Forty-five minutes before game time, all but one player on the Syracuse (12-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) roster warmed up with passing drills. Lies Lagerweij lay by the sidelines, stretching, uncertain if she would see any action on her senior day.

“I honestly wasn’t going to play her at all,” Syracuse head coach Ange Bradley said, “until I saw her warm up. And she looked okay.”

After missing SU’s loss to Penn on Oct. 22, Lagerweij returned to the turf Saturday afternoon in a 3-0 win over Pacific (8-8, 4-2 America East). Lagerweij did not start, and did not appear in the scoring column, but helped the Orange dominate possession.

Five minutes into the game Lagerweij entered at forward rather than her usual position on the back line. Immediately, she looked for a goal. One minute in, she moved in between defenders, advancing into the arc. Weaving in and out, she found herself one-on-one with Pacific goalie Marlise van Tonder. Lagerweij moved just a few feet from the cage and wound up. But she was tripped by van Tonder.

“That’s a penalty,” screamed a fan from the crowd.

No call was made, and no shot recorded. But within minutes of entering the game, Lagerweij nearly scored in her natural position.

“She can play anywhere,” Roos Weers said. “Lies has quick hands. …she’s very adjustable.”

Trying to keep her All-American healthy before the ACC tournament, Bradley didn’t risk leaving Lagerweij in for too long. Five minutes after putting her in, Bradley subbed her out. And that trend continued. Five minutes later she re-entered. And five minutes after she was subbed out.

For the remainder of the game, Lagerweij played in short bursts. But towards the end of the second half, remained on the field. And that was when she made her presence known.

Starting in the 47th minute, Lagerweij drew three consecutive corners. One was overturned, but Lagerweij stole the ball back. In the 49th minute, Lagerweij ran down the left sideline, juked past one defender and began juggling the ball on her stick, before bouncing it off a defender’s foot and forcing another corner. On the ensuing corner, Weers rocketed the ball past van Tonder to extend SU’s lead to 2-0.

At the end of the game, Bradley substituted Lagerweij back in to end the game. The senior registered two of her three shots in the final two minutes failing to find the back of the cage.

From the start of ACC play, Bradley has said that the offense needed to improve to be competitive in the conference and NCAA tournament. Lagerweij playing forward may very well be that spark. In the last two games Lagerweij has played, she’s started at forward. In those two contests, SU is 2-0 with seven goals. And Lagerweij has four points on eight shots.

“I just play where Ange wants me to play,” Lagerweij said. “If it’s upfront I try to be creative and create things. I try to get a goal or corner as much as I can.

Published on October 28, 2017 at 3:53 pm

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu