No. 6 Syracuse (6–0) extended its home winning streak to 38 games on Sunday with a late goal by senior Leonie Geyer [10] that put the Orange ahead 1–0 over Ohio State University with just under five minutes left in the game.
On back-to-back penalty corners, Geyer scored from the right side with 4:36 remainging in the game off an assist from senior Laura Hahnefeldt [11] at the top of the circle. When the ball skidded past OSU goalie Sarah Lemieux, Syracuse fans leapt to their feet in celebration after 65 minutes of heart-pounding field hockey.
The first half was extremely frustrating for both teams. The Orange had difficulty getting the ball through the Buckeye defense. The Buckeyes had multiple chances to take advantage of holes in the Orange defense, but failed to score on six shots.
At the end of the first period the momentum seemed to be in favor of the Buckeyes. The usually trigger-happy Orange attack had only attempted six shots and the Buckeyes were creating opportunities to score.
“I thought we were a bit soft in the first half,” said head coach Ange Bradley. During halftime, Bradley made some changes to “put us in a better situation,” she said.
Bradley definitely got the message across to her players because the Orange looked like a different team in the second period. The offense was faster and more active than they had been in the first period. The attack fired shot after shot until they eventually wore down the Buckeye defense.
In the second period the Orange shot the ball 14 times and had five penalty corners. OSU’s Lemieux handled the heavy fire from the Orange phenomenally with eight saves. On the last penalty of the game, Geyer was just able to shoot one past her.
“It was a great team effort,” Geyer said, “we stepped up today in the second half.”
The Buckeyes couldn’t get anything going against the Orange defense in the second period, not even getting one shot off. If they got ball far enough, Hahnefeldt often spoiled their attack. If they got past Hahnefeldt, they still couldn’t find a way to get the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Jess Jecko [12] who had three saves.
The Orange field hockey team will begin ACC conference play on Friday at 4 p.m. when they travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass., to face No. 17 Boston College (5–1).
