Syracuse defeated Louisville 4-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference field hockey quarterfinals Tuesday at Karen Shelton Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, moving the fourth-seeded Orange into the conference semifinals.
The game featured three ties and two lead changes. Louisville scored first in the sixth minute, but Syracuse answered with a penalty-corner goal by Jess Liddell with eight seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Cardinals regained the lead midway through the second quarter before the back-and-forth contest continued to its 4-3 finish.
“It was a hard-fought game between two amazing teams and unfortunately we were on the losing end today,” Louisville coach Justine Sowry said.
Louisville’s first goal came after Trijntje Herfkens sent a pass from midfield toward the circle. Senior Tyler Everslage recovered the ball after it came off a Syracuse defender’s stick and fed junior Mary Wordelmann, who scored past Orange goalkeeper Jessie Eiselin.
Syracuse applied pressure through penalty corners late in the opening quarter. After Louisville withstood consecutive opportunities during the final 22 seconds, Liddell converted on a corner to make the score 1-1. Louisville then used its third penalty corner of the game to move ahead again, with senior Chloe Plumb inserting the ball and finishing a feed from Gracie Potter for her fifth goal of the season.
Game numbers
- Final score: Syracuse 4, Louisville 3
- Shots: Louisville 21, Syracuse 15
- Shots on goal: Syracuse 9, Louisville 8
- Penalty corners: Louisville 11, Syracuse 9
- Second-half corners: Louisville 8, Syracuse 3
Wordelmann scored twice for Louisville, while Plumb added one goal. Senior goalkeeper Emily Young made five saves for the Cardinals. Louisville finished the season at 10-9 overall and had gone 4-4 in ACC play during the regular season.
Syracuse improved to 10-6 and will play top-seeded North Carolina in the ACC semifinals. North Carolina reached the semifinal by defeating Stanford 6-0 in the tournament’s opening game.
