Virginia Advances to ACC Semifinals with 3-2 Comeback Victory

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia field hockey team (12-5) opened the 2023 ACC Field Hockey Championship with a 3-2 victory against Syracuse (10-7) in a quarterfinal match on Tuesday (Oct. 31) at Turf Field in Charlottesville, Va.

The fourth-seeded Cavaliers trailed five-seed Syracuse 2-0 at the start of the fourth quarter. UVA scored three goals in the final frame, including two in the final three minutes of the game.

Noa Boterman scored two goals for the Cavaliers including the game-winner.

Virginia advances to the semifinals where it will take on top-seeded North Carolina (12-3) on Wednesday (Nov. 1) at 1 p.m.

Admission is free for the 2023 ACC Championship. All seating is general admission, first come, first served. Parking is free at John Paul Jones Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Syracuse jumped out to an early lead, scoring a fastbreak goal 1:39 into the contest. The Orange added a second goal midway through the second quarter, scoring on a penalty corner to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.

Syracuse led by that same margin at the start of the fourth quarter.

Virginia was awarded a penalty corner thirty seconds into the final period. Boterman’s strike from the top of the circle deflected off a Syracuse stick to cut the deficit in half.

The Cavaliers pulled their goalkeeper with just under five minutes left in the game when Syracuse was already down one player due to a yellow card. Virginia didn’t keep the two-player advantage for long as they were also hit with a yellow card. With the one extra attacker, UVA earned a penalty corner. Laura Janssen deflected in a sharp pass from Jans Croon to tie the score with 2:40 remaining.

Fifty seconds later, Boterman scored on another penalty corner. She dribbled across the top of the circle and then fired a flat shot through the defense and into the cage to put UVA ahead 3-2 with 1:50 remaining.

Syracuse then pulled their keeper with a minute remaining but did not get off a shot.

FROM ACTING HEAD COACH OLE KEUSGEN

“We had done it last week [coming back from down two goals]. It’s always easy to believe in it when it just happened. We always have that belief in those moments. That’s usually one of those things that we always have is belief because we know how good we can be. We just had to tweak a couple of things, and then we executed well on the corner that we drew up, and it was as easy as that.”

“At halftime, down by two, we said we just need one goal, and then we can catch fire. That was the small-step plan at that moment and that worked out quite well in our favor.”

NOTES

• Wednesday will be Virginia’s ninth-consecutive ACC Semifinal appearance
• Noa Boterman’s goals were her sixth and seventh of the year and her third game-winning goal
• Boterman also had her ACC-leading fourth defensive save of the season
• Laura Janssen’s goal was her seventh of the year
• Syracuse held a 8-4 edge in shots in the first half. UVA had a 7-0 edge in the second half
• Virginia held a 12-4 advantage in penalty corners
• Tyler Kennedy had three saves for UVA. Abby Neitch had three for Syracuse
• Duke and Louisville will play at 3:30 p.m. in Wednesday’s other semifinal