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Leading 3-0 with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Syracuse was already on the way to ending its regular season with a win over Cornell. But the Orange didn’t just hold possession to see off the Big Red. Instead, SU tacked on three more goals in those final minutes.

Freshman Olivia Bell scored the first goal of her college career to put the Orange up 4-0 with 5:16 left, lifting a cross from Willemijn Boogert over Cornell goalie Laura Kubit and into the back of the net. Then, Eefke van den Nieuwenhof rocketed a shot from the top of the shooting circle to notch her second penalty corner goal of the day with just over three minutes left. And just 40 seconds later, Quirine Comans recorded her second goal of the day to put the Orange up 6-0, capping off SU’s statement win with postseason play on the horizon. 

“Relentless,” head coach Ange Bradley said about her team’s performance in the final minutes. 

The three goals in the final six minutes of regulation, along with a strong defensive performance, propelled No. 9 Syracuse (12-4, 4-2 Atlantic Coast) to a 6-0 victory over Cornell (8-8, 3-3 Ivy League) on Sunday. The Orange halted Cornell’s offensive mobility, and the Big Red couldn’t register a shot until the fourth quarter. SU also didn’t concede a single penalty corner across all four frames.

With the victory, Syracuse avoided ending its regular season with a three-game skid, with this game coming after the Orange lost their previous two games against ranked ACC opponents, No. 16 Virginia and No. 5 Louisville.

“I think we really needed this (win) to really connect well again,” midfielder Laura Graziosi said. 

At 12-4, Syracuse ends its 2021 regular season with its best record since 2016 when the Orange only lost two games before ACC and NCAA Tournament play. Now Syracuse is the No. 2 seed entering the ACC Tournament — which SU will host this year — and will face No. 6 seed Duke on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Before losses against Virginia and Louisville, the Orange boasted their longest winning streak since their national title-winning 2015 season. The victory over Cornell was reminiscent of their play throughout this stretch. SU’s offense outshot the Big Red 23-1 and earned eight penalty corners compared to Cornell’s zero. Syracuse consistently controlled possession throughout each quarter of play, with regular defensive starters Sienna Pegram, van den Nieuwenhof and SJ Quigley serving as the foundation for attacking moves. 

“They never really came into our defensive 25 (yard area),” Graziosi said postgame.

Syracuse struggled offensively against Virginia and Louisville without forward Pleun Lammers, who has totaled eight goals and four assists in 2021 (20 points), but had no issues putting six past Cornell.

SU showed variation in its penalty corner setups, which led to three of Syracuse’s six goals on Sunday. Comans opened the scoring for the Orange in the first quarter after directing a shot by van den Nieuwenhof from the top left of the shooting circle into the goal. In the second half, van den Nieuwenhof scored two goals from direct penalty corner shots, one of which came in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter. 

“We’ve been working on things and made a couple of quick adjustments,” Bradley said about her team’s penalty corner plays. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling.”

Comans’ first goal of the day was all that separated the two sides at halftime. But, Graziosi extended SU’s lead less than four minutes into the third quarter after finishing off an SU attack. 

Leading up to Graziosi’s goal, Comans spun past the defenders marking her in the shooting circle and passed to Clara Morrison, who was waiting on the right edge of the shooting circle. Morrison fired a shot toward the goal that was saved, but the ball spilled out from Kubit’s grasp and found its way to the path of Graziosi. Despite there being a defender between her and the goal, Graziosi managed to get the ball past the goal line. 

“I think we played pretty well today,” Bradley said. “We were in our lines and back to our old selves as a team.”

Published on October 31, 2021 at 8:14 pm

Contact Bryan: brbrush@syr.edu