Syracuse was 13 minutes away from losing its fourth game in five attempts.

On the heels of a poor first-half performance, SU head coach Ange Bradley was running short of options to ignite the Orange attack. Fortunately for Bradley and SU, its senior captain stepped up to deliver the victory.

SU trailed by two goals until Roos Weers scored twice and assisted on another goal to lead a comeback win. Weers rescued Syracuse (5-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast), delivering a 3-2 overtime victory against Pacific (6-4) on Friday night at J.S. Coyne Stadium.

As the second half progressed, Bradley pushed SJ Quigley, Carolin Hoffmann and Roos Weers further up the field to spark a comeback. Syracuse’s intensity raised as it pressed the Pacific backs. Associate head coach Allan Law turned to the bench, yelling, wondering why Syracuse kept giving the ball away just outside the penalty circle. For the opening 57 minutes, the Orange had numerous attacks breakdown in the final third.

“I’m proud of them for representing our team and what we’re capable of doing in a better light,” Bradley said.

In the opening half, Pacific took the chances that Syracuse left on the field. The Tigers turned two corners into two goals, both in similar fashion. Five minutes in, Kriekie van Wyk converted the first of her two penalty corner goals by weaving around two SU defenders in the box and slotting the ball past Borg van der Velde.

Van Wyk added another goal for the Tigers, who scored both of their attempts on goal in the first half. Meanwhile, SU wasted many of its opportunities. Most of its six prior set plays failed because of miscommunications, bad passes, and poor stopping.

“There were a lot of skills errors. It’s such a precision play that if one thing is off, the next thing has to move, the next thing has to move,” Bradley said. “When we did get our inserts on, our stick stops were off.”

Two shots and two goals prompted Bradley to make a switch in the cage. van der Velde exited, two games removed from a career-high 11 saves. In came Emma Likly, also a sophomore, to replace her. Likly made two important plays to keep her team competitive in the middle of the second half.

She stepped out of her goal and denied van Wyk a hat trick opportunity as she kicked the ball away. She then made an important pad save later on. For the most part, however, the second half was spent in the Tigers’ half.

“The way we came out in the second half is the way we should come out in every game, and the way we came out in the first half is unacceptable,” Weers said. “We don’t have enough talent to win if we’re not at our best.”

After wasting most of the first six corners, the seventh corner ignited a comeback. Hoffmann inserted the ball, Tess Queen settled it perfectly for Weers.  Weers took three steps to her left and fired into the corner of the goal.

Syracuse had life. The Orange sent waves and waves of attack after the Pacific defense, finally converting with three minutes left to equalize a game that looked as extinguished as the lights at Coyne Stadium 15 minutes prior.

When the lights went out at Coyne with 30 minutes left, Weers spoke inside the huddle during the two-minute delay. She yelled, “go get the ball, and when you get it, keep the ball!”

Syracuse had given the ball away in the midfield and final third dozens of times. In the final 10 minutes, the Orange sustained the pressure on Pacific because it retained better possession. SU finished with 64 percent of the possession overall, Bradley said.

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With under four minutes to go, Weers rocketed a pass into traffic, and sophomore Chiara Gutsche got her stick onto it, deflecting the ball into the goal. Pacific’s lead evaporated in less than 10 minutes.

Syracuse almost won the game in regulation, again off a corner. The Orange created two consecutive penalty corners, and Weers’ attempt on the second fizzed inches wide of the cage.

The game went into overtime, where SU had all the momentum. It needed just one corner, one clear look at the goal to complete the comeback. Weers didn’t need any stopper on that goal. She took the pass straight from Hoffman and scored. Weers’ pumped her fist high into the dark night sky, and her teammates mobbed her on the field.

“I’m proud of the way we fought,” Weers said. “We need to honor Coyne, for everyone who’s played there before us.

When SU needed it most, Weers scored five points to lead the comeback in 17 minutes.

Published on September 21, 2018 at 9:32 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo