Chiara Gutsche sprinted into the penalty circle, hoping she’d get a pass. Kira Wimbert had run in behind the Vermont defense. Wimbert corralled the ball and turned. She slid the ball across face of goal towards Gutsche, but it appeared out of her reach.

But Gutsche lunged forward, leaving her feet and barely managing to get her stick on the ball. She finished into the open net and immediately turned to hug Wimbert. The goal was Gutsche’s first of the season.

Eight days later, Gutsche scored her second and third goals in an overtime win at Stanford. The third goal meant that she had already scored more as a sophomore than she did her entire freshman year, in the third game of the season.

Gutsche leads Syracuse in scoring this season with six goals in 10 games. She’s started every game, after coming off the bench for most of her freshman season. No. 11 Syracuse (6-4, 0-3 Atlantic Coast) won two games this year because of Gutsche’s goal scoring and forced overtime in two others. Since she’s settled in to playing in the United States, she’s become the focal point of the SU offense along with senior back Roos Weers.

“Through the summer, she’s just learned a little bit more professional to the game and having fun, and playing free,” head coach Ange Bradley said. “She got herself in great physical conditioning.”

As a freshman, Gutsche came off the bench for the first eight games of the season. She said she needed the transition period to adjust to the differences in U.S. field hockey. Gutsche hails from Falkensee, Germany, one of three SU players from Germany.

In her first start, against Rutgers on Sept. 17 of last year, Gutsche scored her first collegiate goal. She earned a few starts after that, but scored one more goal the rest of the season.

“I had to figure out how things worked,” Gutsche said. “It took me time to adjust to everything.”

Bradley said she noticed a difference this summer when Gutsche returned for preseason. She was in better shape and prepared to lead the line for the Orange in attack. When Gutsche runs behinds the defense, it helps SU’s offense that sometimes struggles in non-penalty corner situations.

One of SU’s most important goals came off the stick of Gutsche against Pacific. The Orange had trailed 2-0, until Weers scored to halve the deficit. With minutes left, Syracuse scrambled to find an equalizer.

That’s when Weers rocketed a pass from outside the circle into the area. Gutsche, who Bradley said is seemingly always in the right place at the right time, got a stick on it and deflected the ball into the goal. Syracuse tied it up and went on to win, 3-2.

“She’s always laying it out on the ground,” Bradley said. “She’s smart. She knows how to get herself into position.”

On Sep. 23, Syracuse again found itself behind, against Penn. Yet when Laura Graziosi launched a pass in from 25 yards out, Gutsche again was in the right place to corral the ball and score.

Gutsche uses her speed and knowledge of the game to find herself in the right positions to score more often than not, teammate Carolin Hoffmann said. Gutsche and Hoffmann had met previously, playing for the national team in Germany, but weren’t close friends.

When they both arrived from Germany, they bonded over adjusting to the differences in play style in America. Gutsche’s stick handling is a key feature from her European background, Bradley said. She’s able to weave through defenders in tight spaces, especially inside the penalty circle.

Her stick handling helps win SU penalty corners, where she’s also a part of the set plays. Against Bucknell, the play was drawn up for Gutsche. The ball was passed to Tess Queen, who laid it off to Weers. Instead of shooting, Weers found Gutsche in close. She elevated the ball and scored.

Now that Gutsche is more adapted to Syracuse, the goals keep flowing. And Bradley thinks there’s no reason it won’t continue.

“She’s learning the system,” Bradley said. “And when she has that confidence 100 percent of the time I think she can be a dominant player in this league.”

Published on October 3, 2018 at 12:53 am

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo