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Virginia’s offense set up for a penalty corner at the 58:09 mark in the fourth quarter. Daniela Mendez-Trendler passed the ball in from the baseline to Laura Janssen 10 feet behind the scoring circle. Janssen relayed it to Jans Croon, drawing out SU’s Lieke Leeggangers.

Despite having her back toward the goal, Croon slipped the ball to a cutting Noa Boterman, who found an opening in the SU defense and fired a rocket past the left foot of SU goalie Abby Neitch to take a 3-2 lead.

The goal by Boterman gave UVA its first lead of the contest with 1:50 remaining. It was the Cavaliers’ second goal by way of a penalty corner in less than a three minute span.

Behind a three-goal fourth quarter, No. 4-seeded Virginia (12-5, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat No. 5-seeded Syracuse (10-7, 2-5 ACC) 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament in Charlottesville, Va. After scoring twice in the first half, the Orange were held to zero shots and zero penalty corners in the second half. Meanwhile, Virginia scored three times on seven shots and seven penalty corners in the final 30 minutes.

The Orange were the first to get on the scoreboard, striking within two minutes. Pieke van de Pas dribbled the ball down the left side into Virginia territory. Looking up, van de Pas crossed to a wide open Willemijn Boogert streaking down the middle of the circle. Using one touch, Boogert deflected the pass, up and over UVA goalkeeper Tyler Kennedy giving Syracuse an early 1-0 lead.

About a minute later, Janssen fired a shot, but Neitch, making her fourth straight start, got her body in front. At the 4:53 mark of the first quarter, Virginia set up its first corner attempt, though it was blocked by the SU defense.

Two minutes later, the Orange offense retrieved possession and Charlotte de Vries dribbled up the field. As de Vries approached the circle, she passed to Hattie Madden on the left side of the goal. Madden received the ball and fired a shot but this time Kennedy used her foot to kick the ball away.

At the 13:16 mark, Amber Coebergh stole the ball from a UVA defender inside the Virginia circle and created an opening for herself on the left side of the net. From less than 15 feet away, Coebergh struck the ball, looking to double the SU lead but Kennedy relied on her foot once again for the save. At the end of the first quarter, Syracuse led 1-0, outshooting Virginia 5-1 in shots on goal.

The Virginia offense opened the second quarter with four penalty corners within the first three minutes. But the Syracuse defense rallied to stop all four, with Neitch diving to her right to block Croon on the second attempt.

Both offenses stalled for the next seven minutes before Boterman received a green card at the 24:43 mark, leading to a SU penalty corner soon after. Cato Schreinemacher delivered a pass to de Vries at the top of the circle but de Vries sent her shot wide left.

Syracuse’s second goal came quickly. Off of its second penalty corner of the second quarter, Boogert passed the ball to Sienna Pegram at the top of the circle. Pegram settled the ball with a short pass to Eefke van den Nieuwenhof, who belted a shot past Kennedy to expand SU’s lead to 2-0.

After 30 minutes, the Orange led 2-0, outshooting the Cavaliers 8-4 despite UVA leading in penalty corners 5-4.

Virginia began the third with another onslaught of penalty corners, crafting three in the first five minutes. After Neitch saved a shot from Croon on the first corner, the SU defense blocked the Cavaliers’ next two attempts. Offensively, after recording at least three shots in each of the first two quarters, Syracuse was bottled up. The Orange were held to zero shots in the third, yet maintained a 2-0 lead.

Twenty-eight seconds into the fourth quarter, Virginia cut the deficit to one off of a penalty corner. Meghen Hengerer passed the ball to Emily Field at the top of the circle, who swung it to Boterman. Boterman gathered and struck towards net. Her effort deflected off Bo Madden and past Neitch, making the score 2-1.

Then, at the 53:14 mark, Madden received a yellow card, leaving SU down a player for five minutes. In response, UVA opted to remove Kennedy from net, giving the Cavaliers a unique, two-player advantage over SU near the dying embers of the game.

With just over three minutes remaining, Hengerer received a yellow card for pushing Schreinemacher, bringing UVA’s player advantage back to one. Thirty seconds later, Virginia took the ball into the Syracuse circle and created a penalty corner.

Mendez-Trendler passed the ball to Croon at the top of the circle, who then assisted a Janssen shot which wriggled its way past Pegram and Neitch, tying the game at 2-2 with 2:40 remaining.

Fifty seconds later, Boterman’s goal came, putting Virginia ahead for good.

Neitch was pulled from the net with 1:51 remaining to give SU a one-player advantage. Still, it failed to mobilize the offense. With two late goals, Virginia capitalized on its 12-4 penalty corners advantage to win 3-2.

Published on October 31, 2023 at 6:23 pm