Laura Graziosi launched on a counterattack for Syracuse as she nutmegged her defender and dribbled into Wake Forest’s half. Graziosi sent a vertical pass in the direction of Claire Cooke, who was approaching the left edge of the shooting circle. Her pass was initially blocked, but Willemijn Boogert got hold of the loose ball and successfully got the ball to Cooke.

Cooke darted into the shooting circle looking to cross the ball but got caught with a stick between her legs as she was tripped by a Wake Forest defender before she could do so.

“I knew she was pretty close to me, so I didn’t want to turn on my forehand,” Cooke said. “She just kind of went to the ground and threw a stick, and that’s an automatic (penalty) stroke.”

The referees called for a penalty stroke in Syracuse’s favor after a review, and Graziosi was chosen to take the shot. Without hesitation, the senior slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal, right by Wake Forest goalkeeper Tori Glaister. But the referees motioned for another review, keeping the 254 attending fans in suspense.

Only heightening the already tense atmosphere, the lights went out at J.S. Coyne Stadium for a total of six minutes during this review. Midway through the outage, cheers from the Syracuse sideline erupted from the darkness. Graziosi’s goal stood.

“She stepped up and said ‘I got it,’” head coach Ange Bradley said about Graziosi. “And she did.”

SU held on in the final minutes of regulation, and Graziosi’s effort propelled the Orange to their longest winning streak since 2017 at seven wins, as No. 7 Syracuse (9-2, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated No. 15 Wake Forest (5-6, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) 2-1 on Friday. The Demon Deacons implemented a high press across all four frames, but the Orange were able to soak up the pressure and hurt Wake Forest with quick, direct passing on counterattacks.

“I didn’t even know we were on a seven-game winning streak,” Cooke said. “We just keep focusing on one at a time.”

Quirine Comans notched her sixth goal of the 2021 season two-thirds of the way through the first quarter, guiding a cross from Pleun Lammers into the far side of the goal to open the scoring.

Comans’ goal stemmed from a counterattack for the Orange she initiated herself after taking possession from Elisha Evans near SU’s defending shooting circle. After winning the ball back, Comans sprayed the ball wide to Charlotte de Vries, who was waiting on the right flank. De Vries sped up the sideline and forwarded the ball to Lammers, who dribbled to the byline before directing a cross to Comans. The Orange got past the Demon Deacons, who were dictating the pace of the game prior to the opening goal, in only three passes.

“I thought it was awesome,” Bradley said. “It’s just like finally, let’s go, and I was excited.”

Comans found the back of the net again five minutes into the second quarter, but the goal was disallowed after review. Graziosi lifted the ball into the shooting circle, and Comans skillfully batted the ball mid-air down into the goal. The referees deemed the play dangerous after review, Bradley said.

Lammers and de Vries combined to set up Cooke with another counterattack opportunity for the Orange just minutes later. Lammers played the ball to de Vries, who then slid it to Cooke with a one-touch pass. Cooke pushed past a defender and curled a low shot around Glaister, but the ball clanked against the right goalpost and bounced back into the center of the shooting circle. The redshirt senior rebounded her own shot and managed to get a second one-off but could only watch as it sailed just wide of the goal out of bounds.

“I knew I was right at the top of the circle (and) to just take a shot,” Cooke said. “I was unlucky.”

Throughout the rest of the game, Comans and de Vries alternated between the right attack and midfield positions. This kept SU’s offense fluid and creative, allowing for quick one-touch passes up the field. But, the Orange weren’t able to extend their lead in a back-and-forth, scrappy third quarter. The Demon Deacons gradually grew more confident and ultimately equalized through forward Hannah Maxwell with 2:05 left in the third quarter.

Maxwell found a hole in the Syracuse backline and immediately called for the ball. The Demon Deacons’ sophomore received a pass in stride and completed an impressive solo effort after driving into a near-empty shooting circle. This was the first goal SU has conceded in its last five games.

“I thought we got a little bit frantic,” Bradley said. “Statistically … we had control of the game, we just lost control.”

The fourth quarter played out in a similar fashion to the third, with five corners earned between the two teams in the second half. But SU regrouped and didn’t allow Wake Forest to register a shot throughout the entire fourth quarter.

“We knew we were playing better than they were, and we just had a lapse in our defensive structure,” Cooke said. “So just getting pressure on (the) ball again, playing our passing game instead of just trying to force it.”

Cooke led the Orange’s offensive efforts in the final minutes of regulation. But when she was taken down in the shooting circle, it was Graziosi who stepped up.

“She’s been a leader on the team for the last four years,” Cooke said. “Having that confidence to just go and finish it, it’s something I couldn’t do.”

Published on October 8, 2021 at 11:33 pm

Contact Bryan: brbrush@syr.edu