Syracuse needed the ball.

Down 10-8 with 1:28 left, the two teams lined up for the draw. The whistle sounded and the ball popped forward. SU attack Kayla Treanor ran into the circle and was immediately engulfed by three Boston College players, but was fouled, giving the Orange the ball.

Though Treanor entered the day leading the nation with 25 points and 21 goals, that may have been her best offensive play of the game.

Boston College face guarded Treanor for 60 minutes and kept her silent. Her only two stats of the day were the draw control and a turnover, as No. 2 Syracuse lost to No. 6 Boston, 10-8, in the Carrier Dome on Saturday and Treanor was held to no points or assists.

“She’s arguably one of the best players in the country, if not the best,” Boston College head coach Acacia Walker said. “We just we have to do everything we can to stop her. She’s just too good. I expect a lot out of my team. I did expect that.”

When Syracuse was on offense it was a one-on-one battle between Treanor and BC midfielder Tess Chandler. Chandler stood with her stick in the air and her eyes fixed on Treanor, face-guarding her.

Chandler never gave Treanor any room, playing within arms reach of her as far as 30 yards away from net.

“She usually does pretty well against the face guard and she just got frustrated and it kind of took her out of the game a little bit,” SU head coach Gary Gait said.

Treanor’s teammates would launch long passes to her when she got a little bit of room, but the majority flew out of her reach and out of bounds or into a Boston College stick.

After one errant pass to Treanor 10 minutes into the game, Gait pulled Treanor to the sideline for a talk.

“I was trying to get her the ball and try to do a couple things,” Gait said. “I’d love to have the ball in her stick. She typically makes great things happen and (the opponent) will slide and double and people will get open.”

But it wasn’t happening.

Syracuse attack Devon Collins tried to feed Treanor near the cage at the end of the first half, but Chandler knocked it away. BC went on the attack and scored.

“We put one of our biggest, strongest, most mentally tough kids on her and just told her to shut her down try to not let her get the ball,” Walker said.

Treanor’s offensive role was diminished to walking around the 12-meter arc and setting picks for her teammates.

With about five and a half minutes left, her frustration showed. After a foul was called on SU, Treanor smacked her stick on the ground and flapped her arms in frustration. She yelled and motioned toward the referee that made that call.

In the past two games, Treanor emerged when Syracuse needed her, scoring three of SU’s last four goals in one-goal victories over No. 9 Virginia and Connecticut on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

But on Saturday, that Kayla Treanor never showed up.

Said Gait: “I think she had some opportunities and you know we’ll talk a little bit and she needs to learn and grow from this.”

Published on March 2, 2015 at 12:10 am

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus