Syracuse Field Hockey: Orange Beat Duke & Bucknell

The Syracuse Orange played their final two regular season home games this weekend, beating the sixth-ranked Duke Blue Devils 2-1 on Saturday before steamrolling the Bucknell Bison 4-0 yesterday.

Syracuse fell behind early on Saturday, as Duke's Ashley Kristen scored just 35 seconds into the game to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.

The Orange outshot the Devils by nine (11-2) in the first half, but it wasn't until Laura Hurff -- the freshman who won ACC Player of the Week two weeks ago -- scored with under 15 minutes left in the game that Syracuse finally knotted the score at 1.

Just over a minute into overtime, junior forward Emma Russell scored her 11th goal of this season to give Syracuse arguably its biggest win of the season.

Against Bucknell on Sunday, Syracuse didn't need such heroics. The Orange dominated from start to finish, getting two goals from Lies Lagerweij and a goal each from Lauren Brooks and Russell. Goalies Jess Jecko and Rebecca Congel combined to record the shutout, but the Bison managed only one shot on goal.

Sunday's win also served as Senior Day for Brooks, Kati Nearhouse, and Jordan Page.

"I haven't thought about it because it's not over. I just want to stay present and keep extending the life of the 2014 season as much as we can," head coach Ange Bradley said of it being Senior Day, per cuse.com.

The Duke win also secured for Syracuse the sixth seed in the ACC Field Hockey Championship, which begins on Thursday. First up for Syracuse will be the Boston College Eagles, who beat the Orange 3-2 in overtime at J.S. Coyne Stadium last month.

But before they can worry about Boston College, the Orange travel to Amherst, Massachusetts this Saturday to take on UMass.