De Vries Takes Over Again, as Offense Skates Past Cal
By Patrick Gunn
Field Hockey Beat Reporter
BERKLEY, Calif. – There are some moments in life that you can easily predict what will happen next. When Charlotte de Vries gets the ball in front of the net in overtime, it’s not hard to guess what will happen next.
For the second straight game, de Vries beat several defenders to give No. 14 Syracuse (8-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) a double-overtime win, this time a 4-3 thriller over Cal (3-7, 0-1 American East). In a game that was frighteningly similar to last week’s thriller, de Vries knotted her first career hat-trick, putting up her most efficient scoring performance, and carrying the Syracuse offense in a dominating second half.
At the start of the game, the Golden Bears looked like Blue Devils of last week. They outscored the Orange 13-1 in the first half – the same margin as Duke in the previous week. Most of their scoring chances came right out of the gate, as Megan Rodgers scored a mere 28 seconds into the game. Lindsay Matheson drove one home off a penalty corner just over four minutes later, and Cal took a 2-0 lead early in the game.
Despite that domination, Syracuse headed into the locker rooms only down by one, thanks to a de Vries goal late in the first quarter.
In the second half, everything was coming up Orange. Syracuse outshot Cal 16-2 after the first half, starting in the third quarter, where the Orange outshot Cal 8-0. Sarah Luby knotted up the score on a penalty corner at the beginning of the third, and de Vries gave the Orange their first lead of the game midway through the period. The Orange were so dominant that Cal switched goalkeepers during the second half.
Like Syracuse at the top of the game, Cal took advantage of its one shot in the second half. Katrina Carter slammed one past Sarah Sinck, tying the game at three apiece.
The Orange continued their dominance in overtime as they kept pounding shots. De Vries got two excellent chances, while SJ Quigley also had two wide-open shots of her own. It was only a matter of time before de Vries would get the ball again and send another chance to secure the win for the Orange.
That chance finally came a minute and a half into the second overtime, where deVries maneuvered her way inside the circle and ended the match with a blistering shot past the Golden Bears keeper.
Syracuse needs to get off to better starts if they want to stay in games against more challenging opponents. Today, they were fortunate to be able to sit back and watch their star take over the field once again.
Syracuse and de Vries get little time to recover from this one. The Orange face No. 16 Stanford Saturday in Berkley at five.
pagunn@syr.edu | patgunner_
