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Senior Bryn Boylan stepped into the inner circle, carefully teeing up the ball for the penalty stroke. She stepped back and shot right. Goalkeeper Syd Taylor dove left. Once the ball struck the back of the net, UNC advanced to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

For the second time this season, Syracuse (5-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) came up a goal short against UNC (9-1, 4-1), ending SU’s shortened season. Similar to yesterday against Duke, Syracuse trailed by two goals and recovered to force overtime. Similar to Oct. 16, an Erin Matson goal pushed the Tar Heels in front. Similar to the first game between the two teams, UNC won a one-goal game.

But head coach Ange Bradley didn’t think all of the similarities were negative.

“This is a very good team,” Bradley said. “Their work ethic, their belief, their aggression and their composure is outstanding, and they remind me so much of the team I coached from 2012-2015.”

Tied 3-3 heading into overtime, Taylor began to step up — and out — of her cage. With under nine minutes left in overtime, Eva Smolenaars received a cross near the right side of Syracuse’s inner circle. With no defender present, Taylor barrelled toward Smolenaars, who suddenly had no angle. The midfielder quickly shot, but the ball bounced harmlessly off Taylor for one of her six saves of the night.

The Tar Heels had another opportunity two minutes later, as UNC’s top scorer Matson passed from midfield to Hannah Griggs on SU’s side of the field. Syracuse senior Carolin Hoffman was the last line of defense. 

Griggs received the pass and tapped the ball through Hoffmann’s legs. As Hoffman stumbled, Griggs sprinted toward Taylor and Syracuse’s inner circle. But once again, Taylor came out of goal, meeting Griggs at the top of the inner circle. As Griggs moved to her right to wind up for a shot, Taylor mirrored the forward. Winding back her stick, Griggs attempted a shot, but Taylor slid and saved a game ending goal. 

Twice Taylor left her position between the posts and successfully prevented a Tar Heels score. But with 5:08 left in overtime, UNC again fired a pass into Syracuse’s inner circle. As Matson settled the pass, Taylor charged, crashing into Matson as she laid out for the ball. The junior’s knees buckled as she twisted and fell to the turf in Chapel Hill. The contact resulted in a UNC penalty stroke, which Boylan buried for the win. 

Two minutes after Matson’s fourth quarter goal made it a 2-1 game, she found possession again. Taylor strove out of the net, something she did frequently Friday, and Matson passed to midfielder Paityn Wirth, who Taylor left wide open on the other side of the net. Wirth collected the ball with nobody in front of her, took two steps and fired in a shot for an easy goal.

But down two goals with nine minutes left, Syracuse’s bench stayed loud. The bench was never quiet throughout the game, and it erupted less than a minute later when Carly Bothof’s spun away from a defender in the inner circle. While it appeared like she was lining up a shot, she instead rocketed a pass inches to the side of Tar Heels goalkeeper Amanda Hendry. 

Pleun Lammers was there for the pass and quickly tapped in a goal to cut UNC’s lead to one. With 3:44 remaining, the Orange had a chance to tie as SJ Quigley entered the inner circle. 

She encountered Matson near the sideline to the right of goal. Matson stuck her stick between Quigley and the ball, knocking the ball out of bounds. The clock continued to tick as Syracuse attacked the goal. Just 77 seconds later, SU had another opportunity with a penalty corner, Syracuse’s fourth of the game. 

The Orange had scored on a penalty corner less than a minute into the second half, when Eefke van den Nieuwenhof settled a Quigley pass in before firing a shot off the stick of a UNC player and into the top of UNC’s cage.

In the fourth quarter, Syracuse used a different strategy. Once again, Quigley inserted the corner, taking three methodical steps backward before halting. She then scanned her teammates and fired a pass into Charlotte de Vries.

de Vries took the ball and ran right before reversing backwards and passing to an open van den Nieuwenhof. This time, her shot lacked velocity and was easily blocked. 

After scoring 6:50 earlier to cut UNC’s lead to one, Syracuse was still searching for the tying goal. With 48 seconds left in regulation, it had one final opportunity. Hoffman passed in the ball to the inner circle from midfield in a desperate attempt. Although it knocked Claire Cooke’s stick, the ball didn’t change course. 

The ball continued to the left of UNC’s goal, past a UNC defender, and found Hailey Bitters. The sophomore dove and deflected the ball past Hendry to tie the game at three and force overtime. 

In an extra time period where the Tar Heels controlled possession, Syracuse managed only one opportunity, but Hendry easily stuck up her hand and blocked a de Vries shot. Eventually, Taylor’s aggressiveness caught up to her, as she was unable to make her seventh save. Instead, she allowed her fourth goal. 

Despite the loss ending the Orange’s season, Bradley envisions her young team to have more success in the future.

“This team is going to be around,” Bradley said. “We have a ton of freshmen and they’re going to find a way to win a championship.”

Published on November 6, 2020 at 7:48 pm

Contact Thomas: tgshults@syr.edu | @ThomasShults_