghan had the same amount of points (two), but that was a non-factor. The Syracuse offense flows so that a number of people can step up if Meaghan is being face guarded as she was today.

Emma Tyrrell collected a hat trick while Carney had four scores of her own for the fourth-straight game.

Mashewske’s dominance out of the gate helped Syracuse to a comfortable win over Pittsburgh in the conference opener. Treanor and SU expect more of the same out of their draw-control specialist as the season goes on.

“She has really become, for lack of better words, fluent in it (the draw), and she really understands it,” Treanor said at the start of the season.

Published on February 25, 2023 at 6:20 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu