Roos Weers, Syracuse’s leading goal-scorer, was lying on her left side at the top of the circle. She’d fallen after running into a stick and hadn’t moved for almost a minute. As the trainer came out to assist Weers, she grabbed her left knee and tried to extend it.

“I twisted it and it felt really bad,” Weers said. “…I was a little bit afraid.”

It was the same knee which Weers said she had surgery on two-and-a-half years ago.

Just under a minute into the second half, Weers limped back to the bench, gingerly using her knee on the way.

Weers wouldn’t return for nearly 10 minutes as she went through tests on the sideline. When she did come back in, with the Orange trailing 1-0 and the team’s perfect season in jeopardy, she didn’t waste time. Within minutes of re-entering, Weers had assisted on the game-tying goal and scored the first go-ahead goal for Syracuse (15-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast) as the Orange defeated Princeton (7-5, 4-2 I and set a record for the longest winning streak in program history.

“It showed mental toughness,” midfielder Alyssa Manley said. “(Weers) had that happen, she laid on the ground, was taken off the field then (helped) put in a goal right away.”

Two minutes, 19 seconds after she returned, Weers intercepted the ball about five yards from the top-left point of the circle and looked up. She and forward Emma Russell made eye contact.

“I knew she was going to send it in,” Russell said.

Weers belted in a long pass and Russell extended the blade of her stick, deflecting the ball into the goal’s upper netting and tying the game at one.

Almost five minutes later, off a penalty corner, Weers spun and chopped the ball into the bottom left corner to give Syracuse, at the time, a 2-1 lead.

Stands to sidelines, energy ran high all afternoon. Princeton head coach Kristen Holmes-Winn yelled “Pressure!” over and over, the Syracuse sideline, particularly assistant coach Allan Law, vocally disagreed with several calls and both benches received a warning to step back and quiet down.

In a game with perfection on the line, players were also animated. Forward Emma Lamison left the circle several times with her hands up after a penalty call went against the Orange. After Princeton drew a penalty corner, Lies Lagerweij put her hands on her head and Weers stared at the referee with her hands up.

When Weers left the game, head coach Ange Bradley brought in Liz Sack, one of her most-used substitutes, to play defense.

With Weers on the sideline, Sack herself fell when she brought the ball in on the attack and Princeton defender Elise Wong tried to steal the ball, but ended up taking Sack’s legs from underneath her, sending her sprawling onto her back.

Physicality was a theme throughout the afternoon. A referee shouted at Syracuse midfielder Serra Degnan to stop “pushing” Princeton players, SU midfielder Laura Hurff fell backward as if stunned when she was hit in the circle and several players had to take a moment to shake out hands or legs when the ball hit them.

“I’m just happy everybody came out injury-free,” Bradley said.

For a moment, it looked like Weers wouldn’t be able to have the impact she eventually had. She ripped off a garment covering her left knee late in the game. After the goal and the assist, Syracuse’s leader in points ran up the field.

“When (Weers) said that she was feeling pain, I was worried that she was going to be injured, like a serious injury,” Manley said. “But (it wasn’t). I was glad…she could go back onto the field.”

Published on October 18, 2015 at 7:23 pm

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