No. 9 Syracuse falls to No. 2 UNC 4-3 on last-second goal
Despite leading 3-1 at halftime, Syracuse's struggles against top-5 opponents continued in a last-second 4-3 loss to No. 2 North Carolina. Tara Deluca | Contributing Photographer
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Even at 3-3 with 30 seconds left, UNC’s Charly Bruder sprinted towards the left flank of the pitch. The U.S. National Team member’s off-the-ball movement left her surrounded by empty turf. Her closest defender — Syracuse’s Bo van Kempen — rushed to get back after a quick Tar Heel counterattack.
Then came the pass from Reese Anetsberger. It was direct and precise, leaving Bruder in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Tane King and only one thought on her mind.
“Just get it in the back of the net,” Bruder told herself.
It wouldn’t be so straightforward. The UNC forward’s shot parried off King, leaving the ball up for grabs. Determined to get there first, Bruder dove, whacking the ball with all her might while she hit the turf. In a last-ditch effort, both King and van Kempen slid in front of Bruder as the ball left her stick, but it wasn’t enough. Bruder’s shot flew over the two, narrowly making its way inside the left post into the back of the net.
“At first I thought it went out,” Bruder said. “But once I heard the whistle, I knew we got it.”
Bruder’s exhilarating last-minute goal sealed No. 9 Syracuse’s (10-4, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) 4-3 loss to No. 2 North Carolina (13-1, 6-1 ACC) on Friday. SU led 3-1 at the half, but a relentless UNC offense — which unleashed 12 shots to SU’s two in the second half — and an impassioned halftime speech from UNC head coach Erin Matson, led the Tar Heels to a three-goal comeback.
“She knows what it’s like to be in that position because she was on our team once,” Bruder said. “She looked all of us in the eyes and said, ‘You know what to do. I have trust and faith in all of you. You guys are winners.’ That really resonated with me.”
Despite eventually needing to dig themselves out of a two-goal deficit, the Tar Heels had the stronger start to the match.
In the third minute, after a Dani Mendez penalty corner insert, Bruder cleverly chipped the ball over goalkeeper Jessie Eiselin to put UNC on the scoreboard.
With a 1-0 buffer in hand, the Tar Heels sat back.
The Orange, however, didn’t. Just three minutes after Bruder’s opening goal, Aiden Drabick weaved through multiple UNC defenders before placing a pass into the circle. On the next attack, Taylor Bigbie beat her mark on the wing and ripped a cross into the Tar Heels’ shooting arc.
Nine minutes in, SU’s efforts came to fruition. A penalty corner after a foot foul in UNC’s arc gave the Orange a fighting chance.
Pati Strunk inserted, and with her signature drag flick, van Kempen converted the opportunity. The Dutch defender’s 19th goal of the season was a moment of relief for the Orange. Not only was the match level, but the goal assured SU that its penalty corner unit was still deadly, as van Kempen had failed to convert one of her eight penalty corner attempts in its 1-0 loss to California on Sunday.
Then, just four minutes after tying the game, Drabick’s cross caught North Carolina goalkeeper Merritt Skubisz off guard. Her pass threaded through traffic in the arc and found Hattie Madden looking at nothing but net on the opposite side of the goal. Madden calmly tapped the ball in, leaving the goalkeeper no time to get across and giving Syracuse a 2-1 lead.
SU only built on its initial momentum as the first half went on, even though the referees rescinded a third SU goal in the 17th minute since it was scored with the wrong side of the stick. The Orange didn’t roll over, though.
“When our goal was called back, nobody’s heads went down,” SU head coach Lynn Farquhar said. “The whole squad decided, ‘Hey, that’s fine. We’re just going to get another one.”
And so Syracuse did. Drabick spotted Lieke Leeggangers through a gap in the Tar Heels’ midfield line and threaded a pass to the Dutch midfielder. Once she reached the top of the shooting arc, instead of continuing possession or attempting to draw a foot foul, Leeggangers extended the lead herself. She ripped a slap shot into the bottom right corner of the net, leaving Skubisz doing the splits.
It looked like SU was the stronger team. The Orange were well on their way to breaking their six-game losing streak against the Tar Heels. Yet, Leeggangers’ goal was the last bright moment for SU on Friday before Bruder took over.
Four minutes into the second half, a turnover sent UNC’s Ryleigh Heck dribbling down the right flank. The forward cut into SU’s shooting arc, her feet toeing the endline as she dribbled perpendicular to the goal. As three Syracuse defenders reached their sticks out to nudge the ball out of bounds, Heck snuck a cross under them, directly into the path of Bruder, who finished the chance.
With the game now 3-2, the Tar Heels began eating away at the Orange. UNC won five penalty corners to SU’s one in the second half. It was North Carolina’s fourth of the half that Mendez converted to level the match 3-3.
The Orange had a few good looks as full time neared, namely a Henni Nation top-corner shot that forced the best out of UNC’s goalkeeper Katie Wimmer.
But a Bo Madden green card reduced Syracuse down to 10 women, then Bruder’s last-minute heroics put the nail in the Orange’s coffin.
Although the ending was disheartening, Farquhar isn’t disappointed with how her team played, since it gave the No. 2 team in the nation a tough time.
“It was there, there were moments,” Farquhar said. “I’m really proud of those moments, and I think at the end of the day, this is a special team that can do great things.”
