Kayla Treanor won the draw control, corralled the ball and sprinted past Duke defenders into the offensive zone. With Syracuse trailing the Blue Devils 3-2 early, it looked like the senior captain and two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist was going to take matters into her own hands.

As the last line of the Duke defense converged on Treanor, she pulled up and passed the ball back out to the perimeter before moving just to the right of the crease. Taylor Gait, Kelly Cross and Halle Majorana all quickly cut looking to exploit gaps in the defense, but they couldn’t find any.

The ball worked back around to Treanor who faked a shot high over her right shoulder. Duke goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea, deceived by the shot, moved her head and stick up and Treanor swung her stick back around to her left before smoothly bouncing the ball past her to even the score.

“Kayla is just an awesome player… She scores, she creates, she sets everybody up,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “She draws a lot of attention and I think our kids kind of froze at times and didn’t react well.”

Treanor took advantage of the opportunities No. 14 Duke (8-5, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) presented her, scoring seven points to lead No. 4 Syracuse (10-3, 3-1 ACC) to a 14-12 win Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. Treanor notched a hat trick and tallied four assists by foiling the game plan the Blue Devils put in place in an attempt to hold the active Division I leader in points in check.

Rather than face guard Treanor and leave other gaps and defenders exposed to Syracuse’s other top scorers, Duke’s Isabelle Montagne was tasked with defending Treanor, just as she had last year. In a 10-9 regular season loss to the Blue Devils in 2015, Treanor scored three goals. In a 14-10 Syracuse win in last season’s ACC tournament, she managed only three assists against Montagne.

Treanor caught Montagne on two of her three goals by gaining a quick step as the defender struggled to react and rotate back. Treanor took advantage with her speed and was able to fire off a couple of quick shots.

“I think Izzie Montagne is a really good match for her,” Kimel said. “… (She) just didn’t have a great day today and she didn’t have a lot of support either.”

Even when Montagne’s constant pressure prevented Treanor from creating for herself, she managed to pass and create for her teammates. Assists aside, Treanor found herself forced out to the 30-yard line by Montagne with 2:38 remaining in the first half.

Even with Treanor so far removed, the Duke defense shifted to help Montagne and Erica Bodt saw an opening and charged unchecked up the middle to score an unassisted goal.

“We didn’t limit any of their top guns,” Kimel said. “We obviously know their personnel really well, we know what they’re looking to create and we just didn’t do a great job.”

Published on April 3, 2016 at 4:35 pm

Contact Liam: lpsull01@syr.edu