Two Ohio defenders lay on the ground. Their sticks sat a few feet away from their hands. Above them stood a 5-foot-1 Irish forward muscling her way through the Bobcats’ defense.

“She’s feisty,” senior back Lies Lagerweij said. “She’s small, (but) gritty.”

In a 3-0 shutout against Ohio (1-3), one of No. 5 Syracuse’s (5-0) smallest players provided its biggest performance. The Orange controlled possession against the Bobcats and dominated most offensive categories, but struggled to fully convert. But on Sunday afternoon at J.S. Coyne Stadium, Elaine Carey provided the lone spark for the SU offense.

Just five minutes into the contest, Syracuse earned a long hit coming off of a penalty corner. Roos Weers launched a missile into the arc, where Carey waited for the deflection. Carey’s ball flew by Ohio goalkeeper Alex Pennington for her first goal of the season.

“I was just happy to see her score,” Syracuse head coach Ange Bradley said. “Today she was the one that was able to finish.”

In the first 19 minutes, SU scored just once on seven shots. Five of the six misses were saved by Pennington. But just under the 20-minute mark, Carey battled down the left sideline, weaving between defenders to make her way into the arc. Crossing through the middle, Carey tripped over a stick. Falling to the ground, she flicked the ball past Pennington for her second goal.

The senior rose to her feet and punched her fist in the air as she ran back to midfield.

“I try to use my speed to throw the ball past people,” Carey said. “That’s my one advantage over taller people.”

Despite those two goals being her only two of the game, the offense continued to run through Carey despite being tightly marked.

One minute after her second goal, Carey found herself one-on-one racing into the arc. She pushed the ball through a defender’s legs and fired the ball to the bottom right corner. A diving kick-save from Pennington prevented a Carey hat-trick.

Rather than pushing the ball down the side lines, Syracuse has worked on pushing the offense down the middle of the field. After receiving a pass from Weers, Carey did just that. Two Ohio defenders closed in to force a turnover, but after a whistle, SU maintained possession and the two defenders were left on their backs.

“It was a fun game today,” Carey said.

Carey didn’t record a shot in the second half, but her impact of drawing out the defense and two goals made the difference in a game where the rest of the team struggled to finish. Carolin Hoffmann’s goal at the end of the game came when two defenders crowded Carey, who blocked Pennington’s vision in the cage.

Ahead of a contest against No. 12 Boston College, who has already knocked off two top-15 opponents in No. 6 Maryland and No. 14 Northwestern, SU may need Carey’s offensive spark to lead the charge.

Published on September 3, 2017 at 5:52 pm

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu