Roos Weers had her eyes affixed far up field as she corralled the ball just over midfield. She rocked her stick back and passed the ball through the bleak, wet weather conditions to teammate Liz Sack. Massachusetts’s Izzie Delario reached her stick out to intercept Weers’ pass and immediately charged up field.

Visibly exasperated, Weers let out a frustrated shout and turned around in pursuit of the otherwise unchallenged Delario. Goalkeeper Jess Jecko charged from her spot in the cage to confront Delario, who wound up to shoot.

Jecko kicked out with her left leg and made a save to erase what could have been a costly Syracuse mistake while trying to find Sack.

“The movement above the ball needed to be better,” said Syracuse head coach Ange Bradley. “We forced things that weren’t there yet.”

But in the second half, Sack registered two shots on goal and converted both to lead top-seeded, No. 2 Syracuse (18-1, 6-0 Atlantic Coast) past No. 20 UMass (12-9, 5-3 Atlantic 10), 4-2, in its first-round game of the NCAA tournament Saturday at J.S. Coyne Stadium. The Orange scored three goals in about a ten-minute span and within the first 17 minutes of the second-half and changed the course of what had been a 1-0 game at halftime.

“It was important to get one in, especially in the first few minutes (of the second half) because it did change the tempo of the game,” Sack said. “… It was nice to see some result happen.”

Sack made just her fifth start of the season Saturday, all five coming within the season’s last seven games. The junior forward managed to put a lot of touches on the ball within the circle to generate countless opportunities for the Orange, particularly in the second half.

SU totaled 17 second-half shots and any time Syracuse had possession in its offensive half, the team often found Sack passing, cutting to the cage and diving with an outstretched stick to put touches on the ball and create opportunities.

Alma Fenne dribbled into the circle from just above the top of the arc, and delivered a strike toward UMass’ goalkeeper Sam Carlino, who blocked the shot by jolting to the right post. Sack collected the rebound and, with pinpoint accuracy, flipped the ball into the left side of the goal before Carlino could recover.

“It’s the best way to come out into the second half,” said forward Emma Russell. “It shifted the momentum and we went from there.”

Laura Hurff stood tall at the top of the circle and fed the ball across the circle to Sack who was by the right side of the goal. She stuck her stick out and tipped the ball up and in, past Carlino for her fifth goal of the season.

Sack simply thought she was in the right place at the right time. She didn’t think she got her stick on the pass, but cutting to receive Hurff’s pass gave Syracuse its fourth goal it would later need as UMass stormed back with two late goals.

“I don’t think I touched that, but I’ll take the statistic,” Sack said. “The defender touched it.”

Bradley substituted Russell for Sack with 14:53 remaining in the second half, the longer of two stints she spent on the sideline after the pair of goals. Her facial expression didn’t convey any semblance of emotion as teammates congratulated her.

But when time expired, Sack was the first player from the bench to sprint onto the field. She shed her sideline jacket to jump and embrace goalkeeper Jess Jecko.

“It’s important (we) keeps things normal,” Sack said, “because it’s easy to look forward to the next game that you’re not even at yet.”

Published on November 14, 2015 at 2:45 pm

Contact Liam: lpsull01@syr.edu