Laura Hurff crouched down on the goal line, setting up like a sprinter on the starting blocks. When Princeton’s Carlotta von Gierke inserted the penalty corner, Hurff burst off the line on a beeline to the ball. A Tigers forward held up the ball and let it slide back for a shooter, but she didn’t know that Hurff stood, waiting, right behind her.

Hurff beat the shooter to the ball and sent it away from Syracuse’s defensive zone, a potentially game-saving play for No. 7 Syracuse’s (9-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) in its 1-0 win over No. 16 Princeton’s (5-5, 2-0 Ivy League) on Sunday afternoon at J.S. Coyne Stadium.

“Sometimes I say to myself,” senior back Lies Lagerweij said, “Let’s go Hurff. You got this.”

Syracuse faced an aggressive press from the Tigers, but its defense played the role of steady hand to claim a shutout. That’s because the Orange’s backline focused on balancing between aggression and possession which, with Hurff’s strong performance, keyed in the Orange’s second win, and shutout, in the past five games.

“We just talked about options and holes that were open,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said, “and sometimes that was executed by our group and sometimes that wasn’t.”

Starting with its Sept. 16 loss to then-No.16 Wake Forest, Syracuse’s offense, before Sunday, averaged a paltry two goals per game, relying on the defense to keep games close. Despite holding opponents to only 1.75 goals per game prior to Sunday, SU went 1-3 in its last four games. But on Sunday, the defense was finally able to shine and win the game for SU.

Princeton’s intention to press was apparent from the beginning, pushing multiple forwards far ahead to constantly dog Syracuse’s back line. The Orange knew the press was coming, Bradley said, and planned to not play into the Tigers hands.

When PU’s forwards got on top of SU’s backs, they would find a small gap and push the ball through the midfield and set up the attack down the sidelines. If the Tigers backed off just a handful of yards, Lagerweij, Roos Weers and Jamie Martin flung the ball back and forth to one another until a lane opened up.

“We tried to switch it up a little bit and be a little smarter,” Lagerweij said. “Use our brains, if something doesn’t work, be able to make those in-game adjustments.”

When the ball finally did slip by the first line of the press, Hurff, SU’s do-it-all midfielder, swarmed. Using her speed, she raced past Princeton midfielders to try and create a fast-break chance. Nearly 12 minutes into the game, this tactic led to Hurff getting hauled down in the arc and Syracuse being awarded the penalty corner on which it scored the lone goal of the game.

If SU’s attack broke down, Hurff jumped passing lanes and swiped the ball from pushing midfielders, rarely allowing the Tigers to reestablish their press.

“If you lose the ball,” Hurff said, “try to get it back, that five-second win back. It’s something we focus on every game.”

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Throughout the game, Princeton consistently targeted the right side and late in the game the Tigers mercilessly threw numbers forward on the right.

Lagerweij and Weers got pushed back into the corner, forced to shift the ball back and forth and use their frames, 6-foot-1 and 5-foot-10, respectively, to shield the ball from pesky sticks. It worked, for the most part, although it frequently resulted in Princeton hitting longer or being awarded the ball out-of-bounds. This allowed the Tigers to re-up the press.

“If their pressure is really high,” Lagerweij said, “you can’t be too far away because we get really disconnected as a team.”

Eventually, a Princeton forward maneuvered around SU’s All-American backs and forced freshman goalie Borg van der Velde to come and kick the ball safely away. Assistant referee Jamal Grosvenor gave Princeton a penalty corner on the play.

In its last two games, against then-No. 7 North Carolina and No. 12 Louisville, Syracuse has given up late penalty corner goals. It seemed the Tigers would make SU fall victim for the third time in as many games.

But before the Tigers could even shoot, Hurff made the play SU was missing its past two games.

Published on October 1, 2017 at 6:07 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham