Laura Hurff inserted a corner toward Roos Weers, who whacked the ball toward the right post. Waiting there was Erin Gillingham, who had crashed toward the goal when the ball was put into play. Gillingham dove to hit the ball, fully extending her body. While sprawled on the turf, Gillingham deflected the ball above the left shoulder of Princeton goalkeeper Grace Baylis into the back of the net for what would be the only goal of the game.

“That was all the plan,” Gillingham said. “It feels great, wish we could all get more, but yeah it was a good first goal.”

No. 7 Syracuse (9-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) had scored one goal in a game just twice this season before Sunday afternoon, both resulting in losses. But, the Orange used Gillingham’s first goal of the season to defeat No. 16 Princeton (5-5, 2-0 Ivy) at J.S. Coyne Stadium, 1-0.

Just two days prior, Syracuse played at No. 12 Louisville. SU scored three minutes in but failed to score again in a double-overtime loss. On Sunday, the Orange didn’t score again after the early Gillingham goal 12 minutes in, going the last 58 minutes without a goal.

“To come back and be able to play and be able to get a win after traveling,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said, “there’s a lot that goes into travel so I give the kids a lot of credit.”

For much of the match, Princeton pinned Syracuse back with a high line of pressure. But SU was not devoid of opportunity.

The best opportunity for Syracuse to double its lead came early in the second half. Princeton fouled an SU player in the arc, awarding the Orange a penalty corner. Hurff went to insert, and moments later would get two more insertions after Princeton failed to clear the ball without committing a violation. The third corner ended with a Lies Lagerweij clear look. But the Tigers sophomore Baylis sprawled to her left and blocked the shot.

Prior to Lagerweij’s shot and SU’s three straight penalty corners, Carolin Hoffmann carried the ball into the arc and aimed right corner. Baylis stopped it but created a rebound that came right to Emma Tufts. The Syracuse forward tried to slot the ball beneath the pulled out Princeton keeper, but Baylis was able to get a leg to the ball and send it wide. The Orange withstood Princeton’s constant pressure because of an inability to put the ball, and the game, away.

Entering today, Syracuse had averaged 1.33 goals in its losses and 3.22 goals in its wins. Before Sunday, when scoring just one goal, SU had never won. But against Princeton, one goal was enough to win.

“Sometimes you’ll have a really great win, sometimes you’ll just have a really narrow win,” Elaine Carey said. “A win is a win and that’s something we’ve been missing recently. So we’d rather win like this than not win.”

Published on October 1, 2017 at 5:38 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3