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SJ Quigley trotted over to the left side of the goal to take the corner late in the fourth quarter. Quigley played the ball to the stick of Kirsten Oudshoorn, who laid it off to Charlotte de Vries. In one touch, de Vries drove the ball into a clump of North Carolina players. Roome Joosten managed to get a touch on the ball before the UNC players and tapped it past them to an open Pleun Lammers, who scored her second goal of the game on an open net. For the first time all game, Syracuse had a lead over No. 1 North Carolina.

No. 11 Syracuse (8-8, 4-6 Atlantic Coast), who had scored one goal in each of the last three games, came back from down 2-0 against top ranked UNC (15-1, 9-1) with three straight goals in the second half. Despite its offensive prowess, Syracuse fell short in their comeback and eventually lost the game 4-3 in overtime in their final regular season game of the spring season.

Syracuse had dominated early and outshot UNC 5-1 with a minute remaining in the first, but the top team in the nation showed why they are, as Erin Matson slid in a pass behind seven Syracuse players to Katie Dixon in the circle. She drew Emily Streib out of her net and passed it across to Hannah Griggs, who had a clear shot into an open net.

But UNC took over in the second quarter as Syracuse lost its energy. On UNC’s second corner of the game midway through the quarter, Matson scored her 22nd goal of the season, her first of three on the day. The Orange failed to record a shot and or get a corner in the quarter and headed to the locker room down 2-0.

Despite being down, Syracuse came out in the third quarter firing. Laura Graziosi took the ball from her own half and raced past UNC players on the left side before dishing it to de Vries. de Vries took a touch toward the middle, looked up and found an open Hailey Bitters right in front of the goal, who drove the shot past goalkeeper Amanda Hendry to come within one goal of the Tar Heels.

Bitters’ next shot touched a UNC player’s foot, earning a penalty corner. Syracuse, who hadn’t scored in its last 29 corner attempts, was finally able to knock one in. de Vries stepped up and faked a shot, letting the ball pass behind her to van den Niewenhof who slapped in the shot for her fourth goal of the season.

Syracuse was on a roll, but late in the third quarter, head coach Ange Bradley was ejected from the game after arguing with refs led to two yellow cards. Tied with the Tar Heels, the Orange had to finish the game without their head coach.

At first, Syracuse played well without Bradley. Bitters stole the ball from a UNC player for a breakaway. After out-pacing the player she stole the ball from, she had a one on one with Hendry, but her shot went wide. The Orange wasted no time in creating another scoring chance, as two minutes later Lammers knocked in a goal giving Syracuse a 3-2 lead with eight minutes left in the game.

Syracuse’s early pressure had faded, and UNC began their counterattack. On their third penalty corner and sixth shot of the game, the Tar Heels evened the game at three off of a deep shot from Matson.

On a penalty corner with four minutes left, the Orange ran the same play that led to their second goal by using de Vries as bait. This time, UNC was able to read it this time and blocked the shot. Neither team would score for the rest of the quarter, forcing overtime.

Syracuse was winded heading into overtime. Chiara Gutsche got a weak shot off almost immediately that was saved by Hendry. Later, van den Nieuwenhof got a yellow card, and the Orange found themselves down a player.

Paityn Wirth received a pass in the circle. Graziosi caught up to her but Wirth quickly crossed over, shielded the ball and slipped it behind Graziosi. Matson barely needed to tap the ball in as it was already behind Streib, and Syracuse players silently left the field after their last game of the regular season.

Published on April 18, 2021 at 7:31 pm

Contact Adam: amccaffe@syr.edu