Penalty corners start with the insertion from side of the cage. If the initial pass is clean, it makes it to the stick of an awaiting “stopper,” who keeps the ball in the arc, pushing it into a shooting lane.

While all this happens, a shooter — for Syracuse it’s normally Roos Weers or Lies Lagerweij — stutter steps and winds up. If all goes smoothly, Syracuse will get a shot off.

“You can only execute a penalty corner if every piece is perfect,” Weers said in September.

But penalty corners haven’t always gone well for No. 11 Syracuse (12-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) this season. To start the season, Syracuse posted its worst five-game percentage on penalty corners in head coach Ange Bradley’s tenure, converting only 3 percent of corners. With the regular season over, SU has taken 99 corners, scoring 13 for an 18-percent conversion rate. Though SU has seen an uptick, the Orange will need to seize every opportunity against No. 10 Louisville (12-6, 4-2) Thursday in its ACC tournament opener. Minor errors during insertion or stopping have limited SU’s efficiency on set pieces this season.

“The insertion, the stop and the execution,” Weers said, “anything that we ever did in the season, you can always improve on.”

The role as a stopper is to lay down her stick to corral the ball and set it up for the shooter. But when insertion passes come in fast, putting a deft touch on the ball for a shooter is hard, and having “soft hands” can help a player control the ball off their stick. Being able to put the ball in a good spot can be the difference between a clean look on net or an easily blocked shot.

There’s also an element of danger in stopping, Bradley said, which expands the degree of difficulty. When a player makes a stop — usually it’s Emma Tufts, Elaine Carey or Erin Gillingham doing it for SU — they get low, putting their head right over their stick. So, when Weers or Lagerweij step up after a big wind up, their sticks swing close by a stoppers head.

“You’ve got to be brave,” Bradley said.

Before the ball even gets to stoppers, a good insertion pass is needed to give shooters a chance. Senior midfielder Laura Hurff has taken the majority of insertions for SU, picking up eight assists on set pieces. Just behind Hurff is the No. 2 inserter, freshman Florine Hogendoorn, who has four assists.

The key to a good insertion, Bradley said, is getting some pace on the pass so it gets to the stoppers and shooters quicker than the defense can make it out of the net.

“If the insertion is off a little bit,” Weers said, “it’s very difficult to adjust. It’s very important.”

SU has rarely made glaring errors on penalty corners, but when it happens, it’s a costly mistake. Carey mishandled a stop with no time left down 2-1 to then-No. 4 Virginia on Oct. 14. The ball exited the arc and ended the game, handing the Orange its fourth conference loss.

More often though, slightly misplaced insertions or clumsy stops disrupt plays force shooters to fire into less open lanes or take shots hoping for a deflection. Occasionally, to try and find a goal, SU runs a set play off a penalty corner.

On Oct. 1, Syracuse looked to break a 0-0 tie with Princeton. Hurff inserted the penalty corner, and the ball was stopped for Weers. She rocketed the ball at the post, where Gillingham waited to deflect the ball in. That goal ended up being the game-winner in an eventual 1-0 Syracuse win.

Lagerweij declined to say if SU had any more set plays drawn up for the ACC tournament.

“It’s an important part of field hockey,” Lagerweij said, “so I don’t want to give anything away.”

Whether Syracuse works in new wrinkles with set plays or just works on execution, it will need better numbers from its penalty corners to aid an offense that averages roughly one goal fewer per game than a season ago.

To do so, like Weers said, Syracuse might just have to be perfect.

Published on November 1, 2017 at 12:37 am

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham