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By playing two goalies in the same game, Syracuse field hockey did something in the first two games of the 2021 season that hadn’t happened since September 2019.

Syd Taylor started all nine games in fall 2020, and Emily Streib started all seven last spring in goal for SU. But Streib transferred to La Salle and Taylor left the team, leading head coach Ange Bradley to start freshmen goalies Louise Pert and Brooke Borzymowski in the opening weekend. Pert started the game and played the first half, while Borzymowski was in the net for the second half.

“They both offer different strengths and skill sets to the team,” Bradley said.

The two have their own style — Pert has an attacking mindset in the net, and Borzymowski is more quick and noble. Neither goalie faced much pressure as the Orange allowed a combined three shots against the Pioneers and Catamounts. But the two freshmen had promising moments.

In the second quarter, Sacred Heart was still vying for its first shot of the game on Pert. But less than a minute into the quarter, Pioneers’ forward Julia Chang took a pass from teammate Nicolette Peppe into the left side of the shooting circle. Chang was able to draw a foul against SU defender Sienna Pegram, leading to SH’s first corner of the game. Midfielder Isabelle Chamberlain took a low shot against Pert, and the goalie dove to the right for the save, preserving the first shutout of the weekend.

Leah Spillane, Pert’s head coach at Loreto Bray (Ireland), met Pert when she was 14, immediately amazed by her skillset. Spillane made her the starting goalie for the senior team, which was composed of 17- and 18-year-olds. 

Spillane found that Pert was in remarkable physical shape for a goalie and was also never afraid to challenge her much older teammates. Even when Spillane first met Pert, the goalkeeper always was eager, outgoing and never shy about anything, qualities Spillane said translated to the pitch.

“She wasn’t shy about attacking play or directing (her teammates),” Spillane said. “We could find here a lot of school goalkeepers — they might not be as confident, and therefore they don’t come on like command kind of from behind. But there was never an issue with Louise.

Always get in a good stretch before practice.

Nobody:
Our goalkeepers: :woman-cartwheeling::woman-cartwheeling: pic.twitter.com/eO4fngnbJl

— #14 Syracuse Field Hockey (@CuseFH) August 13, 2021

In her first year as the senior team starting goalie, Pert helped lead Loreto Bray to the championship of the Leinster Senior League, the team’s highest competition. After that season she worked harder to improve physically and on her kicking skills, Spillane said. Between her third and fourth years of high school, she was fitter than she had ever been before, Spillane said. 

“Kicking was always one thing she was told, ‘Need to improve, need to improve,’” Spillane said. “She was in the garden kicking the football against the wall, constantly kicking … And she kept improving and becoming better.”

While Pert was known for her command in the net, Borzymowski caught the eyes of her school’s coaches through her speed and mobility in the net. Notre Dame Prep (Maryland) head coach Katrina Ross and her goalkeepers coach Christine Medvetz had no expectations for Borzymowski when she first came in as a freshman, she said.

Since Notre Dame plays on a turf field, goalies had to be quick on their feet and stay upright. Ross admired the patience Borzymowski showed on her feet, picking and choosing the right time to dive for a ball.

Medvetz was also blown away by Borzymowski’s quickness on her feet, which always helped her body stay forward and kept her feet lined up to the ball, Medvetz said. Medvetz attributed this to her past experience as a dancer. 

“She had very fast feet and she had very good coordination with her feet, and her whole body was in perfect symmetry,” Medvetz said. 

Borzymowski saw time in goal during her freshman year at Notre Dame, where she was a part of a unit that went undefeated, won the 2017 IAAM state championship and gave up only eight goals over 17 games. Her sophomore season, Borzymowski commanded a unit that repeated its title winand only gave up 11 goals the entire season.

In her junior and senior seasons, Medvets saw Borzymowski grow physically and mentally. During her first year running the team’s annual one-mile run, Borzymowski could barely do it. Medvetz recalled the freshman goalie crying during the run, hating every second of it. But as she progressed through high school, she improved and eventually became one of the team’s top runners.

Borzymowski’s improvements in high school all led up to her start against Vermont. The one save Borzymowski made against the Catamounts was a result of a diving stop to her right. On Vermont’s only corner of the game, Clodagh Ferry took a strong shot from the top of the shooting circle, but Borzymowski made a diving save. Ross found that while she is very patient, college field hockey sees more “on-the-ground movement” that forces more dives from the goalkeepers.

“That’s just her nature. She has that underlying competitiveness,” Ross said. “And if she wants what’s best for the team … she’s not going down without a fight.”

Published on August 31, 2021 at 11:01 pm

Contact Henry: [email protected]