Alyssa Murray (1) is now third on Syracuse's all-time scoring list.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Senior Alyssa Murray tied her season high with seven points, including the 300th of her career, to lead No. 3 Syracuse to a 19-15 victory against No. 9 Duke in the Carrier Dome on Saturday. Murray is just the third player in school history to reach the 300-point plateau.
"I've had a great career here mostly because of everyone around me," said Murray after the game. "I've had great people feeding me throughout my career and people who can catch my passes and finish so I owe it to my teammates."
Murray now has 301 career points, which rank third on Syracuse's all-time scoring list. Current assistant coach Katie Rowan is the Orange's all-time leading scorer with 396 points, while Christina Dove is second with 335.
After Duke (7-4, 2-2) jumped out to a 2-0 lead, Murray put Syracuse (10-1, 3-1) on the scoreboard when she converted a free position attempt. The Blue Devils led 3-1 before Taylor Poplawski scored at the 21:46 mark, sparking the Orange on a 6-1 scoring run that gave SU a 7-4 lead. Kayla Treanor scored on an assist from Murray and then assisted on a goal by Poplawski, which gave Syracuse the lead for good. Maddy Morrissey briefly halted the run with a goal at the 13:24 mark, but Treanor, Katie Webster and Erica Bodt followed with goals to give Syracuse a three-goal advantage.
Duke fought back as Taylor Trimble's unassisted goal was its first in 7:23 and helped the Blue Devils cut the Orange's lead to 8-7 with 1:23 on the clock. Syracuse answered with goals by Webster and Treanor in the final minute to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Blue Devils found the back of the net 57 seconds into the second half, but the Orange responded with five unanswered goals by five different players to take a 15-8 lead with 15:34 to play. Murray had three assists during the run. Trimble again ended Duke's scoring drought of 14:11 with her third goal of the day before Treanor converted a free position attempt and Murray netted back-to-back goals to give Syracuse its largest lead of the day at 18-9 with 10:49 remaining. The Blue Devils posted six of the final seven goals of the game for the 19-15 final.
"I thought our team played really well," said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait. "(We) executed and built a substantial lead. It was great and allowed an opportunity for some of our other players who don't normally get in there. When that happens against a top 10 team it's just awesome so we were thrilled with the performance by everybody, especially with our core players who provided that opportunity for those other players."
Murray finished with three goals and four assists, while Treanor had five points on four goals and an assist. Webster had two goals and an assist, and Bodt and junior Kailah Kempney had two goals each.
Syracuse outshot Duke, 33-27, while the Blue Devils picked up 18 ground balls to 11 for the Orange. Sophomore Maddy Huegel had five draw controls, helping Syracuse to a 22-14 advantage in the circle. Senior Alyssa Costantino made one save for SU in the first half, and junior Kelsey Richardson made three in the second half. Kelsey Duryea recorded seven saves for Duke.
