UPDATED: Sept. 15, 2019 at 1:47 a.m.

When midfielder Laura Graziosi received the penalty corner insert pass with five minutes left in the first overtime, St. Joseph’s defense anticipated her to pass. SJU’s defensive line converged on midfielder Carolin Hoffmann and forward Charlotte de Vries, everyone but Graziosi.

Graziosi took what the defense gave her. She dribbled the ball to her right and struck a shot 10 feet away to the back of the net. Graziosi’s goal — her second of the season — gave Syracuse its first win over a ranked opponent, revenge for last season’s 5-2 loss to SJU, and a course-correcting victory after last week’s loss to unranked Cornell.

The game-winner gave also head coach Ange Bradley her 200th win as head coach at Syracuse.

In Bradley’s 12 seasons at No. 23 Syracuse (4-1), the Orange have made 10 NCAA tournament appearances. Bradley led the 2015 team to the program’s first and only national championship. On Friday night, Syracuse’s 2-1 upset win over No. 14 St. Joseph’s (3-1) added a win to Bradley’s legacy. But before Friday night’s match, Bradley showed how much the win meant to her.

“I had no clue,” Bradley said about winning her 200th game at Syracuse.

Little did she know, Bradley had been stuck on 199 Syracuse wins for nearly two weeks. She entered the postgame press conference on Friday with a bouquet of orange roses, which associate head coach Allan Law’s family bought last week before the Cornell game — what would have been Bradley’s 200th Syracuse victory. Instead, Syracuse lost 2-1 despite out-shooting the Big Red 17 to 10 and “dominating,” Bradley said.

But on Friday, Law could finally put his flowers to good use. The Orange — whose previous three wins all came in comebacks — jumped out to an early lead. de Vries notched her team-leading sixth goal in the second period with a strong reverse-hit.

With a lead in the second half, Bradley grew more vocal from the bench. “It’s a wing press. Read it, Claire!” she yelled to Claire Webb, her center back, at one point. It was Webb’s first game of the season after missing the first four matches with a hand injury, and the senior anchored an SU defensive unit that limited the Hawks to no shots in the first half. 

But SJU’s more aggressive press later led to a penalty corner, which the Hawks capitalized on to even up the game, 1-1.

Still, throughout the game, Syracuse maintained control. The midfielders intercepted passes, forwards pressured SJU’s defenders, and the defense remained “composed,” Bradley said. When the game entered overtime, Syracuse led in shots on goal, 10 to four.

Three more unanswered shots in overtime, including Graziosi’s game-winner, put Syracuse on top.

“I watched us in overtime from the sidelines, and it’s awesome running on the field,” Webb said, “But it’s even better when I get to be on the field helping with it.”

In addition to the 200th Syracuse win milestone, beating St. Joseph’s added emotional value for Bradley and Syracuse. Last year, the Hawks blew Syracuse out, 5-2, in the regular season finale, which hurt the Orange’s chances at the NCAA tournament. Syracuse ended up missing the tournament for the first time since 2007, Bradley’s first year at SU.

Plus, SJU’s bench featured two of Bradley’s former assistants in head coach Lynn Farquhar and assistant Martu Loncarica. Before the game, Bradley listened to the national anthem on SJU’s half of the field, right next to her former assistants.

“None of this could’ve been done without the women that I’ve coached, and their belief, and their vision,” Bradley said.

With Friday’s win, Bradley joins Kathleen Parker — the winningest coach in program history (316 wins in 28 seasons) — in SU’s 200-win club. But Bradley did something no other SU field hockey coach ever did: Bring a national championship to Syracuse. And Friday’s upset victory is one step towards doing it again.

After Graziosi’s shot whizzed past SJU’s goalkeeper, Ange initially hung back as her team sprinted onto the field. She embraced her assistant coaches and eventually jogged out to the scene of the victory, joining Syracuse’s huddle and receiving hugs from almost every player. 

“Every moment since the day (ex-Athletic Director) Daryl (Gross) first called me, he said ‘Come here and win a national championship,’” Bradley said. “So winning on Coyne is something we believed in.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the headline and story misstated Ange Bradley’s number of wins. She has 200 career wins as head coach at Syracuse. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on September 13, 2019 at 10:15 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman