Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

All elite players find a way to break through. For Northwestern’s Madison Taylor, the nation’s leading scorer, she proved that to be correct.

Despite the Wildcats leading 4-0 at the end of the first quarter and 5-3 at halftime, all scoring was done without Taylor finding the back of the net. As the Orange mounted a comeback, the Tewaaraton Award finalist from a year ago adjusted, further proving her star status.

With three free-position goals and two empty netters, Taylor’s five second-half goals helped No. 3 Northwestern (5-1, 0-0 Big Ten) down No. 5 Syracuse (3-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) 12-8 Tuesday, marking NU’s first win in the JMA Wireless Dome since 2012.

The Orange tried everything to stop Taylor. They face-guarded her with Superia Clark. They played an overall player-to-player look. They even switched to zone a few times out of timeouts. SU head coach Kayla Treanor characterized the unit as “playing a totally different defense than we normally do.” Still, Taylor got hers when it mattered most, putting to bed any chance of a Syracuse comeback.

When asked about Taylor’s performance, Treanor posed a question to herself and the media while flipping open her stat sheet packet and looking down.

“Did anybody (else) on their team have more than one goal?” Treanor asked.

The answer was no.

Taylor’s five led the way while seven other Wildcats totaled one. Though being a potent goal scorer is nothing new to Taylor. A four-star recruit from Wantagh, New York, Taylor notched two All-American honors at Wantagh High School before choosing NU over Syracuse, Michigan and Florida.

In her early career with the Wildcats, Taylor played second or even third fiddle behind the lethal attacking duo of Izzy Scane and Erin Coykendall. Still, 70 points in her freshman year — and four in NU’s National Championship win over BC — thrust her into the spotlight. As a sophomore, she took over the mantle by topping Scane and Coykendall with 116 points.

With both moving on to the professional level, Taylor’s numbers have already skyrocketed to start 2025, ranking second in the country at seven points per game entering the contest. Against Clark, though, Taylor ran into trouble early.

Treanor said the idea was simple in face-guarding Taylor. It would limit her touches. Fewer touches would limit production. As for who would be tasked with guarding Taylor, it was Clark, who started in just her second game of the season, filling in for the injured Julia Basciano.

“(Clark) is one of our best one-on-one defenders,” Treanor said. “If she gets the ball, we trust (Clark) playing defense. And that was the decision that we made.”

Treanor and Co. tried a similar tactic last season against Scane in the season opener. The Orange deployed then-freshman Kaci Benoit onto Scane one-on-one. Scane was held to just three goals, but NU still won handily.

Benoit proved her skill by facing one of Northwestern’s best last season. Clark did the same in this year’s matchup.

With the help of a backcheck by midfielder Molly Guzik, Clark forced Taylor to the ground midway through the first quarter. Taylor turned the ball over, and Clark scooped it up and took it the other way.

As the Wildcats built their lead, Taylor dished an assist without Clark on her. SU was in zone defense on the possession. Taylor dipped right, flashing by Lexi Reber and Coco Vandiver on the perimeter and found a wide-open Abby LoCascio for the score.

Taylor used a similar technique off the ball early in the second quarter. With Clark back on her, Taylor took the ball all the way to the right end line to stretch the defense. As Taylor and Clark stayed wide, NU’s Sam Smith raced through the left side and ripped one past Daniella Guyette in net.

Despite Taylor’s contributions off the ball, she had a few slip-ups. The Wildcats failed to score from the 10:33 mark of the second quarter to 7:29 to play in the third. As Taylor raced back to stop a clear from Reber, she slashed her in the shoulder, prompting a green card. In the early going of the third, she received another green card for going offside.

Without scoring, Taylor remained a threat. Eventually, she broke through due to Syracuse’s mishaps.

“On the offensive end, she’s very difficult to defend,” Treanor said. “She’s a left-handed player. She’ll pass the ball, but I think she gets a lot of fouls called on her, so you have to be so disciplined to play here.”

Midway through the third quarter, Taylor received the ball on the right side, juked left to right and had a step on Clark. As Clark recovered and Reber came over to help, Taylor was struck in the head, drawing a free-position shot. With no hesitation, Taylor buried it.

The Orange made the exact same mistake less than four minutes later. Taylor worked the ball around the outside, and Guzik’s stick tipped her face. Back to the free-position spot, Taylor again tickled the twine.

To add on, Taylor used her strength to bully inside and again force a free-position try. Without hesitation, she drilled it, giving the Wildcats a 9-5 lead nearing the end of the third quarter.

It was all NU needed. Taylor added contributions on the draw to close out the game. She even scored two goals in the final two minutes with Syracuse’s vacant net. While Clark held down Taylor’s goal-scoring momentarily, she eventually found her way into the back of the net, taking over and handing the Orange their second-straight loss.

Published on February 25, 2025 at 8:30 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky