Syracuse women’s soccer preps for toughest opponent yet at Notre Dame
Since 2004, Notre Dame has made it to the national championship on three separate occasions.
Their 2010 senior class is second only to North Carolina as the most successful group in the country in terms of total wins. They opened this season with four consecutive shutouts, and following a 5-0 rout of Louisville this past week, the Irish now hold a NCAA Division I record 69-match unbeaten streak against conference opponents, dating back to Sept. 30, 2005.
This is the challenge Syracuse will be facing as it travels to South Bend, Ind., on Friday to take on No. 5 Notre Dame for the first part of a two-game road trip this weekend.
‘I think we’re going to put 11 players in the goal,’ Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon said of Notre Dame’s offense.
Syracuse enters with an overall record of (5-4-3, 2-1-0 Big East.) Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish are (9-1, 3-0-0 Big East.)
‘But if that doesn’t work, we’re going to try and stay a little bit more compact,’ Wheddon said. ‘We feel that they’re obviously a very dangerous team. They’ve scored nine goals in their last two games — against good opponents. Good Big East opponents (Cincinnati and Louisville.) So our goal is to obviously minimize their offensive threats.’
The biggest scoring threat thus far for the Irish has been forward Melissa Henderson. Notre Dame has won all 28 games in which she has scored a goal and is 35-0 when she tallies a point. When she takes the field Friday against SU, it will be fresh off a five-point day.
Freshman goalkeeper Brittany Anghel is one of several SU players in charge of neutralizing the Henderson. After her impressive work around the net last week, which included a career-high 10 saves against Connecticut on Sunday, Anghel is now starting to show she can handle the college game.
‘A lot of these college teams are physical,’ Anghel said. ‘It’s an adjustment for me obviously coming from high school. But I think we just have to stay concentrated, and match up to their physicality.’
Though no member of this year’s Syracuse team was on the roster when SU last traveled to Notre Dame in 2002, sophomores Brielle Heitman and Skylar Sabbag should be familiar with South Bend. Last year, the pair of first-year transfers came off the bench for Central Michigan when the Chippewas visited the Irish in a second-round NCAA tournament game.
Even though her team was eliminated that day, Sabbag knows that Friday’s Notre Dame match up will require extra attention this week.
‘They’re probably the best in the Big East,’ Sabbag said. ‘They’re going to be really quick, fast, and very technical, so we need to start working.’
Portland was No. 4 in the country when it faced SU at the Husky/Nike Invitational on Sept. 5. The Orange took an early 1-0 lead but couldn’t hold on in a 3-1 defeat. Friday will give the Orange a second shot at a top-five school this season.
Syracuse and Notre Dame will meet for the eighth time on Friday. The series started in 1997, with a mid-October 8-0 blowout in favor of the Irish. In spite of that game, the Orange, at 14-5-0, went on to post its strongest overall record that season.
Since then, the Irish have competed in those four national championships and won one of them. They have stockpiled a bevy of awards, titles and accomplishments. Both individual and team.
Syracuse, who in its own right is working just as hard to improve, is still looking for a piece of the action.
‘That’s the way Notre Dame is,’ head coach Phil Wheddon said. ‘They have players with a lot of pace, and they’re very dangerous so defensively we have to deal with that. As far as taking on players and being more creative on the attack, we’re going to challenge players to push themselves a little bit harder.’
