With 11 minutes remaining in the second half and Syracuse up 2-0, Carolin Hoffmann backhanded the ball. The players, outside of Ohio goalkeeper Alex Pennington, froze as the ball floated through the air toward the back post. It bounced on the ground near the goal line. Waiting on the call, the official pointed to midfield, signaling a goal, Hoffmann’s fifth in SU’s last four games.

“Sometimes it happens that also a bad shot goes inside,” Hoffmann said.

The freshman from Germany tallied the final mark in No. 5 Syracuse’s (5-0) 3-0 victory over Ohio (1-3) Sunday afternoon at J.S. Coyne Stadium. After a hat-trick last weekend against Pacific and a goal on Saturday against Bucknell, Hoffmann continued her hot-scoring stretch.

Hoffmann leads the Orange with five goals in what has been a diverse attack for SU, with eight players scoring at least once and none more than twice outside of the freshman forward. After four shots Sunday, all on goal, Hoffmann leads the Orange with 20 shots and 12 shots on goal.

All five of Hoffmann’s goals have been assisted, the most recent from freshman Florine Hogendoorn. Much of her success stems from being in the right place at the right time. Today, she got to the right spot as Hogendoorn hit a high bouncer into the box.

“’Good players are where the ball is, great players are where the ball is gonna be’ – Wayne Gretzky,” Syracuse head coach Ange Bradley quoted in regards to Hoffmann’s positioning. “Her hands, as silly as that goal looked, it’s incredibly difficult, because the skill that is actually required to put that ball in the air and the timing, it’s good hands and good eye-hand coordination.”

Hoffmann kept Pennington busy all game. Syracuse’s first shot of the match came off a long ball hit into the arc by Roos Weers that was deflected by Hoffmann. Right before the end of the first half, Hoffmann found herself in position inside the arc again, but Pennington blocked the shot right before the halftime buzzer. Early in the second half, Hoffmann forced a third Pennington save on a shot that led to a rebound that Erin Gillingham sent wide. The fourth one found the back of the net.

Hoffmann has started all five games the Orange has played thus far. Checking in at 5-foot-4 and wearing a bright pink headband, she stands out up the field relative to her smaller forward partners, 5-foot-1 Elaine Carey and 5-foot Emma Tufts.

“(Hoffmann) knows what she needs to do,” Laura Hurff said. “Chooses her moments when she needs to move off the defenders so it’s easy for her to just put in the goals.”

Syracuse has yet to allow a goal in 350 minutes of field hockey this season. Hoffmann herself has five goals total in as many games. Last Thursday, Bradley said that she thought Hoffmann would contribute this year. And so far, she has.

“My goal is to score one goal in every game,” Hoffmann said.

Published on September 3, 2017 at 5:27 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3