Syracuse offense unleashes 32 shots in dominant 5-1 win vs. Colgate
Syracuse midfielder Lieke Leeggangers was one of multiple standouts in SU's merciless offense Friday, helping it seal SU's 5-1 victory over Colgate. Zoe Xixis | Contributing Photographer
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.
In Sammie Goin’s 85 career minutes for SU before its Friday contest against Colgate, she had never contributed to a goal. Yet, when she replaced Hattie Madden in the 20th minute, she read the field with the experience of a veteran and ran with the energy of a newcomer. A minute later, she assisted Danique Schuurman’s penalty corner goal to put the Orange 1-0 up.
Goin wasn’t satisfied, though.
After her assist, she frequented the left side of the pitch, looking for a way to break through Colgate’s back line. Each time she came up short, she looked back and directed the Orange defense to recycle the ball before passing back to her on the win. She would then be in prime position outside the arc.
Then she saw it — a lapse in the line. There was light pressure from Colgate midfielder Maddie Rohlfing. With one touch, Goin accelerated past her. Before Colgate defender Annie Lake could step up, Goin had already placed a pinpointed flick into the bottom right corner.
In just four minutes, Goin logged both her first goal and assist in orange.
“She stepped up,” head coach Lynn Farquhar said. “Ironically, today, we had a lot of seniors contribute and then our freshmen, which speaks highly of the work our freshmen have done to catch up and keep the tempo high.”
No. 5 SU (9-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) brought the heat on Friday in its 5-1 win over Colgate (3-7, 0-2 Patriot League). The Orange lived in the Raiders’ half, with their Bo van Kempen-led backline steadily maintaining possession throughout the match. SU’s all-around dominance in the opposition half led to a barrage of shots. SU outshot Colgate 32-4, its most shots since its dominant season opening win over Lock Haven.
Those early goals sparked the SU offense.
Less than five minutes into the second half, van Kempen found the backboard for SU’s third goal of the night. Her 18th goal of the season came on what has become a routine penalty corner: Pati Strunk inserts, Lana Hamilton traps and van Kempen — clinical as always — scores.
In the 41st minute, Goin weaved past two defenders to create a chance in the arc. And just like she did for her first, she stared down Lake — the Colgate defender giving her space — and ripped a shot at the bottom corner. She wasn’t so lucky this time, though, as Colgate goaltender Claire van Kempen laid out to keep the ball away from the net, one of her 14 saves of the night.
Luck was on forward Ally Snyder’s side, though, as the ball bounced off Colgate’s goaltender, right to her stick. A chip over the goaltender, and Syracuse had four.
Yet, despite Syracuse’s attacking dominance, Farquhar sees room for improvement. While they create chance after chance, the Orange have long struggled with converting shots. In important games, their shot conversion has been as low as 7.7%. For Farquhar, Syracuse’s 15.6% shot conversion rate against the Raiders was a significant step in the right direction.
“It’s building the play, it’s not only earning the corner, but it’s being able to take the shot,” Farquhar said. “We had a couple more today — a couple posts — however, we need to keep swinging.”
Farquhar referred to what may have been SU’s best look of the game. With four minutes left in the match, a penalty corner put the Orange in prime position to extend their lead to five. Instead of shooting, van Kempen faked her flick — a play they’ve run before to open space on the left side — and Schuurman followed through with the shot.
Her attempt ricocheted off the right post to SU midfielder Lieke Leeggangers, who stood inches away from the net as the ball flew toward her. With no goalkeeper in sight, she made contact at point-blank range. Instead of drilling it into the back of the net, the ball came off her stick at a poor angle. It hit the left post, and the Raiders cleared Madden’s rebound.
But with one minute to spare, Leeggangers set the record straight. She inserted the penalty corner that midfielder Karsin Beatty scored to boost their tally to five.
“We’d like to sharpen up and capitalize on a bit more of those opportunities,” Farquhar said. “So there is definitely some work to be done. However, our goal was to come out and create, and that was there.”
