Women's Soccer: Syracuse and Notre Dame settle for a tie

Story and photos by Jacqueline Mundry


SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse Orange and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame opened their ACC season at the SU Soccer Stadium with a tie after two overtimes, finishing the game with a score of 1-1.

Syracuse forward Eva Gordon, who scored the Syracuse goal, summed up the result logically.

"A tie is better than a loss but not as good as a win,"  she said.

Wheddon: a little bit of belief 


It was the third straight draw for Notre Dame (5-1-3) which came into Sunday's game with a number 20 ranking, while Syracuse (7-1-2) was unranked.

"I thought it was a pretty even match end to end," Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon said. "This is our first game against a top 20 team. It gives the team a little bit of belief that they can compete."

Although not coming out with a win isn't ideal, the consensus for the Orange players was that they were happy with their first ACC game of the season.

"In the ACC, any goal is a good goal," Gordon said.

The facts

Notre Dame outshot Syracuse 18-17, putting a lot of pressure on the Orange defense and goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan throughout the game. She made six saves.

"They have a lot of amazing forwards out there so their shots were coming a lot quicker than I expected," Brosnan said.

After two one-handed saves by Brosnan, Syracuse got on the board first with Gordon's goal in the 33rd minute. Syracuse went into halftime with a 1-0 lead but knew it would have to keep the momentum going.

Wheddon said he knew going into Sundays game that Notre Dame was a "second half team," and that he reminded his team of that during halftime.

After the half, the Irish answered. In the 53rd minute, midfielder Taylor Klawunder recovered a corner kick and put it in the net.

Praise for Brosnan

Brosnan seems to be a leader for Syracuse. You can often hear her cheering on and motivating her teammates, while also doing her part on the field.

Wheddon said multiple times that he was proud of the way his team performed and competed against the Irish, but more specifically, proud of Brosnan.

"I've often said that she's one of the best in the ACC and doesn't get enough credit for it and I think tonight proved it," he said.

Notre Dame put pressure on Brosnan for the majority of the second half and both overtimes. Aside from the one goal, she did what her team needed her to do.

Up next

The Orange hits the road for the next few weeks. The team will be play #13 Clemson on Thursday, Sept. 22, Miami on Sunday Sept. 25, and #9 Duke on Oct. 2.

After their road trip the Orange will be back in Syracuse to host #17 Virginia Tech on Thursday Oct. 6.