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The Atlantic Coast Conference has named Eefke van den Nieuwenhof and Charlotte de Vries to its All-Tournament Team.

van den Nieuwenhof, a freshman defender, scored two goals in Syracuse’s (5-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) semifinal run in the ACC tournament. She also had the second-most shots on the team this season (21), behind only de Vries (26). During the Orange’s two tournament games, de Vries had six shots, two of which were on goal.

North Carolina eliminated the Orange in the semifinal round, and the Tar Heels advanced to face No. 1 seed Louisville in the final. UNC upset the Cardinals, 4-2, on Sunday and secured its fourth consecutive ACC tournament title.

Syracuse trailed 2-0 early on against No. 6 seed Duke in the quarterfinal, but Laura Graziosi’s goals and van den Nieuwenhof’s shot off a penalty corner helped the Orange draw level to force overtime. Graziosi scored the winner two minutes into the overtime period, and SU advanced to play UNC. 

The following day, the Orange trailed 3-1, the singular goal once again courtesy of a van den Nieunwenhof penalty corner. SJ Quigley’s penalty insertions frequently are sequences of passes and layoffs that end with van den Nieuwenhof firing a shot. The Orange also use her as a decoy, telling the freshman to fake a shot to draw opposing defenders so a teammate can shoot. All three of van den Nieuwenhof’s goals this season have been on penalty corners.

A penalty stroke goal in overtime from the Tar Heels’ Bryn Boylan ultimately sealed SU’s fate, but head coach Ange Bradley was optimistic of SU’s 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 10, 2020 at 10:30 am

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16