Stephanie Harris checked into Syracuse’s game for the first time Sunday with under eight minutes left in the first half. Minutes later, she stole the ball from a Drexel player and fed an open Lies Lagerweij. While the ball was traveling to the Syracuse senior, Lagerweij yelled “Good job Steph.” A couple minutes later, Harris intercepted a Drexel pass near the right sideline. From across the field at the right back position, Roos Weers shouted out “Good job Steph.”

Harris, a sophomore, played a career-high 32 minutes as No. 7 Syracuse (11-4, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) downed Drexel (5-10, 0-2 Colonial), 4-0, at J.S. Coyne Stadium on Sunday afternoon. She was joined at times on the backline by senior Annalena Ulbrich, who made her first start of the season, and played the majority of the game.

“We limited the opposition to one shot and no corners,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “That says they did pretty well.”

Neither Harris nor Ulbrich normally receive as much playing time as they did Sunday. Bradley decided to start Lagerweij at forward against the Dragons, resulting in an Ulbrich start. And on a day that the Orange controlled the majority of the match, Harris got an opportunity to play in just her fourth game of the season.

Drexel had just one shot against the Orange a day after high-scoring No. 4 Virginia took 12 shots and scored twice against SU. The best chances for the Dragons came on the counter attack.

After Syracuse’s first corner of the game was saved by Drexel’s Erin Gilchrist, Drexel spread out and had at least four players to the Orange’s two defenders. But Jamie Martin stepped up and stripped the ball away. On multiple other counters in which Syracuse was outnumbered by Drexel players, the defense was able to slow down the play and avoid the threat.

“Just try to keep your layers in the game,” Ulbrich said. “You just try to slow the game, not necessarily break it, just slow it down and allow our numbers to come back into the game.”

Ulbrich played a key role in swinging the ball across the back like Lagerweij normally does. She accurately whacked the ball from the right back spot all the way to near the left sideline to Weers often. Changing the side of the field let Weers try to find a forward running deep.

After Harris played well to end the first half, Bradley left her in to start the second frame. With 18:30 remaining, Drexel tried to break free down the attacking left side. A midfielder passed the ball out to the wing, but Harris met the ball before the attacking player could receive it. She stole it, spun to avoid a Drexel player’s stick and drew a foul.

Just a few minutes later, a stick obstruction call on Harris seemed to have given Drexel a penalty corner. But Syracuse challenged the ruling, and after video referral, the call was reversed. Harris had knocked the ball away before making contact with the Drexel player’s stick, resulting in a clean play. When Harris was subbed out less than two minutes later, she walked down the bench with a big smile on her face.

“Obviously in practice I play with them all the time,” Harris said. “Knowing that I can handle it and be out there on my own on the field is really great for going forward.”

Published on October 15, 2017 at 4:44 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3