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Syracuse and NC State entered Thursday’s contest winless in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Orange hadn’t won a game in seven matches while the Wolfpack lost their last three games. The squads sat 16th and 17th, respectively, in the conference standings.

It was a chance for both teams to snatch a conference win and spark a possible late-season surge.

But neither team could notch the three points. After taking the lead in the first five minutes, Syracuse (6-8-2, 0-7-1 ACC) couldn’t hold on to clinch its first ACC win in more than two years. Instead, NC State (3-9-3, 0-5-2 ACC) leveled the score 10 minutes into the second half en route a 1-1 tie. The results snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Orange, netting them their first ACC point since 2022.

“(Getting a point is) important,” Syracuse head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams said postgame. “I tell the girls all the time, getting points in the ACC is so difficult. It’s the top conference in women’s soccer.”

Syracuse was without goalkeeper Shea Vanderbosch for the match. Entering the game, the junior had an ACC-high 84 saves and sat 10th nationally in saves per game. Florida Atlantic transfer Blythe Braun started in between the posts in place of Vanderbosch for the third time this season, and she registered nine saves.

“Who doesn’t want to play on the field,” Braun said. “You prepare every single practice so that when your name does get called, you’re ready.”

In the fourth minute, Syracuse was on the front foot first with a scramble in the box off a corner. The play started with a corner served in by Erin Flurey. The ball pinballed from one team to another.

The hectic sequence created four SU shots. First, the ball fell to Ava Uribe on the left side of the box, and she aimed toward the target. Anna Croyle tried to redirect Uribe’s bid on frame, forcing a goal-line headed clearance by the Wolfpack.

Maya McDermott then tried to chest the ball from point-blank range. An NC State clearance found Flurey on the right side of the 18-yard marker, and she pounded a strike on the ground. But again the Wolfpack defense blocked the effort.

Afterward, referee Kevin Morrison had a three-minute video review to parse through the lengthy maelstrom. The resulting call was a penalty kick. Amid the turmoil, the ball popped up and struck the arm of NC State’s Brianna Weber.

“It’s kind of a running joke where teams will get the craziest bounces and put it in, and then we will have 15 in a game, and it just will not go in,” Adams said of the chaotic sequence that led to the penalty kick. “So it actually felt good that was called (for us) for the first time.”

Flurey stepped up and confidently cannoned the ball into the top left corner. NC State goalkeeper Olivia Pratapas was glued to her spot in the center of the goal and could only watch as the ball struck the back of the net.

Adams said she felt confident Flurey would convert the penalty right when she stepped up to the 12-yard mark. The head coach mentioned that Flurey stays after practice every day to practice penalty kicks, and she makes sure the forward cashes in every time. Flurey has now scored four penalty kicks goals in her Syracuse career.

SU also managed its first goal since a 5-1 loss at Florida State on Sept. 19 and held its first lead since its final nonconference match, a 3-0 win versus St. Bonaventure on Sept. 8.

The Wolfpack struggled to play in their own half as Syracuse pressed, forcing turnovers in a favorable area of the field. When SU won the ball, it would test Pratapas. The keeper faced three shots on goal in the first 15 minutes. The end total of 19 shots was the most logged by SU since August.

On the other side, NC State created chances and gained momentum after feeling the heat from SU in the opening minutes. In the 14th minute, Jade Bordeleau sliced a shot just right of the mark. A minute later, Weber had a clear look at goal but placed her bid wide left.

In the 23rd minute, Croyle slalomed through the NC State midfield before sending a seam-splitting pass to meet Uribe in stride behind the Wolfpack backline. Uribe bore down on goal, but NC State’s defense caught up with her, and her left foot strike was weak.

The rest of the first half tilted NC State’s way, as both teams finished with nine shots. Though Braun was equal to each attempt, keeping Syracuse in the lead. She said each attempt built confidence and that it’s her job to save any shots that come her way.

Braun would continue to be tested as the game resumed following halftime. Yuna Aoki sent in a corner that resulted in a volley by Taylor Chism that deflected and went over the bar.

On a corner in the 57th minute, on its third shot of the half, NC State would level the score. Mana Nakata slipped when playing in the set piece, sending the ball bouncing across the face of the SU goal. No Orange play could clear the danger, and the ball fell to an unmarked Chism on the edge of the six-yard box. Chism roofed the shot into the top left corner.

It was the third goal in two games the Orange had conceded from corner kicks after shipping two in a 3-0 loss at Pitt on Sunday. Adams said SU already ends every training session by practicing defending corners but said she will focus even more on the facet of the game going forward.

As Syracuse pushed to regain the lead, its best chance came on a header by Ashley Rauch. Flurey got to the right end line, floated in a cross and found Rauch in stride at the six-yard mark. But Rauch’s header from point-blank range was wide left.

In the 86th minute, Flurey and Rauch combined for another SU opportunity. Off a corner, Flurey played a ball short to Rauch. Open on the left side of the box, the midfielder teed the ball up on her right foot, but her shot veered wide of the goal.

SU kept attacking to close the game, but no game-winner arrived. Though the Orange will have to wait longer to secure an ACC win, Adams is content with a point after a performance she said her team can be proud of.

“I thought it was a complete turnaround in terms of our fight and our confidence,” Adams said. “So I saw much more of that tonight, and it showed on the scoreboard statistically just how much better we were.”

Published on October 17, 2024 at 11:23 pm

Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu