Syracuse and Princeton went scoreless for the first 54 minutes of play Sunday despite plenty of chances.

Heather Susek’s diving tip-in attempt in the 40th minute saw her stick fall inches short of the ball as it rolled to the left of the goal. Amy Kee actually put one in the back of the net in the 54th minute, but the goal was called back because it was too high.

But once Martina Loncarica buried a penalty stroke in the 55th minute, the floodgates opened. SU reeled off five goals in the last 15-plus minutes.

‘It was hard for us to get that first goal, but once we got the first goal we got the game rolling,’ Susek said.

And roll Syracuse did to the tune of a 5-0 victory over the Tigers (2-4, 0-1 Ivy League). For SU, it was the second win of the weekend. The Orange (5-2, 1-0 Big East) defeated Rutgers (1-6, 0-1 Big East) 5-1 on Friday, closing the game in a similar fashion. SU scored three second-half goals and two in the last seven minutes against the Scarlet Knights to open Big East play.

The Orange did score two first-half goals against Rutgers. But things opened up against the Scarlet Knights in the second half on Friday in the same way they did Sunday against Princeton.

Standing by the back post of the goal three minutes into the second half, Susek hovered behind a Rutgers defender, waiting for her chance. When a ball deflected to her, she seized the opportunity, knocking it in to give the Orange a 3-1 lead.

‘You always want to go for the ball,’ Susek said after Friday’s game. ‘It just so happened that it hit off the girl’s foot, and I was right there for the rebound.’

Freshman midfielder Jordan Page and senior midfielder Liz McInerney finished off the scoring for the Orange, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 3-1 in the second half.

Loncarica, who broke SU’s all-time points record in that game, emphasized the importance of SU’s strong finish against Rutgers.

‘We started off really well then went down a little bit by the end of the first half,’ Loncarica said.’ And then the second half we dominated. Obviously, we scored three very nice goals in the second half. ‘

But the Orange was unable to carry that scoring barrage into the start of the Princeton game. Instead, SU used the first 35 minutes to break down the defense and further tire out a Tigers team that had lost a hard-fought game to Dartmouth a day earlier.

Syracuse attacked Princeton from different angles in hopes of finding weak points to eventually exploit, head coach Ange Bradley said.

‘We’re just moving the ball and changing the angles,’ Bradley said. ‘When you change the angles, you make the defense move. And ultimately it opens up a hole.’

And although they were unable to score in the first half, the Orange was able to use what it learned to come out of halftime firing.

SU scored five second-half goals — two more than Syracuse wanted to score coming out of the locker room, Kee said.

After Loncarica ‘broke the ice,’ as Bradley put it, SU struck often, scoring three times in the next 10 minutes.

Then, with 44 seconds left in regulation, freshman forward Lauren Brooks closed the game with one last goal. Brooks’ score was the first of her career and arguably the most impressive tally of the weekend.

She was standing in the middle of the shooting circle when sophomore back Laura Hahnefeldt fired a ground ball toward her. Lowering her stick to the ground, Brooks redirected the ball and sent it sailing into the back of the net.

‘It was an awesome deflection and like a world-class goal,’ Bradley said. ‘We always tease her that she never dives and today she dove. It was great, really fun to see.’

In total, the Orange recorded eight of its 10 goals this weekend in the second half and seven of those eight in the 55th minute or later. This weekend’s success has left the Orange with an improved sense of confidence, Kee said.

‘Emotionally, from the standpoint of beating Princeton like that, the team’s going to be on a real high from now on,’ Kee said.

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on September 18, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1