Roos Weers fired a pass into Duke’s defensive zone. The ball bounced and hit Emma Lamison in the face. Unfazed by the hit, Lamison kept pushing forward, drawing a penalty corner for the Orange.

“I got the corner, so that’s all that matters,” Lamison said.

After SU huddled around and decided its plan, Lamison lined up, ready to insert the penalty corner. She hit the ball to Elaine Carey, who set the ball for Weers. Weers bent down and hit a line drive in the top of the net, putting the Orange ahead 1-0.

A few plays later, Jennifer Bleakney was the one inserting the penalty corner for the Orange. Weers again shot the ball, landing past the diving Sammi Steele for SU’s second goal of the game.

“(Steele) is smaller than normal goalies,” Weers said. “Normally I aim low … but (the coaches) told me to go high.”

No. 4 Syracuse’s (11-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast) success during penalty corners against No. 2 Duke (10-2, 3-2) was the main factor in SU’s 5-1 victory.

The Blue Devils scored their first goal of the game with a little over six minutes remaining, coming off a penalty corner in which SU had just three defenders after an early start call led to the one-player drop. However, it was too late for Duke, which could not mount a comeback.

SU started the game strong with its penalty corners, and for its third goal it was Lamison again inserting for the Orange. Weers got the ball but her shot bounced off the diving Steele and dribbled back into play. Lamison, standing right near the corner of the goal, was ready and tapped in a rebound goal.

Two penalty corners later, Lamison again had her chance to tap in a rebound. A Lies Lagerweij shot got caught up in the middle of a scrum of Duke and SU players and the ball dribbled right to Lamison. She hit the ball in for her second goal of the day.

“The ball basically came to my stick and it was just a quick reaction right into the goal,” Lamison said on her first goal. “You don’t have time to settle it down, you just have to one touch it right in.”

Lamison’s goal put Syracuse at 4-for-6 on penalty corners for the day – a percentage abnormally high in field hockey. The team scored its fifth goal, also off a penalty corner, just a few minutes after Duke’s first of the game. SU finished the day 5-for-10 on corners. Duke on the other hand, was just 1-for-6.

Up 4-1, the insertion off the team’s last penalty corner in the game landed in front of Elaine Carey. Carey settled the ball, wound up and hit a ball past the diving Steele. She turned around and let out a scream before hugging her teammates. The shot gave SU its fifth penalty corner goal of the game and the last goal in SU’s upset victory over Duke.

“You never know what to think. Once it starts happening you get into a routine and you feel it,” head coach Ange Bradley said. “It’s like a free throw. You hit ‘em, you keep hitting them.”

Published on October 7, 2016 at 8:51 pm

Contact Charlie: csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco