Already short a starting defender, Syracuse lost another one in freshman Hadlee Durrant, felled by injury early in its match Tuesday against Layton.

“We have a couple of injuries right now, and sickness hits every team — things you’ve got to deal with. Two of our center backs didn’t play today; Eva Christensen has been out since the Davis game and Hadlee Durrant went down with her knee,” Syracuse coach Jason Steiner said. “Those are two big parts of our defense, so we have to get healthy. I’m happy to get out of here with a win, because Layton has done really well. They’ve beaten the two top teams in the state.”

Steiner’s Titans escaped with a 3-2 Region 1 victory after coming from behind twice against the hard-luck Lancers.

“Durrant is a key component, but we stayed calm,” Syracuse captain Taylee Hughes said. “We all had to move into positions which are not normal to us and we’re not used to, but we did good and were really strong in back.”

Tied 2-2, Hughes scored the winning goal, her second of the game, in the 57th minute for the Titans.

“It was a good play by my teammate to set me up there. It wasn’t as good a shot as I wanted, but you have to take shots to try to score; take a shot and hope it goes in,” Hughes said.

Syracuse (10-2, 3-0 Region 1) rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits before taking the lead on Hughes’ goal.

“It’ difficult; you always want the lead, but it doesn’t matter who starts, it’s who finishes,” Hughes said. “We had to stay kind of composed and always be positive. Just because you’re down doesn’t mean you’re going to lose the game.”

Layton (6-7, 0-4) got on the board first on a soaring goal from Ryann Jensen, launched from barely inside the midfield stripe in the 18th minute.

The Titans had pulled even by halftime as Sophie Martin snuck a shot past Layton keeper Quincy Reisbeck with 4:32 left.

Only a minute out of the break, Layton forward Anna Ward beat Syracuse goalie Erin Bott for a 2-1 Lancer lead.

Hughes followed with her first goal three minutes later, tying it 2-2, after a collision between Syracuse midfielder Jocee Eddy and Reisbeck left a wide-open shot.

“I was there to clean up just in case … happened to be there to finish it,” Hughes said.

“The first five minutes after scoring is the most important time to keep them out of the net, because we’re fired up, then they take back the momentum,” Layton coach Tara Ferrin said. “We had five minutes of letdown and they capitalized. We have to get rid of those moments so we don’t give them that advantage.”

Syracuse remains undefeated in Region 1 action, nearing the halfway point of the schedule with a game against Weber remaining.

“Region is tough; this was a tough game. I know Davis thought Layton was tough. Coming in here, there’s no way my girls were overlooking them and we won’t overlook Weber as well,” Steiner said. “We’ve played really good at times and been flat at times, but even in games we’ve lost this year, we’ve been in it, scoring goals.

“I’m confident in our offense; we’ve had a ton of chances the last few games and we’re finishing a little better,” Steiner said. “I think it’s coming together.”

Layton, meanwhile, lost its third straight one-goal game and its other Region 1 loss was a penalty kick shootout against Weber.

“We do have a problem finishing games; it’s a game of inches. We had our chances. We just had to get one in the back of the net again,” Ferrin said. “We have to keep doing the same things. We don’t have to fix anything; we just need to keep getting better at what we’re doing.”

There is a trend developing for this Titan team, where they trail early, then bounce back for the win, most recently when they overcame a 2-0 hole to win in overtime against Davis.

“Very similar to Davis when we went down. Here we got up and were able to hold the lead,” Steiner said. “The defense did great because those guys haven’t played together a full game in the back.”