Two Top-20 Games Await No. 13 Field Hockey

No. 13 Syracuse vs. No. 3 North Carolina: Friday | Oct. 13 | 4 p.m. | Syracuse, N.Y. | J.S. Coyne Stadium
No. 13 Syracuse at No. 18 Cornell: Sunday | Oct. 15 | 2 p.m. | Ithaca, N.Y. | Marsha Dodson Field
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Two top 20 battles await the Syracuse field hockey program as the No. 13 Orange host No. 3 North Carolina on Friday at 4 p.m. before the quick trek to Tompkins County to square off for a second time with No. 18 Cornell for a 2 p.m. clash on Sunday.

From the Start
- It's back to ACC play for the Syracuse Orange, ranked 13th this week by the NFHCA Coaches Poll.
- Syracuse opens the weekend with a 4 p.m. showdown with No. 3 North Carolina at J.S. Coyne Stadium before hitting the road for the quick trip to Ithaca, New York to face No. 18 Cornell.
- With four games left in the regular season, this weekend is the final double weekend for the Orange before heading to Louisville next Friday and hosting Wake Forest the following Friday afternoon.
- 'Cuse has won three of its last four games, with all four opponents spending time in the NFHCA Poll this season. Last Sunday, in its lone game of the week, Syracuse picked off Princeton with a 2-0 win at Bedford Field.
- Friday's game will be a showdown of the ACC's two new head coaches, Lynn Farquhar (Syracuse) and Erin Matson (UNC), both in their first seasons at their respective institutes.
- Sunday rounds out an in-season home-and-home series with the Big Red at 2 p.m. high above Cayuga's waters at Marsha Dodson Field.

In the National Rankings
- Despite picking up a 2-0 win against a team that was in the preseason rankings, Syracuse slipped one spot this week, falling to 13th in the NFHCA Coaches Poll.
- The Orange picked up 435 points in this week's standings, up 11 points from a week ago, despite the drop in ranking.
- Three of the top five teams are in the ACC: No. 2 Duke, No. 3 North Carolina, and No. 5 Louisville. Syracuse plays the latter two over the next two weeks of action.
- Cornell (8-3) was slotted 18th this week, up two spots from last week.
- Six of the seven ACC schools were tanked this week: No. 2 Duke, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 5 Louisville, No. 8 Virginia, No. 12 Boston College, and No. 13 Syracuse.
- In addition to the ACC foes, three nonconference opponents were ranked: No. 11 Harvard, No. 15 Penn State, and this Sunday's foe, No. 18 Cornell, were all inside the top 20.

Ice Cold From the Penalty Spot
- If there is a solution to solving global warming, a simple drop from the icy veins of Eefke van den Nieuwenhof may help.
- So far this season, the senior co-captain is a clean five-for-five on penalty strokes, converting one in each of the last three games for the Orange, two of which have stood up as game-winning goals - including a double overtime conversion - with the middle stroke goal as a tying effort late at No. 14 Harvard.
- Van den Nieuwenhof leads all of college field hockey, regardless of division, with her five penalty stroke conversions this season. Only Northwestern has attempted the same number (5), but missed on one.
- As of October 12, Peyton Halsey (Northwestern, DI) and Elizabeth Duquette (Roger Williams, DIII) have four penalty stroke goals apiece.

Protect Coyne
- Like a bank vault, you have to protect the Coyne.
- Syracuse is 4-1 at J.S. Coyne Stadium this year, suffering its first home set back since the end of the 2021 season. - The double overtime loss against No. 6 Virginia snapped a 13-game home winning streak.
- Since the new surface at J.S. Coyne Stadium was installed in 2016, following the team's national championship, the Orange have amassed a 46-17 (.730) overall record at Coyne and hold a regular season record of 38-13 (.745).
- Syracuse has two perfect home regular seasons in that span: 9-0 in 2022 and 6-0 in 2016.

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Players Mentioned

Eefke van den Nieuwenhof

Syracuse University Athletics