As soon as Duke’s Taylor Trimble scored with 14:52 remaining in the second half, Syracuse goaltender Kelsey Richardson shouted in disgust and whacked her stick on the Carrier Dome turf.

But it was a lone moment of obvious frustration during an otherwise authoritative performance between the pipes.

Handed a slim 10-7 lead coming out of halftime, Richardson proceeded to string together one of her best halves of the season. She held No. 8 Duke (7-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) scoreless for a key 14-minute stretch and made three big saves as the No. 3 Orange (10-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) slowly pulled away for a 19-15 victory Saturday afternoon.

“I wanted to come in and kind of provide that spark for our team,” Richardson said. “To start pulling ahead and getting a larger lead, so I was really focused.”

Although the junior netminder allowed a goal by Maddy Morrissey only 57 seconds out of the break, she quickly took control of the SU crease.

Only two minutes later, she forced the Blue Devils to squander a free position opportunity by maintaining a great angle against Morrissey. Then she did the same against Kerrin Maurer.

Duke picked up the rebound, but was unable to do anything with it. Richardson stopped two point-blank shots and the Orange regained possession.

Meanwhile, Kailah Kempney and Lisa Rogers aided their goalie with two conversions at the other end, and completely swung momentum in the Orange’s favor.

“We try on offense to reward our entire team by putting points up on the board after our defense has a long possession,” attack Alyssa Murray said. “We don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, Let’s try and do something creative.’

“We think, ‘Let’s just get it in the back of the net.’”

And while the SU offense picked up its pace, the Blue Devils didn’t score again until the 14:52 mark. By that point, SU’s offense had fashioned a commanding 15-8 lead for Richardson to protect.

Richardson’s assertive play couldn’t have come at a better time for Syracuse, which struggled to build a lead despite dominating the shot chart and draw circle in the first half.

She watched as teammate Alyssa Costantino surrendered seven goals and made only one save during the first 30 minutes. All the while, she knew that head coach Gary Gait would call her number in the latter frame.

“I’m there first half for Alyssa (Costantino) and hope she does the best she can and cheer her on,” Richardson said. “In the back of my mind of course, I’m saying, ‘Focus,’ for when I come in the second half.”

That focus was apparent as the clock slowly ticked away. She foiled yet another free position opportunity and intercepted a Morrissey pass for good measure midway through the period.

She didn’t allow another goal until Maurer cut the Duke deficit to eight with only 7:56 remaining in the game. By that point, Gait had begun to trickle in subs from the SU bench, something he didn’t expect against a talented conference foe.

“Our core players provided a lot of opportunities for those other players,” Gait said. “It’s great for some of the younger players to get in there when that happens against a Top-10 team. It’s just awesome.”

Once the game ended, Richardson was met with a high-five from Kaeli O’Connor and congratulations from the rest of her teammates.

The anger following her miscue against Trimble had been replaced by a huge smile, one that signified a satisfying performance against a hated opponent.

“I’ve never liked Duke since I’ve grown up,” Richardson said. “So it was just extra motivation for me I guess.”

Published on March 29, 2014 at 7:54 pm

Contact Tyler: tfpiccot@syr.edu