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Syracuse (4-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) enters its Thursday quarterfinal Atlantic Coast Conference tournament matchup against Duke on a three-game win streak. 

Freshman Florine van Boetzelaer had a season-high two goals against the Blue Devils earlier this season, before Laura Graziosi scored a rebound goal with eight minutes remaining to secure SU’s first win of the year.

Six of the Orange’s seven games this season have been determined by game-winning fourth quarters or overtime goals. The lone exception was SU’s most recent game, a 2-1 win over Louisville, which featured a 2-0 lead until the final five minutes.

The Orange have been prone to slow starts. Not counting overtime, they’ve notched 22 first half shots and 55 second half shots. For three consecutive games, they had only one shot across the first 30 minutes of each game.

Listed as a forward on the roster, Charlotte de Vries has dropped into a deeper, midfield role for SU’s past few games. Head coach Ange Bradley said she’s seen “an incredible amount of maturity and ownership and leadership,” from de Vries in the new spot. de Vries is seeing more of the ball and connecting SU’s backline to its forwards by winning one-on-one matchups and carrying the ball downfield.  

“The last two weeks, we’ve been working a lot on ourselves and our patterns of play,” Bradley said. “Just improving the simple things that we like to do as Syracuse field hockey.” 

Freshman forward Carly Bothof is one of SU’s fastest players, and though de Vries struggled to connect with Bothof early during the season, her midfield role has made it much easier in SU’s recent games, de Vries said. 

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Graziosi, a preseason All-American selection alongside de Vries, has also been crucial to the SU midfield, intercepting passes regularly. SU’s offense frequently runs through her with the ball. She often completes cross-field passes to catch defenses off guard and use both sides of the turf. She also showed her composure against Louisville, burying a penalty stroke in the fourth quarter to provide SU with security.

Freshman Eefke van den Nieuwenhof has anchored SU’s defense, leading the conference with three defensive saves. Alongside Sienna Pegram, SJ Quigley has also proven to be one of SU’s reliable defenders, dropping back from the midfield to help cover when SU loses the ball. The Orange held Louisville to a season-low number of goals (one) and penalty corners (four).

But Syracuse has the fewest penalty corners in the conference (31), with the exception of Boston College, and has scored on only one of those opportunities.

All seven ACC teams automatically qualified for the tournament, with No. 1 seeded Louisville getting a first round bye. Should No. 3 seeded Syracuse get the better of the No. 6 Blue Devils for the second time this season, it’ll play the winner of No. 2  UNC and No. 7 Boston College the following day.

The Eagles have played only two games this season after a positive test within the program led to the cancellation of five games, including a two-game series against Syracuse. 

The Tar Heels have a 7-1 overall record, having beaten every team but first-place Louisville. UNC faced off against Syracuse on Oct. 16, and the game remained scoreless until Erin Matson found the back of the cage with eight minutes remaining. Matson currently leads the conference in shots, assists, shots on goal, goals and game winning goals, 

Syracuse fell 1-0 that day, its third loss of the season, by a one-goal differential. The other losses came when it was swept by Virginia in a two-game series. The Orange, though, have not lost since the UNC game about two weeks ago. 

Besides Boston College, Syracuse has played the fewest games in the conference after its series against the Eagles was canceled and only one of its two games against Duke was made-up. In mid-September, members of SU’s program came into contact with an unaffiliated individual who tested positive for COVID-19, which postponed games. Syracuse has played only one home game this year.

Last season, the Orange lost 1-0 to Louisville in the first round of the ACC tournament. They were also eliminated in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament by Princeton, who advanced all the way to the championship game.

Published on November 3, 2020 at 9:44 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16