No. 11 Syracuse advances to NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, defeats No. 7 Liberty 2-1 in overtime
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Syracuse earned a penalty corner two minutes into overtime. Willemijn Boogert played a pass to Eefke van den Nieuwenhof, who relayed to Pieke van de Pas. Then, van de Pas loaded and shot. Her effort passed through the legs of a Liberty defender before finding the stick of Charlotte de Vries in midair. De Vries redirected the shot into the back of the net, securing an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal berth for SU.
No. 11 Syracuse (11-7, 2-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated No. 7 Liberty (17-3, 7-0 Big East) in comeback fashion on Friday. After going down 1-0 in the fourth quarter, midfielder Lieke Leeggangers equalized with less than three minutes remaining. Then, in overtime, de Vries and van de Pas combined to send the Orange through to the next round.
Syracuse was reliant on penalty corners to generate shots on goal throughout the first half. SU only mustered one shot on target in the first 30 minutes, which came a little under six minutes into the second quarter. On a well-executed set piece, van den Nieuwenhof and de Vries dummied over a pass meant for van de Pas. The midfielder fired but her shot was saved by goalkeeper Azul Iritxity Irigoyen.
At the half, Syracuse and Liberty produced nearly identical offensive performance. Neither team was able to get on the scoresheet, combining for just three shots and one on target. Three minutes after the break, Hattie Madden belted a backhand shot toward goal which Iritxity Irigoyen comfortably saved.
Just over 12 minutes into the third quarter, de Vries committed a foul to gift the Flames a penalty corner. Defender Jodie Conolly took the insertion and shot toward the left part of the goal. Neitch stuck her leg out and kicked the ball away to keep the game knotted at 0-0.
Then entering the fourth, the tempo started to speed up. To start the quarter, Liberty received back-to-back penalty corners. After missing on the first attempt, Conolly controlled the second before slotting into the net past SU goalkeeper Abby Neitch, to give Liberty a 1-0 advantage.
Leeggangers initiated the Orange’s next offensive chance just over three minutes later. The sophomore turned and spun with the ball on the left baseline but her ensuing shot was blocked. On the following penalty corner, van den Nieuwenhof fired wide.
Toward the contest’s waning moments, SU’s struggles to draw level continued. With just 3:15 on the clock, the Orange opted to bring Neitch out of net, trying frantically to push the ball downfield as quickly as possible.
With just over two minutes left, another van den Nieuwenhof effort from a penalty corner was blocked, but the rebound found de Vries. The midfielder spun toward the top of the circle and picked out Leeggangers in front of the right post. Leeggangers scored on the quick redirect to tie affairs at 1-1.
Seemingly rejuvenated from Leeggangers’ crucial equalizer, Syracuse dominated possession in the opening minutes of overtime, getting closer and closer to the goal before finally earning the decisive penalty corner. Eventually, de Vries’ game-winner clinched an SU appearance in the final 8 of the NCAA Tournament.
