Field Hockey Beats Rutgers 4-0

By Jonah Karp

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — After suffering its first loss of the season to Wake Forest on Saturday, the Syracuse field hockey team was back in action against Rutgers on Sunday.

With the help of freshman Chiara Gutsche, Syracuse (8-1) defeated Rutgers (5-3) 4-0. Gutsche made her first start in an Orange uniform and made the most of the opportunity, scoring her first goal of the season. That goal was the only score in the second half, putting the icing on the cake for Syracuse.

“We lost yesterday, so we were kind of down,” Gutsche said of the Orange’s mindset going into the game. “We just had the will to win.”

But Chiara wasn’t the only player on her team to hear her number called with the starters for the first time this season. Freshman midfielder Sarah Luby scored her second goal of the season, making it 3-0 late in the first half. After earning the starting job, the Baltimore native acknowledged her focus on putting the ball in the net.

“I saw Roos [Weers] setting up for an inside pass,” she explained. “so I just stepped in front and got a stick on it.”

Head coach Ange Bradley commended the two freshmen on how they fared against the Scarlet Knights, and noted that hard work does not go unnoticed.

“It builds confidence,” said Bradley. “Both of them did a fantastic job today at practice. They’ve been doing a really nice job on the scout team at practice. They’ve been showing me that they are picking up on what we’re working on.”

Roos Weers and Jennifer Bleakney scored the first two goals of the game, respectively, to give the Orange a quick 2-0 lead. Borg van der Velde notched four saves in goal for Syracuse. Overall, everything was clicking on all cylinders for SU, something Bradley suggested was a testament to her team’s resiliency.

“I think it shows a lot of toughness on our team,” Bradley said. “Rutgers was throwing everything at us, just smashing it, looking for deflections and rebounds. I’m proud of the way the kids came back. There were good moments, there were ugly moments, but they held strong and I give them a lot of credit for that.”

Luby agreed that Syracuse’s performance against Rutgers was a direct result of Saturday’s loss, and asserted that the combined results of both games should help propel the team into the next matchup.

“This win off of yesterday’s Wake Forest game really helped us look at what we need to work towards this upcoming week when we play UNC this weekend,” Luby said.

Syracuse hosts ACC foe North Carolina on Saturday, September 23 at 2 p.m.