After Hansen Woodruff scored his second goal of the night, the crowd of 1,418 at SU Soccer Stadium made its desire clear, chanting for a hat trick. Woodruff nearly delivered.

In the 83rd minute of play, Woodruff fired a shot that the goalie deflected just past the right goal post.

‘I was actually talking about that before the game,’ Woodruff said. ‘You want to score as many goals as you can, but I was just joking around like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to get a hat trick.”

The hat trick would have been an added bonus for Woodruff, who was in charge of propelling the team’s offensive surge midway through the first half. The Orange defeated longtime rival Cornell, 2-1, Saturday night in front of the second-largest crowd ever SU Soccer Stadium. The only other time SU had more than 1,400 fans at a home game was Oct. 5, 1996, against Notre Dame.

SU (1-2-0) fell, 3-2, at Colgate Monday night

On Saturday night, Woodruff – who leads the team in points (six) and goals (three) – scored both goals for Syracuse, which found itself on the wrong end of a frenzied Cornell attack early in the first half. The Big Red was able to keep the ball near midfield or in Syracuse territory, finally scoring off a header in the 18th minute to take an early 1-0 lead.

Six minutes later, Woodruff tied the game with a header set up by senior Pete Hill.

‘The goal we scored, we didn’t pass it all the way around. It was off a set piece,’ Woodruff said. ‘But if we start playing with more energy and match their energy, I think we’re a better team.’

Woodruff’s second goal came in the 61st minute, when fellow senior Tom Perevegyencev was fouled in the box, which set up a penalty kick for the Orange captain. When the goalie dove to his left, Woodruff fired the ball past him to put Syracuse ahead for good.

‘Usually my approach is to go fast and try to see what the goalie does,’ Woodruff said. ‘Wherever he moves, I try to kick it to the other side. I usually don’t pick a side until the very last second.’

All of Woodruff’s offense would have meant nothing had Syracuse’s defense not shut the door on Cornell after the Big Red’s first and only goal. Redshirt freshman goalie Evan Johnson secured the net by recording three saves until he was hurt toward the end of the first half.

Fellow redshirt freshman Ryan Jones took over in the second half and recorded three saves of his own. Jones was pivotal in preventing Cornell from scoring in the second half, particularly in the 67th minute, when he blocked a wide-open shot that could have tied the game. Jones also blocked shots and covered the ball during a final offensive surge by the Big Red in the final minutes of play.

Syracuse head coach Dean Foti said that the team did not make any major adjustments after Cornell’s goal, but said that having the opponent out-play the team in the early minutes added a sense of urgency to the game.

‘Whenever something like that happens, it wakes everybody up,’ Foti said. ‘You realize that can’t happen and your back is against the wall. You don’t want to give up any goals, but when you give up one and it’s the first one of the game, you really have to close the door and try to dig yourself back into the game.’

Once the offense, spearheaded by Woodruff, started to gain momentum, the defense was able to rest long enough to be effective in the latter part of the game. Woodruff’s fellow captain, Hill, said the momentum of the offense helped relieve pressure on the defense.

‘It’s always nice when we can get a breather,’ Hill said. ‘We get the ball up to our forwards and they keep the ball in their end, which allows us to expand and run our offense the way that we practice.’

A solid offensive performance like Saturday’s made Woodruff believe the offense can continue on this streak and take over more games this season.

‘If we just start playing our game,’ Woodruff said, ‘we won’t have any problem breaking down teams.’

azmeola@syr.edu

Published on September 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm