Junior captain Emma Russell ran to midfield and jumped into her teammates’ arms. Syracuse had just clinched its second final four appearance in three seasons.

With crisp passing throughout the team and a quick start, the No. 4 Orange (17-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) dominated No. 6 Penn State (16-6, 5-3 Big Ten) for a  3-1 win on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament at J.S. Coyne Field. Every Orange player seemed to be making the right passes and reads, helping SU erase last year’s memory of losing at home in the first round to Michigan State. SU will now face No. 1 North Carolina in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament on Friday in College Park, Maryland.

“It’s a great feeling,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “We moved the ball incredibly well, moved off the ball, countered. And our passing game was really good today. I’m so proud of these young women.”

She had been awake since 4 a.m. Sunday due to the stress and anticipation of the matchup. But as soon as it began, the Orange seemed like a different team than the one that had just barely defeated Boston University at home on Saturday.

About five minutes into the game, freshman Lies Lagerweij fired a ball from just outside SU’s circle to around midfield where fellow freshman Laura Hurff was standing. That pass was followed shortly by another, as Hurff controlled the ball before picking out Russell across the field as the co-captain charged toward the goal.

The pass hit Russell perfectly as she was getting ready to enter the circle. Russell finished from there, slamming the ball past the goalie into the back-right corner of the goal. Just 5:44 into the game, the Orange had already established a 1-0 advantage.

“I think it was really important that we start out strong the first 10-15 minutes,” Russell said. “So to come out, and control and then score the first goal was really important for our team. It was just really good to start off the game strong.”

The crisp passing continued throughout the first period, leading the Orange to get another great scoring chance just under 20 minutes into the period. Co-captain Katie Nearhouse passed to an open Russell just slightly over midfield. Russell found midfielder Alyssa Manley on the other side of the field, a little deeper into Penn State territory.

From there, Manley fired off a pass to senior forward Lauren Brooks deep enough into Penn State territory where Brooks had enough space to drive into the circle and score the team’s second goal of the day at 19:44 into the first period.

“I think we just moved better as a forward and a midfield line,” Russell said. “The reshaping around the ball was better. Our leading was timed better today, which helped our forward line in particular a lot so we were able to find the spaces a lot better.”

For the third goal of the period, the Orange worked the ball inside the circle, earning a corner.

On the corner, Brooks missed the first shot and Nearhouse missed a rebound as well. But PSU goalie Kylie Licata spilled the the ball off of Nearhouse’s missed shot into Lagerweij’s stick. The freshman cleaned up to give Syracuse a padded 3-0 lead.

“I saw the ball coming in front of me and I dived to it,” Lagerweij said. “I was lying on the ground doing something with my stick and it just went in.”

SU and UNC have traded wins against each other this season, with the Orange’s victory coming on Nov. 7 in the ACC tournament off an overtime goal from Russell.

“Our quest is to be prepared for Friday night’s match against North Carolina and be able to get one more,” Bradley said. “That’s what’s on the back of their shirts: ‘One more.’”

Published on November 16, 2014 at 7:39 pm

Contact Ryan: rlraigro@syr.edu