Carolin Hoffmann placed the ball on the end line and took a few steps back, midway through the first half. Most of the other Syracuse players bordered the circle, making an arc in front of the goal to set up for the penalty corner.

The whistle blew and Hoffmann dragged the ball forward, flicking it toward Tess Queen. Queen changed the ball’s direction, sending it toward Roos Weers. Weers in turn passed the ball to Chiara Gutsche, positioned closer to the goal.

Gutsche said she had a feeling she was going to score. She wedged her stick under the ball. It popped into the air and flew into the back of the net. It was SU’s first goal in three games.

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That goal helped No. 12 Syracuse (4-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) end its three-game losing streak Sunday afternoon at J. S. Coyne Field. SU’s 3-0 defeat of Bucknell (4-3, 1-0 Patriot) was the Orange’s first shutout since August. All three of SU’s goals came off of penalty corners.

“We executed well on offensive penalty corners,” Weers said.

Before Sunday’s game, SU was 71st in the NCAA in penalty corners per game and only turned three of its 23 corners into goals. Sunday, the Orange attempted six corners. SU converted on 50 percent, its highest rate of the season.

“It’s the insert, the stop and the pass,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “It’s connection. I thought they did a great job with that.”

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Early in the second half, that link showed again when Hoffmann was inserted. She pushed the ball toward junior Claire Webb. The midfielder tapped it to Weers who fired the ball into the goal, to put SU up 2-0.

Freshman SJ Quigley got a chance to insert midway through the second half. Quigley’s second corner attempt was a dart to freshman Laura Graziosi, who fired it toward the goal. The P.A. guy announced that Graziosi had scored, but then he corrected himself. Freshman Peyton Kemp had actually deflected it into the back of the cage for her first collegiate goal.

“It’s nice to see,” Bradley said. “It breaks that bubble from someone, it just opens up ‘Wow, I can do this.’”

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Syracuse almost converted a fourth time late in the game. After another Hoffmann insert, Weers connected with the ball and flung it over Bison goalie Olivia Harris’ right shoulder. It hit the back of the net and fell to the ground. Music started playing and the fans cheered. Then, the referee revoked the goal. Weers went over to the ref and tried to argue for a goal before getting called back into play.

When a ball is inserted into play off a penalty corner, it must be stopped outside the circle, Weers explained. In this instance, it wasn’t.

“I agree with that call,” Bradley said. “When Roos scored, the ball never left and came back in. That’s why it was declined.”

Syracuse didn’t need that goal, though. It had already scored on corners thrice. That was enough.

Published on September 16, 2018 at 5:48 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu