Josie Drumheller/Virginia Athletics
No. 10 UVA Field Hockey Crushes No. 11 Syracuse 3-0
To say that the Cavaliers have had the upper hand in the series against the Orange in field hockey would be a massive understatement. Virginia has dominated Syracuse to the tune of an 11-3 all-time edge and an eight-match winning streak coming into this season.
Friday's matchup was no different.
Behind a pair of goals from senior Cato Geusgens, No. 10 Virginia field hockey crushed No. 11 Syracuse 3-0 on Friday afternoon at the UVA Turf Field in Charlottesville.
UVA dominated the match from start to finish, and it started with the Cavaliers thoroughly winning the possession battle in the midfield. Virginia consistently had the ball at Syracuse's end of the field, putting constant pressure on the Orange defense. Shots were 26-8 in favor of the Cavaliers and 15 of UVA's shots were on goal.
Syracuse goalkeeper Brooke Borzymowski delivered an incredible performance, making 12 saves to keep the Orange close until the fourth quarter. Her counterpart, UVA's Jet Trimborn, saved all four of the shots on goal she faced to secure her first-career shutout and Virginia's second shutout of the season.
UVA had 14 penalty corner opportunities as compared to just six for Syracuse and the Hoos took full advantage as two of their three goals came off of corners.
With just a few seconds left in the opening period, Dani Mendez-Trendler inserted the penalty corner pass up to Annie McDonough, who set the ball for a Cato Geusgens shot that found its way through the Cuse defense and into the back left corner of the cage to break the scoreless tie.
Behind Borzymowski's stellar play in cage, the Orange managed to keep the deficit at just 1-0 all the way through to the fourth quarter. Borzymowski faced 17 shots in the first half, including ten in the first quarter, but allowed only the one goal.
With under seven minutes to play, the score remained 1-0 until Laura Janssen deflected in a pass from Adele Iacobucci to double the lead. That was Janssen's team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Four minutes later, the Cavaliers struck again as Cato Geusgens scored on another penalty corner. This one was much easier than the first, as the Orange had pulled their goalkeeper so Geusgens was essentially shooting on an empty net off of the penalty corner.
Syracuse did not place a single shot on goal until the fourth quarter, but Trimborn handled all four of those attempts to secure the shutout and UVA's first ACC win of the season.
Virginia improves to 5-3 overall and 1-1 in ACC play. Next weekend, UVA plays the final two matches of a four-game homestand as two more ranked opponents come to Charlottesville. Virginia will host No. 3 Louisville in a major ACC showdown on Friday at 3pm followed by an in-state clash with No. 17 William & Mary on Sunday at 1pm.
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