There were 14 seconds left on the clock when the referee awarded Syracuse a penalty corner. It was the end of the second overtime and game was tied. SU lined up for the corner with Claire Cooke inserting. She dragged the ball forward to freshman Laura Graziosi, who pulled the ball out, brought it back in and shot.

It went wide. The fans started to stand up and leave, assuming a tie between the Orange and Penn. But the game wasn’t over yet.

There was still a shootout, and after 90 minutes combined of regulation and overtime, that’s where Syracuse (6-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) dominated Penn (4-4, 1-0 Ivy) in a 2-1 win. Before the shootout, SU had made 1 of 18 shots. During the shootout, the Orange managed to get all three attempts past Quakers’ goalie Ava Rosati to break the tie.

“It’s the foundation of Syracuse hockey,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “Toughness, grit, heart, fight and you find a way to stay in it.”

When it was time for the shootout, the announcer read the rules to the fans. Each team would be allowed three shots by three different players and eight seconds per shot. If the ball went out of bounds, it would be dead, and offensive players could play off of rebounds.

Bradley let her team pick who would take the three shots. The Orange practice shootouts every day at practice, Bradley said. Sunday, SU captains Claire Webb and Roos Weers volunteered, as well as sophomore Carolin Hoffmann.

Both teams left their respective benches and lined up a few feet behind the 25-yard-line. SU goalie Borg van der Velde waited in goal while Penn’s Julia Russo stood 25 yards in front of her. van der Velde whacked her stick on the goal post, the sound of metal clanging echoed through J. S. Coyne Stadium. “Just get it done,” van der Velde thought to herself.

The whistle blew and Russo took the ball into the circle. van der Velde ran out of the cage to meet her. Russo shot and van der Velde threw herself to the ground, blocking the ball in the process.

Webb was up next. She was able to get the ball past the goalie’s right side, giving SU the advantage. Sofia Palacios had the Quakers’ second turn and took the ball toward the side of the goal but the presence of van der Velde caused Palacios to tap the ball out of bounds.

Weers was the second player up for the Orange. When she reached Rosati in the circle, Weers spun around the ball with her stick, putting the goalie behind her for SU’s second goal of the shootout.

After Penn’s next attempt clanged off the goal post, Hoffmann was up. She reached Rosati in the middle of the circle and was able to get around her, firing the final goal into the cage. The SU bench let out a synchronized yell and formed a giant group hug. van der Velde ran from next to the goal and was jumped on by SU sophomore Sarah Luby.

“Anyone could have finished it,” Hoffmann said. “In the end, I stepped up and did it.”

SU was victorious and when it was absolutely needed, it managed to get the ball into the net three times, something it failed to do through most of 90 minutes. Its only success in open play came in the middle of the second half. Graziosi took the ball upfield and, from beyond the 25-yard-line, launched the ball into the circle where a waiting Chiara Gutsche tapped the ball in.

The shootout’s one-on-one situations made the difference for SU, Bradley said. The lack of ability to capitalize on shots and the action of the previous 90 minutes didn’t hurt the Orange.

“We got the shots that we needed to win,” Bradley said.

Published on September 23, 2018 at 6:54 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu