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Duke’s Darcy Bourne controlled the ball out of the Blue Devil striking circle and looked to clear. She’d make it just three more steps before having the ball picked off her stick by Syaracuse’s Laura Graziosi.  

Graziosi strode toward the striking circle as the Syracuse junior had done in the second quarter to put the Orange on the board. Upon entering, she took one hard step to her left, flipped her stick and rifled a shot past Duke’s keeper and into the left corner of the cage.

Syracuse (5-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) defeated Duke (2-7, 1-4) 3-2 on that shot in the extra period. Graziosi led with two goals, and reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week Eefke van den Nieuwenhof added another to propel the Orange to the conference semifinals. SU overcame an early two-goal deficit, kept in the contest by Syd Taylor’s career-high eight saves in net.

The Blue Devils dominated possession out of the gate. Just over a minute in, two Duke attackers ran a give-and-go down to the Syracuse end line before converging toward the right side of the cage. The Orange stifled the attack, but the ball trickled through a cluster of sticks and feet to Duke’s Alayna Burns, who was already on all fours. She tipped the shot into the open net, and Duke jumped out to a 1-0 lead 66 seconds into the match.

The Blue Devils kept the majority of possession in SU’s defensive third, and Duke’s relentless attack would be rewarded again eight minutes later. This time, Bourne corralled a pass from teammate Lexi Davidson and snapped a low shot past an outstretched Taylor and into the left corner of the cage, putting Duke ahead, 2-0.

“Duke came out incredibly aggressive and took it to us,” head coach Ange Bradley said. “We were fortunate that we were able to keep our belief and regain our composure and pick up our aggression and play more the way we had intended to play.”

The Orange did just that coming out of the first intermission. After their first couple of chances in the second quarter were turned away, Graziosi delivered. The junior took two strides into the striking circle and scored her third goal of the season. The play underwent a brief review to confirm the ball was not played dangerously, and minutes later, referees confirmed that Syracuse had halved the deficit to 2-1 with 9:35 to play in the first half.

Two minutes later, Charlotte de Vries got off a cleaner shot than Graziosi’s goal, but this time, Duke’s keeper fisted it away with her right blocker. 

The Blue Devils were threatening again with two minutes to go in the half. But, this time Taylor’s sprawling stop was enough to kick the ball right of the cage and out wide to end Duke’s final scoring chance of the half.

In the third quarter, the Orange remained a threat to equalize. They’d get their chance five minutes into the third frame on a penalty corner. SJ Quigley played the ball to a kneeling Claire Cooke at the top of the circle. Cooke gathered with the side of her stick and nudged the ball into the path of van den Nieuwenhof’s vicious windup. Duke’s keeper lunged to her left, but the ball was already in the back of the net, the score now tied at two.

In the fourth quarter, the Orange had multiple chances to make the lead go by the wayside. Kirsten Oudshoorn received a cross in traffic and popped it up in the air. Hailey Bitters was right there to tip it in — albeit with an overhead chop — and the goal was disallowed. Oudshoorn then had a golden opportunity on a Syracuse two-on-one, but the freshman panicked in her one-on-one with the keeper and missed on the near side of the net.

Graziosi would’ve never gotten her chance in the 7-on-7 extra period had it not been for Syracuse’s ninth save of the night. This time, Taylor charged out to meet an oncoming Duke attacker but missed the shot altogether. The ball continued rolling toward a vacant cage when freshman Florine van Boetzelaer dove face-first into the goal and swatted the ball away with an outstretched stick.

The Orange would turn away Duke’s ensuing penalty corner before launching the counterattack that would culminate in Graziosi’s game-winning goal, good for her fourth of the year.

“She really stepped up today and attacked,” Bradley said. “I’m proud to see her be able to perform and help the team get results at the end of the season.”

The three-seed Orange face two-seed and tournament host North Carolina — one of SU’s two conference losses this season — Friday at 4 pm. The winner advances to Sunday’s final.

“Somebody’s gonna get two days out of a season, somebody’s gonna get one,” Bradley said.

Published on November 5, 2020 at 11:10 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu