Laura Hahnefeldt moped to Ange Bradley in the locker room before Sunday’s game against Vermont. It would be the sophomore’s 35th career game, and she had yet to find the back of the net.

But Bradley told her that her wait would end against the Catamounts.

And less than eight minutes into the game, she knocked home the first goal of her career.

‘She said, ‘I will never score,” Bradley said, ‘and I was like, ‘You’re going to score today, Laura.’ And that’s what I told her on the way out, and she scored our first one.’

Hahnefeldt was one of nine members of the Orange to score this weekend, as Syracuse utilized its depth up front to outscore its opponents 23-1 in two home blowout wins. Syracuse bashed Big East rival Georgetown 11-1 on Friday night in front of 137 fans at J.S. Coyne Stadium despite constant rain and swirling winds. Syracuse also trounced Vermont 12-0 Sunday afternoon in front of 380. The Orange recorded 78 shots, 23 goals and two dominating victories.

Hahnefeldt’s goal continued the scoring party that started Friday night.

On an SU corner in the eighth minute, Kelsey Millman swung the ball into a kneeling Martina Loncarica. The senior midfielder directed it left, and after a fake from Stephanie Hussey, Liz McInerney drilled it past the Hoyas’ goalkeeper.

Loncarica dropped her stick and jumped into McInerney’s waiting arms, wrapping her legs around her waist.

‘It’s a good celebration, I like that one,’ McInerney said laughing. ‘ … It was a set play. We called it before so all I had to do was hit it like I was told to.’

Syracuse scored at will from that point on and only faced a few minutes of real adversity. After Georgetown cut Syracuse’s lead to 2-1, the referees failed to call obstruction on a series of SU shots.

Multiple times an Orange shot struck the body of a Hoyas back in the shooting circle, which normally leads to a penalty corner. Although the referee behind the goal stayed silent, Bradley did not.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Bradley screamed across the field. ‘It hit her feet! It hit her feet!’ Drawing no response, she turned to senior Nicole Nelson, the speaking captain for the game.

‘Make sure her eyes are open, Nicole, the one in the green!’ Bradley yelled pointing at the referee.

But in only a matter of minutes, the Orange was scoring again. SU netted three goals in a span of five minutes. From there, it seemed nothing could stop the Orange. Kelsey Millman led the way with four goals, tying a school record for goals in a game and setting the school record for points in a game with 10.

Syracuse picked up where it left off against Vermont on Sunday, with Hahnefeldt scoring first.

Receiving a pass from sophomore Leonie Geyer at the UVM 25-yard-line, she rushed forward to the top of the shooting circle toward a group of Vermont backs. But no one stepped up to stop her, and she ripped a backhanded shot into the top right of the goal.

‘First, I didn’t expect that they just didn’t tackle me, so I just carried it in and was surprised that I could get off such an easy shot,’ Hahnefeldt said.

The wait was over for Hahnefeldt. Bradley’s prediction proved true.

But the game and the scoring was only getting started.

Heather Susek followed soon after with SU’s second goal, and from there, the Orange netted 10 goals in 55 minutes.

Entering the game, Millman and Susek had carried the scoring load over the course of the season, tallying 13 and 12 goals, respectively. But Geyer stole the show Sunday, finishing with four goals and tying the same mark Millman matched Friday.

Bradley thinks if Geyer can adjust her mindset, she can be just as potent offensively as Millman and Susek.

‘She’s never seen herself as a scorer, and I tell her every day, every week that she can score at will,’ Bradley said. ‘And this weekend she finally stepped up and did it. She’s a very gifted athlete, a very gifted hockey player, and when she decides that she wants to finish, she really can.’

Moving forward, the Orange can rely on almost anyone on the roster to score, causing fits for future opponents, Geyer said. And that list now includes Hahnefeldt after scoring her first goal.

‘We have lots of different players who can score goals,’ Geyer said. ‘We don’t have that one player that other teams can focus on.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on October 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1