With Syracuse clinging to a slim two-goal lead with only 3:08 remaining, Kailah Kempney walked to midfield for one final duel in the draw circle.

Win, and the Orange could stall for a victory. Lose, and the game was far from over.

But as she has done so many times before, the junior left the circle with the ball and put the Orange in position to finish the game.

Kempney nearly tied a season-high with 11 draw controls, and Kirkland Locey won another three as the No. 3 Orange (11-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) dominated the draw circle in a 13-11 victory over No. 18 Albany (9-1, 1-0 America East) at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday night.

As a team, SU piled up 22 controls while limiting the Great Danes to only four. And in a game littered with turnovers and sloppy execution on offense, those extra possessions helped fuel the Orange’s nail-biting escape.

“It was key,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “The fact is that we were controlling the ball, getting it in our sticks, and that was huge.”

Kempney set the tone on the opening draw, as she shoveled the ball to teammate Maddy Huegel and gave her team the opening possession. Amy Cross then gave the Orange a quick 1-0 lead.

A little more than five minutes into the half, Christine Johnson won Albany’s first draw of the game. Then the Great Danes failed to secure another one until 4:01 remained in the period.

Kempney came away with four during that stretch, and Locey added a pair to help the Orange roll to eight consecutive wins in the circle.

But thanks to SU’s offensive struggles late in the half, the Great Danes survived the drought and carried a manageable two-goal deficit into the break.

“It’s hard when we weren’t getting the draws, but we’re a scrappy team,” Albany midfielder Allie Phelan said. “When you put up the defensive stands, we do our best to get it in and work it down as fast as possible.”

Eventually, though, Kempney was just too much to overcome.

She controlled four crucial draws during the final 10:29, including three with the Orange up by a single goal. And each time, Syracuse doubled its lead on the ensuing possession.

Kempney said she felt no added pressure in those situations after playing so well the entire night.

“It was working the whole game, so we really didn’t change anything up at the end,” Kempney said. “Just tried to keep doing what was working.”

She did, and the Orange was able to convert when it counted.

Albany head coach John Battaglino said it took a nearly heroic effort from his defenders to keep the game close. Despite surrendering 33 shots and continuously chasing SU ball-handlers throughout much of the evening, the back line kept the Great Danes in the game.

“If you look at the stats on a piece of paper, and I was looking up at the scoreboard,” Battaglino said, “you would think the score would be like 20-3. That shows how well the defense played because they had to put up those stands.”

Kempney will likely be challenged on Saturday against Virginia Tech’s Meg Bartley, who ranks 13th in the country in draws won per game.

But Tuesday, the junior proved why she has earned her place atop SU’s all-time leaderboard when she helped the Orange avoid a bitter end to a long home stand.

Said Gait: “Without those possessions, who knows what the score would have been?”

Published on April 1, 2014 at 11:05 pm

Contact Tyler: tfpiccot@syr.edu