No. 14 Syracuse takes down No. 16 Cal in shootout, 2-1

Defense was the name of the game during Sunday’s field hockey match between No. 14 Syracuse and No. 16 Cal. Both teams had more than 10 shots throughout the match, but neither could find the back of the net. Syracuse got the action going early on, when defender Jess Lidell had a shot saved off a penalty corner three minutes into the game. 

After that, both teams struggled to get any momentum going, as five minutes passed with no shots or penalty corners. Eight minutes in, Cal got its first chance at a goal when Jaiya Labana took a shot that was saved by Jessie Eiselin. Syracuse would begin to pick up some momentum near the end of the half, forcing Cal goalie Carine Van Weichen to make her second stop of the day. 

That momentum would carry into the beginning of the second quarter, when Syracuse would come out firing. The Orange had two near misses less than a minute into the quarter, when midfielders Belle van de Pas and Taylor Bigbie’s shots were saved. SU didn’t let up, and got back-to-back penalty corners to try and take an early lead. 

The second of those two penalty corners led to a scrum near the net, which forward Aubrey Turner turned into an unassisted Syracuse goal. Turner’s goal gave the Orange the spark they needed, as the defense didn’t allow a single shot throughout the entire second quarter. 

Coming out of the half, Syracuse coach Lynn Farquhar made a switch at goalie, bringing in sophomore Tane King. King faced six shots in the second half, tied for the most she’d faced in a game all season. Cal couldn’t break through until late in the third quarter, when forward Liz Klompmaker scored the equalizer off a penalty corner. 

After the goal, King settled in, not allowing another goal until the shootout. Cal came close to scoring late in the fourth, but King made an athletic save to keep the game knotted at one. That save would be the last shot of either team in regulation, and the game went to overtime. King came up big once more in overtime, making another late save that would send the game to a shootout. 

Going into the game, Syracuse was 1-1 in shootouts, with a win against UMass Lowell and a loss to Rutgers. The shootout came down to the final shot, after both teams managed two goals through the first four shots. Tane King made yet another save on Cal’s final attempt, leaving it up to Aubrey Turner to end the game. Turner said a lot was going through her head before she took her shot.

“Well, it’s definitely a lot of pressure. I’m thinking about the team, and you know, obviously Tane’s done a lot, and she kept us in the game. So I was like, I need to put this in the back of the net,” Turner said. Her shot did find the back of the net, and Syracuse won the game 2-1 after a 3-2 shootout. 

After the game, SU head coach Lynn Farquhar praised King’s ability to step in and show up in the big moments.

“Sometimes there’s things that you can control and can’t control. And yeah, to that point, Tane showed up, and that’s huge,” Farquhar said, “And she was ready, so she trusted the process. Our goalkeeper unit is strong and sturdy, so I’m really excited that she kept us in the game, and it was a huge, huge component to us.”

Syracuse will look to close out the season on a three-game winning streak when it hosts Boston College in the regular season finale on Oct. 30.