In the past 13 games, forward Elly Buckley has been unstoppable for No. 4 Virginia.

No matter which team has lined up on the opposite sideline, she has had her way offensively. The senior from Australia already has 17 goals and 40 points, both of which lead the country.

In fact, she has singlehandedly outscored the Cavaliers’ opponents by four goals prior to this weekend.

But as No. 5 Syracuse (8-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) prepares to face Buckley and the rest of the No. 4 Cavaliers (12-1, 1-1) on Saturday at J.S. Coyne Stadium at 1 p.m., the team is confident that strength in numbers can trump the explosiveness of one individual.

The Orange also faces Monmouth (3-6) on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Coyne.

“When another team looks to play us, they don’t have just one player that they need to shut down,” sophomore Emma Russell said. “They have like four, five, six … everyone on the field basically.”

Lauren Brooks leads the team with seven goals, but Russell, Leonie Geyer and Alyssa Manley are right behind her at six tallies each.

Junior Jordan Page said that scoring goals and winning games is much easier with many players that can execute on offense.

“When you look at a scouting report for us, you never know who could score on any given day,” Page said. “It definitely helps. It makes a balanced attack and it makes it hard for an opposing team to pick out one person to really watch for.”

In no conference is that ability to execute more important than the ACC. As Syracuse found out on Sept. 20, sometimes it’s possible to dominate an opponent and still lose big.

“There’s so many intangibles,” head coach Ange Bradley said, “like North Carolina outshot Duke 35 to something like 11 and they lost the game. Us outshooting (Boston College) a lot to a little and we lost the game. There’s just so much that goes into it.”

Bradley said that being in the ACC teaches players that no game can be taken lightly. For the Orange, that includes its nonconference tilt with Monmouth.

“It’s all the learning curve of going into this league that you’re always on the line,” she said. “You have a job to do one day at a time. First is Virginia and when we finish with Virginia, we’ll get ready for Monmouth.”

Thus, the current focus still lies on the Cavaliers.

Page said full effort is required on defense to shut down Buckley’s attack and take her out of the game.

If the Orange can do that, it can win a statement game in front of the home crowd and send a message to the rest of the conference.

“We’ve always been a top five program in the country,” Page said. “But coming into the ACC after a loss to Boston College, I’m sure teams are underestimating our ability to play there. It would be a huge win.”

It would also prove that against a well-balanced attack, no one player is unstoppable.

“Our team as a whole has fantastic players, and I think we can kind of use each other to shut her down,” Russell said. “The key to this weekend will be working as a team and making sure we do that for the full 70 minutes both days.”

Published on October 3, 2013 at 1:16 am

Contact Tyler: tfpiccot@syr.edu