Binghamton’s aggressive press frustrates SU’s attack in scoreless draw
Binghamton’s aggressive press boosted its attack to a 14-12 shot advantage over Syracuse in their scoreless draw on Thursday. Isaac Williams | Contributing Photographer
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With a little under nine minutes to play in Syracuse’s contest against Binghamton, SU defender Jasmine Nixon received the ball. A Bearcat forward instantly descended upon her.
Nixon, under pressure, desperately looked for an outlet in an orange kit. Laying the ball off, she thought she’d found one in midfielder Julia Arbelaez.
It only set the freshman up for failure. The pressure Nixon received intensified on Arbelaez, who was tackled immediately after receiving the ball. She yelled out in frustration, and Mia Klammer responded by clamoring at her in return.
Arbelaez was substituted out. Maya McDermott replaced her.
The sequence was a microcosm of a night full of frustrations for the Orange attack. Syracuse (3-1-3, 0-0-0 Atlantic Coast) was held scoreless for a third consecutive game against Binghamton (4-1-1, 0-0-0 America East) at SU Soccer Stadium on Thursday, getting outshot 14-12 by the Bearcats. Binghamton’s aggressive press made it difficult for SU to control possession early, putting the Orange at a disadvantage from the outset.
“We didn’t like (their press),” Syracuse head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams said postgame. “We struggled with it. We had to go up and in (during) the second half.”
Through the first game’s first 20 minutes, a familiar series of events would ensue whenever Syracuse was in possession.
Shea Vanderbosch would open the play in net for SU. A Binghamton attacker would sprint after her, forcing her to find one of her defenders. She would pass it to one of her three centerbacks — Nixon, Bree Bridges or Natalie Magnotta — who would then attempt to find an open midfielder to advance play through. No one was home.
If someone was, a Binghamton forward was on them within seconds, knocking on their door. Pick out any Syracuse midfielder you want. It didn’t matter. They all lost the ball before they could advance play to the forwards. Klammer — who leads SU with four goals — barely touched the ball in the stretch.
“Again, very uncharacteristic,” Adams said of SU’s inability to build from the back. “We’ve been building out just fine. Princeton pressed us with three as well.”
After 19 minutes of offensive futility, Kendyl Lauher was subbed out for senior forward Anna Rupert, and things improved. When the Orange got into the attacking half, they neutralized Binghamton’s press effectively, forcing the Bearcats to sit back in a low block rather than collapsing on SU’s ballcarrier.
In the 24th minute, Emma Klein gave Syracuse its first shot on goal, firing a free kick from outside the box at Binghamton goalkeeper Rebecca Kessler. The Bearcats’ goalie was forced to dive to dispatch the shot, and she quickly fell on top of it after it ricocheted off her mitts.
Less than a minute later, a cross into the box yielded another productive try for SU, this time a header from Ashley Rauch. But her shot was blocked before it reached Kessler. From then to halftime, it was almost all Binghamton.
Syracuse was outshot 8-4 in the first period. Only two of its shots were on goal, and Vanderbosch was forced into six saves. Binghamton, meanwhile, drew seven fouls in the half, a statistic that only exemplifies its imposing press.
The final 45 minutes were kinder to SU’s senior netminder. She was only made one save on Binghamton’s six shots during the second half. But the aggressive press that plagued the Orange early didn’t disappear.
“We asked our backs to give us a bit more depth so we could swing it multiple times,” Adams said, referring to SU’s second-half adjustments. “We wanted to shift them one way, shift them another and then attack down the middle.”
In the 78th minute, Bearcats forward Jahkaya Davis nicked the ball off the feet of an SU midfielder, and she passed it to Paige Luke for a prime opportunity in front of the net.
Though that try went just wide left, Luke quickly earned herself another golden chance. As soon as Vanderbosch laid the ball off to Bridges in front of the goal, Luke came crashing in on the freshman defender, blocking her inevitable clearance and reclaiming possession.
Her shot at redemption rolled wide right. No one scored afterward, despite a last-gasp shot from Olivia Bozzo that Kessler saved in the game’s dying seconds.
Postgame, Adams had nothing but good things to say about her backline, and for good reason. The unit has collected four clean sheets, and it’s impossible to lose a contest if you don’t concede a goal. Conversely, however, it’s also impossible to win a contest if you can’t score.
Adams remains committed to building her attack from the back. In that event, her defensive unit will have to find a way to accomplish the latter without sacrificing the former.
