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Syracuse’s (16-6, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) season came to a close after its 3-2 shootout loss to Maryland in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight on Nov. 13. The Orange tied up the game with less than five minutes to play but fell short in the extra session.

SU cruised to a 5-1 record against its first six nonconference opponents. It scored 26 goals in those contests while allowing just seven. The Orange finished their season 13-3 against non-Atlantic Coast Conference foes.

Syracuse struggled in conference play, posting a .500 record after finishing 4-2 in 2021. The Orange beat Duke, Boston College and Louisville, but also fell to Virginia, North Carolina and Wake Forest. In the postseason, SU advanced to the ACC semifinals before losing to UNC.

As SU looks on to its 2023 season, here are the stats that stick out from this year’s campaign:

Goals, goals, goals

Syracuse had no issues lighting up the scoreboard this season, racking up 74 goals, the most since the 2015 national championship team. SU averaged 3.36 scores per game, which was fifth in the nation.

This year also marked the first time since 2015 that Syracuse had three players score 10 or more goals. While Quirine Comans led the team with a career-high 17 scores, Charlotte de Vries’ 14 scores and Eefke van den Nieuwenhof’s 10 were not far behind.

Sabine van den Eijnden and Joy Haarman also scored eight times, Willemijn Boogert tallied seven goals and Lana Hamilton had four.

Morgan Sample | Presentation Director

Sharing the ball was an emphasis for the Orange this season, which was on display in their 6-2 drubbing of BC in the ACC Quarterfinals. Down 1-0, Comans tied things up with a shot from the middle of the circle. De Vries’ goal, with an assist from Haarman, put SU ahead 2-1.

Haarman put Syracuse up 4-2 with a goal to start the second half. Comans scored again late in the fourth to put the Orange up by three, and Boogert delivered the finishing blow by scoring the sixth goal. The game tied SU’s record this year for goalscorers in a single game (five). In total, 11 players cracked the score sheet this season.

Can’t get by Brooke

Brooke Borzymowski was a rock for the Orange in the cage this season. She stopped 77 shots across her 22 games in goal. Not only was that her career-high, but it’s also the most saves by an SU goalie since Borg van der Velde notched 79 in 2018.

“(Borzymowski) is a brick wall. We all trust her so much. The more experience she gets the better. She’s doing awesome for us,” de Vries said after Borzymowski’s only conference shutout against Boston College on Sept. 30.

In her team’s Elite Eight loss to Maryland, Borzymowski saved 10 out of the 12 balls launched at her, including a diving stop on a Terrapins penalty corner in the third period to keep the Orange in front. The SU goalie’s ten saves were her second-most this season, behind a 12-save outing versus Virginia on Sept. 23.

“Brooke has that quiet confidence in there. She’s doing her role and doing it well. When she’s doing that, she helps everyone else to their job,” head coach Ange Bradley said.

Creating opportunities

The Orange had no problems getting good looks at the cage by accumulating penalty corners. SU’s offense received 131 penalty corners this season, which was third in the ACC.

While this number was down from last year’s 146 corners, Syracuse was much more efficient this season. The team converted just over 20 percent of their penalty corners compared to 17 percent in 2021.

“We’re very tough girls on the field and we practice really hard. No matter what happens, we keep going,” van den Nieuwenhof said after SU’s 4-0 win against Stanford on Oct. 5th.

De Vries took the shots on most of the Orange’s penalty corners and led the team with 64 shots. Of her 14 goals, 10 of them came off an assist. Against Princeton in the NCAA Tournament, Comans passed to de Vries, who scored the goal that put Syracuse up 3-2 in a game they went on to win 5-2. It was the forward’s seventh go-ahead goal of the season, the most since Emma Russell also tallied seven in 2014.

Behind de Vries, four other players attempted 37 shots or more: van den Nieuwenhof, Comans, Haarman and van den Eijnden. Last year, only de Vries and van den Nieuwenhof attempted that many shots.

Published on November 27, 2022 at 11:37 pm