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The Atlantic Coast Conference on Tuesday named goalie Syd Taylor as Defensive Player of the Week after her career-high performance of seven saves against Wake Forest on Monday.

Taylor’s recognition marks the second consecutive week that a Syracuse player has won a weekly conference honor for the second consecutive week. Midfielder Florine van Boetzelaer was last week’s offensive winner.

Now in her junior season, Taylor has started all six of the Orange’s (3-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) games. Though she didn’t record a save in last Friday’s 1-0 loss against North Carolina, Taylor had three on Sunday against the Demon Deacons and another seven Monday. 

Taylor had five saves in the first half of Monday’s game, including multiple diving blocks. When the Orange conceded three consecutive penalty corners in the first period, Taylor intervened on all three. She held a dominant Wake Forest offense, which spent a vast majority of the first 30 minutes in Syracuse’s half of the field, scoreless for 47 minutes.

Through six games this season, Taylor’s averaging a 0.677 save percentage and has allowed 1.57 goals on average.

She also had important saves on Sunday, including within the final two minutes, when she fisted away a Wake Forest shot from a penalty corner to secure the victory. Over the last three games, Taylor and Syracuse denied the Tar Heels and Demon Deacons scoring opportunities on 19-of-20 penalty corners. 

Syracuse finishes its regular season with a home game against Louisville on Oct. 30 before heading to Duke for the ACC tournament that begins Nov. 5.

Published on October 20, 2020 at 3:11 pm

Contact Roshan: [email protected] | @Roshan_f16