On Oct. 30, 2019, the Syracuse women's soccer team gathered in its locker room in Ensley Athletic Center like it does before every game. It was 6 p.m., an hour before the game against No. 1-ranked Virginia. It was the last Orange contest of the season, as Syracuse was not in a position to make the ACC Tournament. It was also Senior Day -- a chance to celebrate the team's five seniors. Posters of the five seniors hung on the walls, and streamers and balloons lined the chairs and filled the ground. A speaker sat in the corner of the room, blasting out "You Make My Dreams," one of the team's favorite pregame songs. Captain Georgia Allen shuffled across the mock dance floor in the middle of the room, dramatically snapping her fingers to the beat. Everyone was laughing, smiling, and joking—it was a normal gameday at SU Soccer Stadium.
As the 7 p.m. kickoff inched closer, though, things seemed less normal. Coaches scurried between locker rooms sharing worried looks, talking with officials and checking various weather apps on their phones. Rain had been pouring since the early afternoon, and a thunderstorm was rolling into Syracuse, but the team didn't worry. What are they going to do, cancel senior day? The squad kept dancing and singing, waiting to walk out for the final game of the season -- ultimately a game that would never come.
Kickoff was pushed back a half hour upon the first visible strike of lightning. And then another half hour. And then another. As kickoff kept getting pushed back, the locker room grew quieter. The teams' dancing feet turned into anxious, tapping heels. The player screams and laughter turned into quiet, nervous conversation. Around 8:30 p.m., head coach Nicky Adams walked in and told the team the game had been canceled due to the dangerous weather conditions. The seniors would never play another game at Syracuse. Their careers were over.
"I was angry. Not gutted, just angry," Allen said. Allen's parents had flown in from England to watch her play in the United States for the first time. The cancellation of the game not only ended her collegiate career, but it also took away her only opportunity to play for Syracuse in front of her parents. When she looked around at her teammates and coaches, she knew "it was time to step up. To use this moment to thank them, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart. To hug my teammates and coaches and tell them how much I cared about them was not a moment to be taken for granted."
Sydney Brackett described the moment the game was called as heartbreaking. "I felt like I didn't get to finish what I started," Brackett said. Brackett was a four-year starter for the Orange. A partially torn medial collateral ligament kept her sidelined for five games in the middle of the season. She was able to bounce back and was in position to play the final six games of the year, but was forced to call it a career one game earlier than expected. "I would do anything to have that time back," she said.
Victoria Hill was all too familiar with what it felt like to have the sport you loved taken away without notice. In a spring game the April before, she fractured her fibula and dislocated her tibia, and both proved to be career-ending injuries. Hill spent her entire senior season watching from the sidelines. "Knowing my time as an active member of the team was over was a hard concept to grasp," Hill said. "It was difficult to put on a happy face." When the game was canceled, Hill empathized with her teammates. "I knew how it felt to have soccer taken away. Time and experiences are so limited and fragile, so you just have to enjoy them while you can."
Santita Ebangwese said her heartbreak that night wasn't for herself, but for her teammates. Ebangwese used her fifth and final year of NCAA eligibility to join the team after a prolific career with Syracuse's volleyball team. "I had my senior match last year with volleyball, and it gave me a feeling of closure. This year I was playing on borrowed time, so my feelings of despair were for the other seniors who didn't get that feeling of closure."
The day wasn't a total wash. While the seniors didn't get to compete in the final game of their careers, they were able to spend the night celebrating with their teammates and families. Instead of sliding in for tackles, they slid on their bellies across the flooded field under the lights while their families stood at the sidelines laughing and recording the moment on their phones.
They lost their last opportunity to play in orange, but they gained a moment of appreciation, gratitude, and togetherness—feelings Allen said that no score line could ever replace. It wasn't the ending they were expecting, but it was certainly one they won't ever forget.
As it usually does, heartbreak eventually strengthened the group. The seniors gained wisdom from that experience. Each senior echoed lessons of gratitude, noting nothing is ever guaranteed. They realized that their time at Syracuse was about more than just soccer. It was about people, relationships, and family. Allen said it best:
"I learned that I treasure my family and friends above anything else in my life, even soccer. Without your team, soccer and life wouldn't be as rich."
"When I think of Syracuse Soccer, I think of the relationships I've made with my teammates that will last for the rest of my life," Hill said. "I feel like I can push through any difficult situation because of the determination and drive my coaches and teammates have instilled in me."
The cancellation of the team's final game wouldn't be the only heartbreak of the senior year. In March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their final spring semester of college was disrupted too. Campus was closed, classes were moved online, and graduation was postponed. Yet again, an unexpected twist came just before the end of the road. Despite the upset, the five have all kept their chins up high. The team's five seniors have all turned their eyes to the future and are eagerly working toward building a name for themselves outside of Syracuse.
Allen is working toward playing professionally back in England while pursuing her master's degree in psychology. Brackett is weighing her options between playing professionally and attending graduate school at Syracuse. Taylor Bennett hopes to play professionally overseas before returning to the U.S. to coach college soccer. Hill is currently pursuing a career in public relations and marketing, and Ebangwese is completing her master's thesis and preparing to take the MCAT before beginning study at Paris-Saclay University in France. Left to right: Santita Ebangwese, Georgia Allen, Taylor Brackett, Victoria Hill, Sydney Brackett
Though the last year certainly didn't go as the group probably envisioned it would just before the fall semester started, they've all rolled with the punches and made the best of the situations they've been placed in.
"I realized that nothing is ever guaranteed," Brackett said. "The beauty is so much more in the journey than the destination. I learned what it means to be a good teammate, good friend, and to have aspirations beyond what I originally thought was possible."
"The biggest lesson I learned is that everything in life has positives and negatives, and to always focus on the positives," Hill said. "Soccer and this injury have brought me so much—good and bad. Now, I choose to focus on the good. Above all, I loved being with my teammates every day. Being surrounded by my best friends and seeing their success outweighed everything else."
***
As we wave goodbye, from a distance, to our senior class this weekend, I'd like to thank them one more time. Thank you for your fearless leadership and dedication to this team—even when things got hard. You've guided us through some of the lowest lows and led us to some of the highest highs. I think I speak for everyone from 'Cuse women's soccer when I say this: We are so proud of the people you have become and we cannot wait to see all that you do in the world. We will miss you more than you know.
