Laurel Ness caught the pink pinny that players on the bench wear before she finally bowed to the raucous crowd.

Head coach Nicky Adams was subbing Ness out, but not until right after Ness had scored the game-winning goal—the first of her collegiate career—in the 68th minute as Syracuse (1-0) defeated Colgate (0-2) on Sunday night 1-0 at SU Soccer Stadium.

“I’ve been waiting for this goal for two years now,” Ness said. “I was really excited, the team was excited, the crowd was excited. We all knew that it was coming, we didn’t know who it was going to come from, but everybody was on the same page and we finally finished.”

The 0-0 tie finally broke when Mackenzie Vlachos zipped a pass to Ness, standing at the top of the box. Ness cut it back to the right, faking both the defenders and the goalie to create a wide open window on goal. She didn’t miss, firing the ball right through with her left foot.

She was immediately mobbed by her teammates. Co-captain Georgia Allen ran to the bench to celebrate before running back to hug Ness.

“I think I was a little shocked because as soon as I cut it back it was just an open goal,” Ness said. “It almost seemed like too much, I didn’t really take it in. [Allen] took it in immediately, clearly. Everybody else on the team seemed to know what happened but I was kind of in shell shock.”

Ness, a redshirt sophomore, was in the starting lineup for just the second time in her collegiate career, though she appeared in 17 games last season. She knew she had to work even harder to prepare herself for a bigger role this season.

Adams has preached fitness to her players and Ness bought in, having struggled with her own in the past.

“That was what I think kept me off the field last year and unfortunately I had an injury freshman year,” Ness said. “But it’s just all about fitness and I finally committed to that this year and that’s what got me on the field.”

Listed on the roster as both a midfielder and a defender, Ness can be used all over the pitch. Adams subbed Ness in and out of the lineup multiple times, and the goal came during the first time Adams had Ness at the top of the box.

After the first time Ness was replaced in the first half, Adams gave Ness a big hug. She was happy with what she had seen.

“I talked to her about little things we needed and she was a sponge,” Adams said. “She soaked it up and did exactly what we needed. And we needed that target player to be able to hold it for us, to get our numbers around the ball so we could play.”

Syracuse will need Ness’s versatility in the coming games. The Orange are missing last year’s leading goal scorer Kate Hostage to injury. And for the next two games SU will be without Allen at midfield, as she was called back up to play for the U21 England women’s national team.

Ness knows she has to be ready for wherever she is needed.

“I think we’re all excited just to be on the field and play how we’re playing now,” Ness said. “So, I’ll do anything to be on the field, I’ll play anywhere. So that’s the mentality I think we all have right now.”

Published on August 25, 2019 at 11:32 pm

Contact Eric: estorms@syr.edu