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Louisville had one last opportunity to tie the game at two after intercepting a Syracuse pass. As goalkeeper Syd Taylor rushed out of the net, Louisville passed the ball to top scorer Mercedes Pastor with one minute left. Pastor lined up a shot toward the middle of the open net. Syracuse defender Eefke van den Nieuwenhof rushed to cover and laid her stick horizontally in front of goal.

Pastor, aiming at the middle of the net, had already raised her stick and decided on the location of her shot. With van den Nieuwenhof’s stick level to the ground, Pastor’s bouncing shot whacked against van den Nieuwenhof’s stick and away from goal. van den Nieuwenhof quickly reached the rebound and cleared the ball to prevent overtime.

“I saw our goalie stepping out, and we know that (Pastor) is a really strong player, so when I saw that she got on the ball, I was going to the goal line as soon as possible to block it,” van den Nieuwenhof said. “In the moment, it felt right to do that.”

Syracuse’s (4-3, 3-2) 2-1 upset of Louisville (7-1, 5-1) 2-1 at J.S. Coyne Stadium is the Cardinals’ first loss of the season. By allowing just one goal, SU’s defense held Louisville to its lowest scoring output of the season. The Orange controlled the ball for most of the game and quickly forced turnovers on Cardinal possessions near goal. When Louisville had opportunities to score, Syracuse was able to prevent goals.

Much like van den Nieuwenhof in the final minutes, Syracuse was in the right position throughout the game. The Orange maintained possession for a large portion of the day, which Charlotte de Vries said the team emphasized in practice the past two weeks. Louisville’s four penalty corners are tied for its second lowest total this season.

Louisville’s first shot didn’t come until the second quarter, as it struggled to enter Syracuse’s inner circle. The off-target shot was the Cardinals only shot of the first half.

Throughout most of the third quarter, Syracuse prevented Louisville from finding an opening in its defense. With 1:50 left in the third, Taylor ran out of goal and kicked the ball away from an oncoming Louisville attacker. After another Cardinal tracked down the ball and spun around to shoot, she was swarmed by three Syracuse defenders, who quickly batted the ball away and out of bounds.

“I think we held up to our standards really well,” van den Nieuwenhof said. “Everyone attacked and then got back for defense.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Syracuse was defending a one goal lead, the first time Louisville has trailed all season. Near midfield, SU intercepted a pass and quickly passed ahead to Carly Bothof. The freshman sprinted downfield after the Louisville turnover and received the pass in stride toward Louisville’s net.

After running to the right wing of the inner circle, Bothof was fouled, leading to an SU penalty shot. Laura Graziosi walked up to take the penalty and easily netted a goal in the bottom left corner. After defending as a team, Syracuse collectively attacked on offense to expand its lead.

Creating an aggressive defense that forces turnovers is something Syracuse focuses on in practice, van den Nieuwenhof said.

Louisville also became more aggressive after Syracuse scored its second goal, even though it was missing sophomore Minna Tremonti for five of the final 10 minutes after the sophomore received a yellow card.

While the Cardinals continued to attack, they had trouble finding room inside Syracuse’s inner circle. With nine minutes remaining, Louisville controlled the ball near midfield. SU forward de Vries and midfielder Claire Cooke cornered the Cardinal player from both sides and forced a turnover. While de Vries was forced to play a defensive role deeper in Syracuse’s side of the field in the last few minutes, Syracuse’s strategy of maintaining possession didn’t change.

“We still just continued to play our game,” de Vries said. “It worked the whole game, so why change things when there’s only a few minutes left?”

In the final seven minutes, with nine Cardinals players on Syracuse’s side of the field, the Orange stopped pass after pass to the inner circle. One blocked pass ricocheted to Louisville senior Meghan Schneider, who passed to Pastor. Syracuse blitzed Pastor and quickly knocked the ball out of bounds.

Four minutes later, Louisville was granted a penalty corner and fired a shot towards goal. After kicking away the initial shot, Taylor laid in front of the goal, momentarily preserving the shutout. But SU’s goalkeeper illegally put her hand on the ball, giving Louisville another penalty corner.

Louisville again sent the ball to the middle of the inner circle, and Taylor blocked Pastor’s third shot. But the shot bounced off Taylor and to the left wing of the inner circle, where UL freshman Aimee Plumb raised her stick and struck the ball into the net.

With just 2:29 left in regulation, Syracuse still had a one goal lead. The Orange began to control possession, passing back and forth on the defensive back line. After almost a minute and a half of possession, UL pressured Syracuse into a turnover. As Louisville approached the net, and a tie, van den Nieuwenhof calmly moved to cover.

Along with an aggressive defense, SU emphasized team defense in practice this week, head coach Ange Bradley said. And with Taylor outside of the net, the team had to help defend.

Throughout the season, van den Nieuwenhof has matured and improved her game, Bradley said. And Friday, she preserved the 2-1 victory.

“Eefke stepped up,” Bradley said.

Published on October 30, 2020 at 7:16 pm

Contact Thomas: [email protected] | @ThomasShults_