Babers Motivates Field Hockey in 4-0 Win Against Drexel

By Jonah Karp

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse field hockey team was forced to put the loss against No. 3 Virginia on Saturday in the rearview mirror in order to be ready to go on Sunday against Drexel. That’s not an easy thing to do, even for the talented No. 7 Orange. But Ange Bradley’s team received some inspiration from another Syracuse coach before its second game of the weekend.

“The game plan was actually inspired by Coach Babers from the football team,” senior back Lies Lagerweij said.  “After their upset against Clemson, he talked about the key to their win was that everyone did their job, and that’s something that’s really important to us, but we haven’t really focused on that a lot the past two weeks. So, before the game, that was something that we reiterated, and I think everyone did that really well today.

Lagerweij finished the contest with a goal (her fifth of the season) and two assists in Syracuse’s 4-0 win over Drexel. Her coach had nothing but praise for her star player.

“She’s so talented,” Bradley said. “She reads the game. She has great hands, and that’s what allowed her to move from a center forward to a center back. It doesn’t matter what position she’s in. She’s good.”

Syracuse scored three times in the first half thanks to Lagerweij, Roos Weers and Caroline Cady, respectively. Claire Webb tallied her first goal of the year after the break to cement the final score. The Orange held the Dragons to just one shot on goal while Drexel didn’t attempt a penalty corner for the entire game.

Following the victory, Lagerweij reiterated that Babers’s message was the reason all of the cogs were working in sync.

“Whether you’re a forward midfielder or back, everyone did their own job,” she said, “and that’s why, together, we got a great win today.”

The shutout is the ninth of the season for Borg van der Velde, which moves her up to third on the program’s all-time single season shutout list. It was the second time this season where the freshman had a shutout without having a save opportunity.

“It’s really good to just trust your defense,” said the goalie. “To know that in this kind of game you only get one shot, it’s just really good.”

But despite the stellar showing, Bradley insisted that there’s room for improvement.

“We’re just experimenting and trying different things,” Bradley said, “[We’re] looking to be able to get better and get those final steps of growth as we go into the end of this season and the start of our second season in the ACC tournament.”

Syracuse doesn’t return home until Saturday, October 28. Until then, the Orange has a date with Penn on the road next Sunday at 1 p.m.