Asa Goldstock threw her stick and gloves on the sideline in disgust. In her first real test since giving up 18 goals to Northwestern in the 2019 NCAA Quarterfinals, then-No. 12 Stony Brook had just scored its 14th goal on Goldstock.

What had begun as a historic night for the senior — moving into second all-time behind Liz Hogan with 485 career saves — culminated with her first benching since sophomore year.

“It’s extremely frustrating for me,” Goldstock said three days later on Feb. 13. “But we needed anything at the point to get the ball back and find a spark.”

Since then, Syracuse (6-1) has won five straight games, notching its first-ever win in Evanston, Illinois and achieving the program’s second-ever victory over Maryland. Goldstock earned Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the week for her eight-save performance against No. 6 Northwestern, and she’s currently fifth in the nation with a 7.10 goals against average. Goldstock grew more comfortable with her defensive unit as the lone goalie last season, and that’s paid dividends for the senior and her Syracuse defense.

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In her freshman season, Goldstock started in all 22 of SU’s games. She led the team in ground balls with 54 and earned Inside Lacrosse’s player of the week honors for her 11 saves and two ground balls in Syracuse’s upset of No. 2 North Carolina.

“I think she has the ability to be the next Liz Hogan, a national team goalie,” former Syracuse star Halley Quillinan said after that game. “What Asa has been able to do is remarkable.”

Goldstock started all 19 games again the following season, even with her backup being Inside Lacrosse’s top incoming goalkeeper for the Class of 2017. Then-freshman Hannah Van Middelem was put into the game only when the game was in hand or if Syracuse “needed a spark.”

The Orange finished an underwhelming 9-10 that year — their worst record in program history — but Van Middelem injured her foot ahead of the season opener and redshirted. “I kinda just wanted another year to learn,” Van Middelem said. The position safely remained with Goldstock.

She started 20 of 21 games in net, the exception being SU’s senior day against Cornell when head coach Gary Gait started senior Bri Stahrr for 1:21 before putting Goldstock in net. With no Van Middelem behind her when things went awry, the Niskayuna, New York native stayed in games regardless of the deficit.

The ultimate test was the May 18 Northwestern game, when No. 5-seed Syracuse fell behind the No. 4-seed Wildcats, 10-3. But Gait stuck with Goldstock, and SU outscored the home team 11-8 the rest of the way.

While Goldstock referred to that game as the “worst game of her college career,” she noted that last year was a great opportunity to mesh with her defense. That cohesion has surfaced this season when Goldstock and her defenders have adjusted to avoid the same mistakes.

“We have a game plan for each of them,” Goldstock said, “as long as we stay together as a unit, it’s going to be easy breezy going forward.”

After the Stony Brook loss, Goldstock asked defenders Kerry Defliese and Allyson Trice if she could help by stealing passes outside the crease when the Orange pressured opposing attacks down low. The following game against Albany, Goldstock abandoned her crease on multiple occasions and intercepted a pass for a caused turnover. She finished with a season-high two caused turnovers and recorded the first shutout of her career.

Following her second-straight shutout against Binghamton, Goldstock earned redemption in Evanston by holding the highest-scoring offense in the country to eleven goals. The Orange compacted their zone and kept Northwestern cutters out of the middle, meaning Goldstock only needed to make eight saves all game.

And in SU’s most recent contest, just two days removed from the cancelling of her senior day, the four-year starter’s leadership took center stage once again. Maryland had just scored to make it 5-3, but rather than pick the ball out of the back of the net Goldstock took three steps and had her defensive unit gather around. Wagging her left index finger, she first pointed at the turf before waving her arm in a circular motion. Her head moved teammate to teammate with every word.

The Terrapins were on a 3-1 scoring run in the second half, and Syracuse had turnovers on its last four possessions. In the game’s final 20 minutes, Maryland scored just two more times.

“She wants to win,” Gait said. “The entire team does. They’re really dedicated to learning from that Stony Brook game and making themselves better because of it.”

Published on March 3, 2020 at 11:59 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu