No. 11 Syracuse defense shines in 4-0 win over Stanford

To support student journalism and the content you love, become a member of The Daily Orange today.

Up 4-0 at the start of the fourth period against Stanford, SU defender Eefke van den Nieuwenhof screamed, “zero, zero.” At this point, the junior had scored two goals off penalty corners, and her defensive unit had allowed just one shot in the game. She wanted her squad to play with the same mentality as if the game were tied. Right after that, SU controlled the ball off a Stanford stick, and started their offensive play.

Minutes later, van den Nieuwenhof took the ball straight off her arm, causing play to be stopped. She screamed in pain and dropped her stick, but didn’t look on the sideline for a sub. As play resumed, the defender received the ball and played a full-field pass, threading through the entire Cardinal team. 

“We are very tough girls on the field, and you just have to keep going,” van den Nieuwenhof said. “We work too hard to let anything stop us”.

All four Syracuse (11-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) goals in SU’s win over Stanford (3-6, 1-2 Pacific Athletic) came off of penalty corners, all starting from a Syracuse steal in Stanford’s half. Two of the goals came courtesy of rockets from van den Nieuwenhof. Syracuse smoothly turned defense into offense and used turnovers to catch the Cardinal out of position and put points on the board.

The SU defense pinned Stanford in its half of the field for most of the first period. Syracuse put constant pressure on the Cardinal, picking off passes from the defense to the midfield. Willemijn Boogert and Sabine van den Eijnden both stole a Stanford pass and created a scoring opportunity, but SU could not convert.

Stanford got deep into the left side of the zone with around five minutes to play after it sent a long ball from the middle to upper left side of the field. The SU defense quickly swarmed and shut down any scoring opportunity. 

The second period began with Stanford driving with numbers up the center of the field. First year midfielder Lieke Leeggangers reached out her stick and caused a stoppage of play, allowing more of her defense to get back. However, a miscommunication between van den Nieuwenhof and Sienna Pegram resulted in a Stanford penalty corner, and its first scoring chance of the night.

Stanford midfielder Cara Sambeth ripped a shot at the top of the area off a feed from Megan Frost. Van den Eijnden sacrificed her body and charged at Sambeth as she shot. Eijnden tipped the shot, and the ball was cleared out of the area. Van den Nieuwenhof grabbed the loose ball in the left corner, and SU controlled possession once again.

Pergman was all over the field in the last ten minutes of the first half. With eight minutes left, the defender made a great play to jump in front of a long pass as the Stanford player didn’t see Pergman and got a green card for a bad foul, leaving Stanford down a man for two minutes.

Shortly after, Pergman tackled the ball and it bounced up, hitting her in the ribs. She put a hand to her side, but quickly put it down and continued playing. Right then, she made another tackle that sparked a run that led to a penalty corner. Charlotte de Vries put the ball in the net, scoring her 11th goal of the season to put SU up 1-0.

A few plays later, Lana Hamilton intercepted a Stanford pass, and the SU defense created another penalty corner. The Orange capitalized once again after the turnover, as Quirine Comans tipped in the second goal of the game, and her 11th on the year. 

“When we win the ball we always look to go forward and create an attack,” head coach Ange Bradley said. “Our ability to play in transition was really good night”

Stanford got the ball down to the baseline midway through the third, but once again Pergman was there and shielded the ball out to retain possession. 

Van den Nieuwenhof scored twice a minute apart, blowing open the game. The captain scored her fourth and fifth of the season in the same exact fashion, sending a rocket into the net off a control from de Vries, converting a penalty corner. Even on the offensive side, the defensive captain made her mark in this contest. Syracuse allowed just one more shot in the second half, but it failed to get on target.

The Orange defense completely locked up the Cardinal offense, keeping them in their own half and away from dangerous areas. SU forced over 20 turnovers in the game, and made it impossible for Stanford to get anything going. 

“It’s about not getting greedy and sticking to the things we do well as a team,” Bradley said. “We need to keep sticking to ourselves”.