Syracuse remains goalless for 5th straight game after 1-0 loss to VT
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Chloe Joseph crouched with her face planted in the grass. Vickie Jones stopped in her tracks. Gabby Wisbeck clamored for a review before scratching her head. On the sideline, Nicky Thrasher Adams stared at the ground for five seconds.
She was furious and made that known postgame, muttering under her breath that she wanted “to get this over with,” while the media scrum waited to speak with her.
That sour taste appeared after nearly 85 minutes of perfect defense. Above all, Adams wanted goals. The last time SU scored was an 89th-minute plea to keep it alive in an eventual loss to Niagara. That was 24 days ago. The Orange were on the verge of playing over 450 consecutive scoreless minutes, and Wisbeck’s last-limbed shot that nicked the crossbar confirmed that fate.
For the fifth straight game, Syracuse (3-5-2, 0-3-0 Atlantic Coast) was held scoreless in a 1-0 defeat to Virginia Tech (6-1-3, 2-0-0 ACC) Sunday. The Orange never threatened the Hokies until they went down, failing to record a corner kick until the final three minutes. But mustering 10 shots to VT’s 23 proved too insufficient despite Maya Naimoli’s five saves, as SU was outshot for the third straight game.
“We’re doing it in practice,” Adams said postgame, seconds after struggling to find words to describe her team’s goal drought. “We’re not doing it in the game. We got to figure that piece out if we want to get points in this conference.”
With three scoreless losses to begin ACC play, goals are the only solution. Frequently in the second half Sunday, when players like Moo Galbus or Olivia Bozzo controlled the ball in the attacking third, they experienced yips. Syracuse’s defense and off-ball aggression weren’t issues.
Natalie Magnotta exemplified that against the Hokies, especially early, making tactical clearance touches. She didn’t play in the Orange’s first three games but has started their last three. Syracuse returned to its 3-5-2 formation of old, pivoting from the 4-5-1. That meant Joseph played up at midfield.
“I don’t think (the switch) affects me at all because last fall, we had three back,” defender Bree Bridges said. “It worked well today, getting more numbers up, especially having Chloe out wide. She’s a very fast, aggressive player, so it actually worked in our benefit.”
Last year’s line was anchored by SU’s three defensive starters Sunday — Bridges, Magnotta and Jasmine Nixon — and it allowed midfielders like Sarah Weisberg, in her first-career start, to wreak defensive havoc with two fouls in the first six minutes.
Then, the offense arrived. In the 16th minute, Farrah Stephens-Martin recovered a ball that nearly trickled out of bounds and passed it to Galbus, who nicked a lefty, one-timer shot on goal that Virginia Tech goalie Julianna Trujillo pounced on.
Seventeen minutes later, Ali Howard laced a favorable cross that the Orange simply watched fly by. In the 45th minute, Kendall Mesh panicked on a one-on-one break, pinged by a Howard feed, and resorted to a pass.
“We had a few chances,” Adams said. “We could have pulled the trigger and chose not to, or take a player one-on-one. You had to be a bit more braver.”
The ball was constantly in VT’s attacking third in the first, but it hardly pulled the trigger, either. Naimoli thumped Eliana Salama’s 19th-minute shot, and a juicy rebound by Bella Ganiere sailed wide. Six minutes later, Naimoli got a hand on a Hannah Pachan shot that nearly scraped SU’s goal line.
The first half was lopsided, with 10 Hokies shots to the Orange’s two. But SU’s offense woke up early in the final frame. Jones made a strong tackle to keep its first possession of the second alive, and Abby Incorvaia turned her body to lift an outside-the-box shot into Trujillo’s grasp. Incorvaia, who typically plays midfield, was a striker Sunday and had a team-high three shots and two shots on goal.
Less than 10 minutes later, Jones made a critical block on Peyton May, and Anna Weir mustered a weak shot for Naimoli to save. That was moments before things got scrappy, with four second-half yellow cards issued across both sides.
“We got to match it,” Adams said. “We got to get in another team’s face. Make them uncomfortable, and force them to go backwards far away from our goal.”
Through 84 minutes, it seemed Syracuse’s defense would spare its first ACC point. But as Riley Karpinski worked the right sideline, that hope vanished.
She skimmed a ball across the box that glanced off Pachan’s cleat, as she dove face first into the grass, watching the ball trickle past Naimoli for a 1-0 advantage.
“Virginia Tech did a great job countering quickly and finding that cross,” Bridges said. “We had players in the box, but unfortunately we just got unlucky.”
Adams said she changed SU’s formation to a 3-4-3 after the faux pas. After Naimoli stumped Weir with a kick save, the Orange steamrolled downfield in the new look. With 30 seconds left, the ball rolled to Wisbeck. She lofted the ball, nicking the crossbar. Incorvaia grabbed the rebound, and Trujillo covered it.
Less than six minutes later, Adams’ arms returned to her head. Her squad gingerly walked off the field while the Hokies ran sprints postgame, marking the difference between a team that scored and one that didn’t.
“We got to do a better job scoring goals,” Adams said.
