Syracuse overcomes mixed success with penalty corners in 4-2 win against Cornell
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Eefke van den Nieuwenhof lined up a late-game penalty corner with Syracuse up 3-2. Van den Nieuwenhof had only converted once from 12 prior attempts on the night, but in the game’s decisive moment, she struck the ball past Elizabeth Friedberg to secure the Orange’s fourth victory of the year.
Syracuse (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast), quickly fell into a 2-0 hole after two early penalty goals from Caroline Ramsey inside the first 12 minutes. The nearly identical strikes from Cornell (0-1, 0-0 Ivy) threatened Syracuse early on, but the Orange used 13 penalty corners to defeat the Big Red in a 4-2 win.
Van den Nieuwenhof cut the lead in half moments before the end of the first quarter, converting a penalty corner attempt of her own. On her fourth attempt, the defender helped Syracuse bounce back from a slow start. Cornell’s attack forced goalie Brooke Borzymowski to make a few stops in the opening 15 minutes of play.
The offense’s difficult night in front of goal continued into the second quarter. Syracuse struggled to capitalize on its penalty opportunities when fouled. From open play, the Orange were held in check. The Orange’s lone shot on goal in the second quarter – a 14-yard blast from freshman Hattie Madden – ensured that they entered the break tied.
In the third quarter, van den Nieuwenhof, a penalty corner specialist, was regularly called into action. In a nine-minute span, Syracuse took aim from inside the circle six times but couldn’t make Cornell pay. The score remained tied at the end of the third quarter.
“We need to work on (penalty corners) for sure,” van den Niuewenhof said. “A couple were bouncy. A couple were not stopped, which we normally are stopping during practice. We’re on top of it.”
Cornell goalie Martha Broderick produced big stops amidst the flurry of set play opportunities. Broderick recorded 10 saves against the Orange. Her strong performance nearly single-handedly kept the Big Red in the game, particularly as she thwarted van den Niuewenhof’s strong shots.
Just two minutes into the fourth quarter, Syracuse was handed a big chance when Hattie Madden drew a penalty shot after rounding Broderick one-on-one. Without facing the added challenge of a swarm of defenders blocking her path, van den Niuewenhof converted the uncontested shot to give Syracuse the lead. Five minutes later, she received an inbound pass from Myrthe van Bolhuis and dealt the dagger to make the score 4-2.
“(Van den Niuewenhof) is passionate, she resembles what Orange is all about,” head coach Lynn Farquhar said. “We’re incredibly fortunate to have her leading our program, (…) and she steps up when she needs to.”
Van den Niuewenhof’s goals in the final minutes proved to be the difference, even on a slow night. Despite going just 2-for-13 from penalty corners, Farquhar viewed it as a positive that the team was able to generate so many scoring chances.
“The fact that we’re earning that amount of corners is amazing,” Farquhar said. “We want to keep on doing that, and then, of course, you want to fine-tune and increase that percentage, and it will come.”
