A Sabine van den Eijnden Hat Trick Carries Syracuse Field Hockey to 5-0 Win Over Cornell

By: Skyler Wilkes | @swilkes04

CitrusTV Field Hockey Beat Reporter 

Syracuse is the king of Central New York, but Sabine van den Eijnden might as well be the queen. The grad student scored three goals in SU’s 5-0 win over Cornell today. The midfielder credits her teammates for helping her reach this career mark.

“We’ve been working on connection a lot, like with strikers and midfield, and today I really felt that. We were moving, we were giving the ball to each other,” stated van den Eijnden. 

“I think it’s just adaptation, whether it’s cultural, whether it’s a different team, learning how to move off of people. Eefke [van den Nieuwenhof]’s been out, Sienna [Pegram]’s out and you’ve got to learn to play off the people you’re playing around. This is the time you want to start those things happening, in October. That’s where teams are made, in the month of October for sure,” explained SU head coach Ange Bradley. 

“I think that connection in the D and chasing different shots, but also deflections, that makes us a really strong team,” added van den Eijnden.   

Van den Eijnden tallied as many goals today as she had all year and became the fourth SU player to record a hat trick this season. The Orange now sit at 12-2, having won five games in a row. 

Syracuse has its toughest test on the horizon, with a trip down to Chapel Hill to face No. 1 North Carolina at 3 p.m. on Friday.