By Robin DeehanSyracuse, N.Y. - The No. 4 Syracuse field hockey team ended No. 17 Boston University’s season Saturday at J.S. Coyne Stadium with a 2-1 victory to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals.
“It feels really good, I’m very proud of our kids,” SU head
coach Ange Bradley said. “I want
to congratulate BU on an outstanding season and a really hard fought game and
I’m just so happy for Syracuse and our 2014 team, I’m proud of them.”
SU (16-5) got on the board first, just ten minutes into the first
half, when Jordan Page buried a penalty stroke to give the Orange a 1-0 advantage.
BU’s (13-8) best chance to even the score came at the start of the
second half when both Emma Russell and Laura Hurff were sidelined with green
cards, giving BU a two-player advantage.
But the SU midfield, lead by Alyssa Manley, put forth an
outstanding defensive effort denying all of the Terriers' offensive attempts until SU
was back at full strength.
“They had good structure behind the ball, and we valued
possession and bought time to be able to get our players back on the field,”
Bradley said.
In the 49th minute, Lieke Visser gave SU its
second goal of the game when she ripped a reverse chip shot from the top of the
circle into the top left corner of the cage.
“I was really happy because it was a really frantic game and
I think that goal was really important so that we could be calm and relax a
little bit more,” Visser said.
BU’s only goal came with just over a minute left to play
when Hester van der Laan scored off a penalty stroke to make the score 2-1,
which held until time expired.
SU goalkeeper Jess Jecko finished with five saves on the day
and the SU defense denied all six of BU’s penalty corner attempts.
SU will face Penn State at J.S. Coyne Stadium in the
quarterfinal matchup Sunday at 2 p.m. for a chance to punch a ticket to
its second final four ever.
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