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Syracuse’s defensive work was finally rewarded. After preventing Miami from adding to its 1-0 lead for more than 50 minutes, Ashley Rauch tied the game at 1-1 in the 66th minute.

SU was heading toward a second straight tie in Atlantic Coast Conference play after drawing NC State last Thursday. But Miami would not go away quietly.

In the 77th minute, the Hurricanes worked the ball down the right wing, finding forward Giovana Canali. The freshman’s cross was headed away by Kylen Grant, but the danger was not fully clear.

The ball floated back out to Canali. Canali cut inside, then dished a pass back to the right flank to Adrianna Serna, who again served a cross into the box. The ball fell to an unmarked Gisselle Kozarski just on the left inside of the 18. Kozarski took one touch to settle and then shaped her shot into the bottom right corner of the net to regain the Hurricanes’ lead, 2-1.

Just under three minutes later, Miami’s (5-6-4, 1-4-3 ACC) Hallie Salas added a third goal to ensure its first ACC victory of the season, 3-1. Syracuse (6-9-2, 0-8-1 ACC) lost its eighth of nine ACC games, and the problems that ailed it were nothing new, according to head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams.

“(I) expect a lot more,” Adams said of her team’s performance. “But again, if we’re not playing like the way we’re training, what do you expect?”

Adams added that the two late goals Syracuse gave away were “not OK.” On Kozarski’s, she mentioned that SU had left Kozarski open near the top of the box and on Serna’s finish, which occurred off a corner kick, the head coach emphasized that corners have been a point of emphasis on defense all season, and once again, SU was made to pay for its poor defending off the dead ball.

After falling behind in the 11th minute, SU locked down on defense, not allowing the deficit to quickly balloon as it did against Florida State, Notre Dame and Pitt. The two teams each only managed three shots in the entire first half, battling out a tense affair.

Once the second half started, Miami increased its fire on SU goalkeeper Shea Vanderbosch’s goal. The junior netminder notched five saves, extending her place atop the ACC standings for total saves recorded. A minute into the second half, Canali was in on goal, looking to grab her second goal of the game, but a last-ditch tackle by Cierra Collins denied the sure goal.

Repeatedly, the Orange were giving the Hurricanes space to shoot on the outside of the box, and it was only Vanderbosch who kept the game tight.

“I think it’s just important to be ready for anything,” Vanderbosch said. “And obviously we defended a lot of the game, and I think we held it on for the majority. But at the end of the day, it’s my job to keep the ball out of the back of the net.”

Vanderbosch’s best save of the bunch occurred in the 64th minute. A wide-open Moira Flynn played a cross into the corridor of uncertainty from the right wing. It found Canali, who was one-on-one with Vanderbosch. Canali made a good connection, directing a volley on target from inside the six-yard box. But Vanderbosch showcased rapid reflexes to stonewall Canali’s effort.

“Shea was an animal,” Adams said. “You know Shea. She’s awesome.”

Rauch would make Canali rue her miss two minutes later when she tied the game at 1-1. However, SU would be largely silenced offensively from that point on, as its defense was put under the thumb of Miami.

In the 70th minute, Kozarski would try her luck from 30 yards out, forcing a tipped save from Vanderbosch. Kozarski would convert seven minutes later to give Miami the game-deciding goal.

But the Hurricanes were not done there. In the 80th minute, Kozarski played a short corner kick to Tori Grambo. Grambo lofted a pass into the box, and after Miami’s first shot was blocked, Salas’ follow-up attempt found the right corner of the goal.

Syracuse has now given up four goals off of corner kicks in its last three games, after ceding two at Pitt on Oct. 13, one versus NC State on Oct. 17 and now one Thursday against Miami. After the tie with NC State, Adams said her team already ends every training session by practicing corners, but they would have to put even more work into that facet of the game. A week later, the weakness cost SU again Thursday.

But corner kicks were not the only area of SU’s defense there for the taking. Adams sees bigger problems. According to her, what was consummated in less than three minutes Thursday — two goals, exploiting two weak points, that kept SU winless in ACC play with one game to go — will take the offseason to fully address.

“We’re overcomplicating things or making it really difficult, and the spring is going to be really, really good for us to shape up,” Adams said.

Published on October 24, 2024 at 11:49 pm

Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal