Syracuse’s postseason began in a very similar fashion to the bulk of their regular season on Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte, where the fourth-seeded Orange defeated the fifth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers, 11-9, in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament.

In another relatively low-scoring battle in which turnovers were as common as shots on goal, the Orange were in control through the first 45 minutes after taking a lead in the first quarter and building on it throughout the middle of the game.

But they were facing a desperate, 8-8 Virginia team that had to win in order to be eligible for the NCAA Tournament. With ‘Cuse holding a 9-5 lead entering the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers season was running short and they had no choice but to come out of the corner swinging.

That they did, going on a furious 4-1 run that got them to within a goal as the Orange were suddenly faced with yet another tight, late-game scenario in which they were trying to outlast a pesky opponent while operating with the narrowest of margins.

And having lived that scenario for much of the last two months, SU was well equipped with the experience to handle the situation with aplomb.

There was a massive Dan Guyette save in transition, a phenomenal team effort scrapping for a loose ball on offense that led to an insurance goal late in the shot clock, and a game-clinching caused turnover by Emma Muchnick while a player down.

Those three things happened almost in succession in the final four minutes of the game. Three game-winning plays, all in crunch-time, to help see out a big postseason win. It’s how the Orange have been winning games all season, and they once again kept calm and carried on, in a tight spot, to win another.

Takin’ Care of Business 🤝 pic.twitter.com/GG6SH8pJze

— Syracuse Women's Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) April 23, 2026

It was an all-around team effort that they had to fight for. The defense did what the defense always does, as Virginia finished with more turnovers (16) than shots on goal (14) and ’Cuse held their 12th straight opponent to single-digits (15th of 17, overall). Izzy Lahah had three ground balls and three caused turnovers as she set the new program record for CTs in a single season with 46.

The draw unit had to scrap to keep pace with Kate Galica and UVA’s draw team, but they kept it to a close, 12-10 Cavalier advantage. Most importantly, they came up huge by winning five of six draws in the fourth quarter. Molly Guzik led with four draws, but the circle players had a great game with six combined wins, and that’s not even including a couple of times when the Cavs won the draw but the Orange pressured them into a turnover before they were able to move the ball into the offensive end.

Speaking of, the ‘Cuse offense had a big day against Virginia in exactly the way you want to attack a zone, with lots of crisp passing, body movement, and off-ball cutting to beat their defensive structure. While the 11 goals was a refreshing change after last week’s four-goal effort against BC, it was the efficiency that was the most eye-catching aspect. The Orange shot 55 percent (11-of-20) while assisting on nine of the 11 goals (81.8 percent), which is their second-highest percent for both numbers in a game this season. The nine assists is also the second-highest total they’ve had in a game.

Emma Muchnick led with easily her best game of the season. She scored four goals on four shots, with a critical late assist, two ground balls, two draw controls, zero turnovers and the game-clinching caused turnover when she picked off a late pass to preserve the win.

Ashlee Volpe had a big game with a career-high tying four assists, while Molly Guzik had a hat trick to go with her work on draw controls. Bri Peters had a career game with a career-high two goals as well as two draw wins, and Caroline Trinkaus added a pair of assists.

Emma Muchnick: Captain Clutch 🫡 pic.twitter.com/yKyodstiR9

— Syracuse Women's Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) April 22, 2026

The first two quarters of this one played out in almost identical fashion, which the ‘Hoos scoring a goal in the opening couple minutes before being shut out the rest of the frame due to SU’s active defense, but also some very sloppy passing by a UVA team that was perhaps trying to shake out some nerves given the circumstances under which they were playing.

With the defense doing their job, the ‘Cuse offense did well to build a steady first-half lead. It started, appropriately, with Emma Muchnick, who helped scrap for a draw win before drawing a foul when trying to initiate early offense. She finished off the free-position for the Orange’s first tally of the day.

Ashlee Volpe got her first assist with a beautiful skip pass from her typical left-side, just-above-GLE spot to Bri Peters up top for a finish on the power play. That was followed by Muchnick getting her second on a nice cut towards the crease and feed from Mackenzie Rich before Emma fired home and tip-toed the crease for a 3-1 lead that SU would carry into the second.

After UVA made it 3-2 just over two minutes in, Bri Peters got her second on a pass from Caroline Trinkaus, but it was what happened before the pass that made it such a good goal. Peters and Courtney Maclay were standing together up top of the eight-meter arc. When Trinkaus got the ball on the right side wing, Maclay made a cut away from the ball to the left side of the arc, a move that drew the attention of Virginia’s zone rover. Once she did that, Peters cut towards the ball and the right side into wide open space with the rover already occupied, allowing a relatively easy connection from Trinkaus to Peters for the goal. It was a tremendous example of a play that doesn’t show up in the box score, referring to Maclay’s off-ball run, but is nonetheless crucial to the ultimate execution of that goal. It was fun to see.