SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The #11 women's lacrosse team entered halftime tied with #7 Syracuse, but the Orange outscored the Big Red 6-2 in the second half to take a Tuesday night non-conference matchup, 11-8, at the Carrier Dome.

Senior Renee Poullott made a career-high 14 saves for Cornell, with nine of them coming in the second half.

Senior tri-captain Catie Smith was able to control the opening draw and that first possession proved fruitful for the Big Red. With just 1:04 off the clock, senior Amie Dickson threaded a pass back across the eight-meter to Sarah Phillips and the sophomore fired it past Asa Goldstock to put Cornell up 1-0.

The Big Red shut down the Orange offense on its first two possessions thanks to strong play from a pair of seniors. First, Smith tracked down Morgan Widner breaking towards goal and was able to check the ball out to cause a turnover and then Poullott made three saves on the next Orange possession. Syracuse eventually found the net but Cornell answered right back, as Taylor Reed made it 2-1 on a free-position goal with 9:15 played.

Reed then replicated that situation just minutes later, as the junior once again answered an Orange goal with a free-position conversion – this time responding in just 35 seconds – for a 3-2 lead. Senior tri-captain Catherine Ellis made it 4-2 when she streaked into the crease and rifled a high shot that beat Goldstock.

The teams then went eight minutes without a goal before senior tri-captain Kristy Gilbert ran onto a pass from Phillips and rifled it into the upper right corner of the net for a 5-3 lead - only to have Syracuse pull it back on a free-position one minute later.

With just six seconds left in the opening stanza, Riley Donahue was able to flick a rebounded shot past Poullott to send the game into the break at five all – the second-lowest first half goal total for Syracuse this season.

The Orange grabbed its first lead of the game 40 seconds into the second half on a backdoor shot from Devon Parker.

After a series of turnovers by both teams, Phillips pulled the score even at when she received a pass from freshman Caroline Allen, twisted to face goal and then fired a shot between the collapsing defenders.

It seemed the back-and-forth played between the two ranked teams would continue, but in scoring five of the first six goals of the second half, Syracuse held a 10-6 lead with 13 minutes off the clock.

Reed's third free-position goal of the night pulled Cornell back within three with 16:07 to play and Poullott continued to give the Big Red a chance with five saves in the final 16 minutes, including three on free-position attempts. Cornell kept fighting and Gilbert's second of the night cut the deficit to three with just under a minute to play but the 6-2 second half scoring edge in favor of the Orange proved to  be too much to overcome.

In the waning seconds of the game, Goldstock – who finished with 11 saves – stopped free-position bids from Gilbert and Dickson to preserve the final score of 11-8.

Syracuse held the final edge in shots (34-24), ground balls (19-8) and draw controls (11-10).

Reed (3g, 0a) and Phillips (2g, 1a) lead the Big Red with three points each while Dickson (0g, 2a) and Gilbert (2g 0a) each added two. Ellis finished with one goal while Allen had one helper. Junior Joey Coffy had a game-high five ground balls and Dickson added four draw controls.

Cornell will host #6/7 Princeton for an Ivy League contest at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Schoellkopf Field in the penultimate game of the regular season.