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The last time No. 10 Syracuse faced No. 6 Wake Forest, then-No. 4 SU opened Atlantic Coast Conference play as one of the most exciting teams in the nation, undefeated in its first six matches this season. Then-No. 20 Wake Forest, on the other hand, struggled against elite teams, losing its first two matches of the season to then-No. 15 Iowa and then-No. 7 Michigan.

But on Wednesday, as the Orange and Demon Deacons lined up to decide the last ACC Tournament semifinal spot, the circumstances couldn’t have been more different.

Despite an average start to the season, the Demon Deacons became nearly unstoppable after beating the Orange 2-1 to open ACC play. Wake Forest proceeded to win its next 10 contests, having its streak broken by then-No. 4 Virginia to close the regular season.

SU, however, never seemed to recover its early-season confidence after its 2-1 loss. The Orange were shaky in ACC play, winning only three conference games, losing their final regular-season matchup to an unranked Louisville squad and dropping to their lowest ranking since the preseason. But as she entered postseason play, all of that was irrelevant to head coach Lynn Farquhar.

“Those things, we didn’t talk about whatsoever earlier,” Farquhar said. “At the end of the day, we had an opportunity to play again together. That was what drove us.”

Six-seed Syracuse (12-5, 4-5 ACC) downed three-seed Wake Forest (15-4, 7-1 ACC) 3-1 in the ACC quarterfinals Wednesday. Led by goalkeeper Jessie Eiselin — who had a career-high nine saves — the Orange withstood a 13-shot second-half barrage from the Demon Deacons to advance to the semifinal.

SU’s defensive unit was rock-solid from the outset, limiting Wake Forest to just two shots in the first half. On offense, Bo van Kempen controlled the backline, looking to work through Demon Deacon’s high press.

It wouldn’t take long for SU to find a gap.

Just seven minutes in, a van Kempen-led attack isolated Aiden Drabick on the right wing, as her through ball took out the entire Wake Forest press. Seeing open green ahead, the midfielder dribbled toward the baseline before cutting into the circle, physically fending off WF’s Sarah Grace Raynes.

As Reabetswe Phume closed in to block her angle to goal, Drabick tipped a short pass to Aubrey Turner, who chipped it over goalkeeper Ellie Todd to give the Orange an early lead.

SU wasn’t finished capitalizing on the Demon Deacons’ advanced pressure, though.

In stark contrast to its usual approach of controlling opposition territory, Farquhar switched her game plan in the second half to rely more on van Kempen’s aerial passes to remove the man-marking Wake Forest midfielders from the picture.

“Man-marking the midfield line opens up different spaces,” Farquhar said. “It’s our job to read that first line of defense in that second layer. So, it provided opportunities and we took advantage of those.”

Just one minute from the start of the half, van Kempen heaved a pass over the entirety of the Wake Forest squad. Phume misjudged the ball’s bounce as it fell past her, leaving Turner one-on-one with Todd. She bobbled the ball on her stick before chipping it over an advancing Todd, notching her second brace of her career and extending SU’s lead to two.

With Wake Forest down by two in the third quarter, it seemed like the last semifinal was all but sealed for the Orange, but WF’s Mia Schoenbeck wasn’t having any of it.

Off a WF penalty corner, Schoenbeck fired a backhanded slapshot into the top left corner of the net. The crowd thought Wake Forest had cut the deficit, but Schoenbeck already knew the inevitable call. She ran back as the referees disallowed the goal for a dangerous hit.

The ruling didn’t deter Wake Forest, though; it piled on the attack. A minute after the disallowed goal, WF’s Amelia Frey delivered a pass into SU’s arc. A scramble ensued, ending in Wake Forest’s Lena Keller firing at an open net and Pati Strunk blocking the ball with her foot. Since it was a foot foul on the goal line, the Demon Deacons earned a penalty stroke.

Schoenbeck coolly slid it past Eiselin, cutting the lead to 2-1.

Wake Forest built on its momentum, continuing to keep control of Syracuse’s territory as it approached the fourth quarter. Its second-half dominance meant Eiselin and the SU defense had to come up big time and time again.

Van Kempen even logged her third defensive save of the year in the third quarter, after Schoenbeck’s last-second penalty corner shot went through Eiselin’s legs. Eiselin also had her moment when she opened the fourth quarter by saving a point-blank shot from Wake Forest’s Faye Janse.

“Jessie did great, she made huge saves,” Farquhar said. “I think that rubbed off on the defensive line, and they played harder for her in return.”

The Orange continued to lock down the Demon Deacons as the clock wound down, and Wake Forest swapped its goalkeeper out for an extra field player. But with two minutes to go, it seemed the desperation move might’ve worked.

After receiving the insert on an attacking penalty corner, Schoenbeck slowly dribbled to the right edge of the arc rather than accelerating toward the center or taking an immediate shot. Once Bo Madden relaxed her pressure to avoid another foul, Schoenbeck quickly smacked the ball across the arc into the top left corner of the goal.

But her efforts were in vain. Amid the Demon Deacon celebration, Schoenbeck’s equalizer was called off for being a dangerous shot. With the Orange now in possession, it seemed their semifinal spot was already cemented. There was no need to continue pushing.

But as the clock neared zero, van Kempen had a different idea. She threw one more aerial over the entire Wake Forest squad, leaving Hattie Madden with an open goal.

As Hattie tapped the ball in at the buzzer, Schoenbeck could only watch as her team’s chances at victory and ACC title hopes disappeared.

Published on November 5, 2025 at 6:39 pm
Contact Peter: peterhradosh@gmail.com