Syracuse Women's Soccer Needs to Find Some Offense

By Thomas Zhou
Photo courtesy: cuse.com

Syracuse, N.Y - 


Courtney Brosnan  had a busy evening on Saturday. The freshman goalie for Syracuse women’s soccer turned away seven of the nine shots by Notre Dame but the two that got by her were more than enough for the Fighting Irish. Syracuse (5-8-3, 2-5-0) lost to Notre Dame (10-4-1, 5-2-0) 2-0, at the SU Soccer Stadium in a constant drizzle.

Notre Dame's goalie spent most of the game as a spectator.

"We were our own worst enemies in possession," SU head coach Phil Weddon told cuse.com.



First Half: Notre Dame dominates but doesn't score

Although it remained scoreless in the first half, the Fighting Irish pressured the Orange with eleven shots in the period. Brosnan saved all the shots on target.

She collected a shot by Irish midfielder Glory Williams in the 10th minute. She punched away Anna Gilbertson’s shot in the box in the 25th minute. Three minutes later, she pushed away the ball on the ground in the box before an Irish forward could launch a shot. Notre Dame Cari Roccaro’s lob went over the bar in the 33rd minute.

It was not until the 41st minute that the Orange registered its first shot. But Jessica Vigna’s shot was saved by Irish goalie Kaela Little, one of only two saves she had to make in the whole game.

Notre Dame found the back of the net in the 42nd minute, but the goal did not count because of an offside call.


Second half belongs to Irish

Cari Roccaro’s goal in the 69th minute put the Irish on the board. She got to the ball after Brosnan punched away a cross and beat Brosnan in the box.

Kaleigh Olmsted sealed the win for the Irish with a goal in the 78th minute. She scored on an assist from Lauren Bohaboy.

The Irish outshot the Orange, 30-2.

Syracuse has lost all eleven games it has played against Notre Dame. Its losing streak this season is at three after shutouts by Florida State and Clemson before the Notre Dame game. The Orange has not scored since a 3-0 win over Boston College on Oct. 4.

Both Wheddon and midfielder Jackie Firenze said the team did a good job restricting the Irish midfielders. The Orange formed a “block four” in the midfield, tackling the experienced Irish with one more player.

What the SU team struggled with most was the attack. The Orange failed to threaten its opponent in the offensive end. The ball did not cross the midfield line to the front much even when the team fell behind by two goals in the last ten minutes.

While giving credit to the opponent, Wheddon said the passes to his team's forwards were poor, leading to turnovers, either overpasses or underpasses.

“When you have turnovers, you don’t have the ball,” Wheddon said. “So you are defending.”


Tough games ahead

The game against Notre Dame was the sixth consecutive game ACC game and it has lost four of them. It does not get easier. All three games left are in the conference starting with Virginia Tech at home next Thursday. The Orange then is at Wake Forest before finishing the regular season hosting North Carolina.

Wheddon said the ACC is the best conference in the country and added that Virginia Tech is an exceptionally talented team and Syracuse will need to address its attack problems.

“We have to try keeping our confidence high.” Wheddon said. “Our players do some good things. We just have not been really effective in the attacking third in the last two to three games. After the Boston College game, we really see a dip in our attacking protection. That’s gonna be our focus moving forward.”