No. 10 Syracuse Upsets No. 6 Duke in Overtime Thriller

Story and Photo By Robin Deehan

Syracuse, N.Y. -

The No. 10 Syracuse Field Hockey team upset ACC rival No. 6 Duke Saturday at Coyne stadium in an overtime thriller.

“It’s just awesome, I’m really happy for our kids,” head coach Ange Bradley said. “We’ve really had a lot of adjustments in positions and injuries and they found a way, and that’s the sign of a good team.”

Emma Russell scored the game winning goal, off her own rebound, just 64 seconds into the extra time to give the Orange its second ACC win of the season.

“During the whole game we saw that their goalie comes out a lot,” Russell said. “Kati [Nearhouse] got a nice touch on the ball and I hit it the first time, and she came out again, and then she just happened to hit it back into my backspace, and I just managed to get the second shot off.”

This was Russell’s third game-winning overtime goal this season, and her heroics helped the Orange improve to 11-4, 2-4 ACC on the season, while the Blue Devils dropped to 11-5, 2-4 ACC.
 

The Orange got off to a shaky start when Duke’s Ashley Kristen scored just 35 seconds into the game on the Blue Devils'  first drive down the field.

But SU was able to maintain its composure, dominating possession of the ball and outshooting Duke 11-2 in the first half.

“It’s always frustrating to get scored on first,” freshman Laura Hurff said.  “But we just came out stronger than ever after that, because we knew we just had to pick up the tempo and then we kept the speed of the game the entire game.”

SU paid for that hiccup, trailing 1-0 for 55 minutes of play until Hurff dribbled the ball down the left side and slipped it past the goalie's right pad to even the score at one.

The equalizer was Hurff’s fifth goal of the season, and put to bed a little known superstition about the presence of Linda Hurff, Laura’s mother.

Laura Hurff and her mother Linda embracing
after SU's 2-1 upset over Duke

“I’m just so proud of her I don’t even know what to say,” Linda Hurff said.  “I cried, and the joke was, because the other goals she scored I wasn’t here, because I was watching my other daughter play the tuba in the marching band, I was just hoping so much she would score one here so that I would be able to come to these games.”

Laura echoed her mother’s sentiments.

“This was the first game that my mom was at that I scored, so it was incredible to see her in the stands and see her actually watch me score a goal."

16 minutes after Hurff sent the game into overtime, Russell sent it into the record books to give the Orange the victory.

The Orange outshot the Blue Devils 22 to 4 and held the

No. 6 team in the country to zero corners on the day.

Following the 2-1 victory, SU was seeded number six in the 2014 ACC Field Hockey Championship. 

SU will take on third-seeded Boston College on Thursday, November 6^th at 4pm in Durham, N.C.

SU lost to BC 3-2 in overtime back in September.

But before SU heads to Durham for the ACC Tournament, the team will celebrate its seniors Kati Nearhouse, Lauren Brooks and Jordan Page Sunday at Senior Day when SU faces Bucknell at 2 p.m. in their last home game.