Senior forward Leonie Geyer entered Syracuse’s Saturday showdown with No. 4 Virginia tied in fourth place on the Syracuse all-time scoring list with Julie Williamson (1991-94) and Yvonne Milionis (1988-91) at 94 points.

She had no idea.

“Yeah, I didn’t know that. That’s really cool to hear,” she said. “It’s different for me because I’m usually not the one who scores. I love to pass and sometimes that’s annoying to coach (Ange Bradley) because she wants me to score more.”

Much to Bradley’s delight, Geyer did plenty of both against the Cavaliers and Monmouth this weekend.

After exploding with four goals and three assists in a span of 27 hours, including a hat trick against Virginia, the Germany native broke the fourth-place tie and continued her torrid rampage through the Syracuse (10-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) history books. Her 39 career helpers are good for third-most in team history, and she is also one goal away from cracking the top 10 in that category. Her 30 total points this season also tie her personal best as a sophomore in 2011.

Accolades like those are reason to brag, but Geyer will do nothing of the sort.

“She’s really quiet and doesn’t speak a lot, but I think her statistics tell you a lot about her,” Bradley said. “You don’t realize how much she does for a team until you look at the numbers.”

One thing she has done this season is come through in the clutch. Her four game-winning goals led the team, and three of them came against Top 10 opponents.

But the other thing that everyone seems to notice about Geyer is her innate unselfishness.

“She doesn’t really like to be the center of attention. A lot of times she’d rather pass and get the assist than score a goal,” junior midfielder Jordan Page said. “She’s a phenomenal player. Very highly skilled and just really great to play with.”

Bradley said that Geyer’s ability to set up teammates is among the best that she’s ever seen.

“She just moves the ball so well,” Bradley said. “She reads a situation really well, and if she sees someone who has a better look than her, she will pass it.”

Geyer said that her time on the German national team was crucial for her development as a player. She was a participant in the U-16, U-18 and U-21 divisions from 2005-10 before making the long journey halfway across the globe to Syracuse.

She credited the style of play in her home country for her tendency to look for passing lanes and spread the field.

“Here it’s way more athletic, whereas in Germany it’s more about tactics than individual skills,” Geyer said. “Here, timing and speed are important. If you’re a good athlete here, usually you’re good to go, but in Germany you need a bit more intelligence.”

For a team mostly composed of freshmen and sophomores, that intelligence has provided crucial leadership during a strong 10-1 start.

In addition, Bradley said that Geyer’s field vision sets her apart from some of the other great players that have donned an Orange uniform.

Although past star Kelsey Millman (2009-12) was an offensive finisher and Martina Loncarica (2008-11) used her personal agility to beat defenders, Bradley said that Geyer is the type of player that searches for openings in passing lanes to create opportunities.

Although Geyer is willing to pass up a scoring chance, she does not want to waste her final run at a national championship.

Forget the records and the stats. They’re nice, but the senior said that they’re not the ultimate goal.

They never were, and one of the most productive careers in school history hasn’t changed that fact.

“Now the exciting part is coming up with the good opponents in the ACC,” Geyer said. “We’ll just keep working on coming together as a team and playing hard, and hopefully we’ll get the good final results.”

Published on October 7, 2013 at 9:49 pm

Contact Tyler: tfpiccot@syr.edu