No. 4 Syracuse Falls to No. 3 UConn 1-0 in National Title Game

Story & Photos By: Robin Deehan

COLLEGE PARK, MD. - The Syracuse Orange fell to former Big East rival and defending National Champions the UConn Huskies, 1-0, in College Park, Maryland Sunday in its first ever National Championship appearance.

“Congratulations to Connecticut for winning the national championship today, it was a well fought game and I extend the deepest gratitude to Syracuse University and my athletes for taking us somewhere we’ve never been before,” head coach Ange Bradley said.

Coming off a thrilling 3-2 sudden victory stroke-off against No. 1 North Carolina on Friday the No. 4 Orange, in front of a crowd of 1,590 fans, did not find the back of the cage once on Sunday.

“UConn plays a very slow game,” Bradley said. “We were opening them up in the second half, it just took us a little bit too long to do it and it was an effective style of play and they won.”

The first half was largely played in the midfield with both teams shotless through the first fifteen minutes of play.

But No. 3 UConn only needed one.

In the 25^th minute the Huskies were awarded a penalty corner on a body foul outside the circle.

On the corner play, the Huskies sent a ball down to Mckenzie Townsend who deflected the ball up and over SU goalkeeper Jess Jecko to give UConn its first shot and only goal of the game.

“This has been one of our best corners all year, we discovered through film that there was a tell,” UConn head coach Nancy Stevens said. “The hours of game film paid off and that showed us that was the corner we needed to call at that time, and that was how we won the national championship.”

Syracuse’s best chances to even the score came in the last ten minutes of the game, but the Orange was never able to convert.
 

First, freshman Laura Hurff shot the ball just wide of an open cage after beating UConn keeper Nina Klein on a breakaway.

A few minutes later, Emma Russell took a shot and missed the far post by just inches with four minutes left to play.

In an act of desperation, the Orange pulled keeper Jess Jecko to add an extra field player and drew a penalty corner with :21 seconds left.

 

“It’s not ideal,"Stevens said. "I mean you’re 21 seconds from the national championship and you’re giving up a terrific scoring opportunity but I had so much faith in our defense.”

Before the corner took place, Bradley reminded Russell that Syracuse still had a video review to use, just in case.

SU lined up and took the corner, a fake pass left to Jessica Ross, who shot the ball into a scrum in front of the cage.

The referee blew the whistle and awarded the Huskies the ball back saying the ball had hit an SU player.

Bradley screamed for Russell to ask for a video review, but a distracted Russell did not, and time expired giving the Huskies their second National Title in two years.

“I was just focused on the ball,” Russell said.

The teams had two penalty corners apiece and the Orange outshot the Huskies 7-4.

The Huskies four shots were the lowest number of shots ever taken to win a National Championship game.

It was a disappointing end to a historic season for Syracuse which finished at 18-6.

The Orange was led by three seniors, Jordan Page, Lauren Brooks and Kati Nearhouse,. They won't back but most of the team will, including Russell, Alyssa Manley and ten freshmen.

“We have a lot of returners, we’re losing three great seniors but we’ll be back to it in January working hard for next year,” Russell said.

 

National Championship Photo Album by Robin Deehan