Knowing Katie Rowan recorded a school-best 10 points Friday against Rutgers, Cornell emphasized containing Syracuse’s best scorer Wednesday. Early in the game, the Big Red managed to almost completely neutralize Rowan, holding her to just one goal in the first half.

Rowan spent most of the first 30 minutes distributing the ball outside of the 20-yard line. Cornell kept Rowan away from the net and off the scoreboard, something Syracuse’s other opponents have struggled to do.

With the defenders’ eyes on Rowan, no wonder the Big Red missed two other Orange scorers – Ashley Pike and Christina Dove. Those two players alone outscored Cornell Wednesday, leading another Orange offensive explosion.

No. 10 Syracuse (9-4, 3-1 Big East) blew out Cornell, 22-9, (3-8, 2-3 Ivy League) in front of 258 fans at the Carrier Dome. With at least three games left, the Orange has a school-record 209 goals on the season, breaking the old record of 205 set in 2005.

Most of their damage came in the first half. Dove scored all five of her goals in the first 30 minutes. Pike scored just one of her six in the second half. Rowan eventually scored four goals but not until Syracuse had total control of the game.

‘Cornell really tried to shut down Katie today and did a good job, but they left things open for other players like Ashley and Christina,’ Syracuse head coach Lisa Miller said. ‘They had to completely change around their defensive game plan. The girl they had guarding Katie in the beginning of the game ended up guarding Ashley.’

Pike scored her first goal less than seven minutes into the game. The attacker held the ball 20 yards away from the cage, took two steps and blasted a shot past Cornell’s goalie. Pike added a second goal a minute later off a feed from fellow senior Jill DePetris standing behind the net.

Dove took off less than a minute later, after a Cornell timeout. She took the ball from the top and ran past several Big Red defenders before flipping the ball in.

The exchange started a stretch of eight consecutive Syracuse goals scored by just two players. When Pike scored her first goal, the Orange led, 2-1. Almost 15 minutes later, Pike and Dove had scored four goals apiece. Syracuse led, 10-3.

By halftime, both players had five goals apiece. Cornell as a team had just four.

‘Cornell really came out putting a lot of pressure on other people, like Katie Rowan, other people who have been scoring a lot lately,’ Dove said. ‘So we had a lot of openings and opportunities for other players to score. We kept finding the open man.’

Though both players cooled down in the second half, Syracuse’s offense stayed hot. Unlike previous games, the Orange did not suffer a letdown after halftime. Besides Pike and Dove, four other players scored at least two goals.

Pike did score one in the second half, though, with 5:24 remaining in the game. Fittingly, the pass came from Dove – one of her two assists for a team-high seven points.

‘I’ve had a few off-games lately, games I hadn’t scored as much, but others have really been scoring,’ Pike said. ‘We have so much depth and don’t have to put so much pressure on just a few scorers.’

Dove did more than just score Wednesday. Using her 5-foot-11 frame, she dominated draw controls. Syracuse set a school record with 24 draw controls won. Dove’s 11 draw control victories were also a school record.

Because the Orange won so many draws, it controlled the ball and the tempo. Syracuse outshot Cornell, 40-25.

With one regular season game left before the first Big East tournament – Saturday at home against Loyola – Syracuse is the favorite to win the regular season conference title. If Notre Dame beats Rutgers this weekend and the Orange beats last-place Loyola by at least seven goals, SU secures the No. 1 seed.

Cornell learned Wednesday what the Big East has discovered throughout the season – Syracuse is more than just Rowan.

Said Miller: ‘Today just showed the importance of a balanced attack.’

Published on April 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm