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Down 2-0 with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter, Syracuse head coach Ange Bradley pulled goalkeeper Brooke Borzymowski and replaced her with midfielder Claire Cooke. For the final minutes of regulation, the Orange went without a goalkeeper in a last-ditch effort to tie the game. 

Nearly a minute later, SU was awarded a penalty stroke after a back stick was called on a Virginia defender in the shooting circle. For the third time this season, senior midfielder Laura Graziosi stepped up and scored from the penalty stroke. 

Syracuse threw players forward in the final minutes but ran out of time and couldn’t break through the Cavaliers’ defense once again. 

“(You) just gotta get it between the pipes,” Bradley said. “We didn’t do that.”

Graziosi’s strike wasn’t enough, as No. 6 Syracuse (11-3, 4-1 Atlantic Coast) lost to No. 16 Virginia (9-6, 3-2 ACC) 2-1 at J.S. Coyne Stadium on Friday. Two second-half goals from the Cavaliers in a possession-heavy contest ended Syracuse’s nine-game winning streak — the program’s longest run since the national-title winning 2015 season — and handed SU its first ACC defeat this season. Despite outshooting Virginia 15-8, Syracuse struggled to capitalize on offensive opportunities in open play and off penalty corners.

“We still need to work on our corner execution because we got some opportunities, but we didn’t execute,” Graziosi said. 

SU has struggled with offensive conversions at times this season — even during its nine-game winning streak — despite consistently outshooting its opponents by significant margins and earning more penalty corners. Syracuse defeated Cornell 1-0 despite outshooting the Big Red 19-2. Against then-No. 15 Wake Forest, the Orange won by another one-goal margin (2-1) despite outshooting the Demon Deacons 13-4.

Even in Syracuse’s opening-weekend wins against Sacred Heart and Vermont, Bradley and assistant coach Tim Broenink weren’t satisfied with their team’s offensive conversion rates. Against Sacred Heart, Syracuse outshot the Pioneers 32-2. 

“Working on your 32 shots, as a coach I would (want to) see more goals,” Broenink said on Aug. 27 after the Orange’s victory over Sacred Heart. “But we’re trying to get up there.”

Throughout the season, it was Syracuse’s strong defensive efforts that ensured them victories and covered up the offensive hiccups. Prior to its matchup with the Cavaliers, SU’s defensive unit held opponents to an average of just 0.92 goals per game and 6.0 shots per game.

A scoreless first half saw only five total shots exchanged between the two teams, and only a single penalty corner awarded to the Cavaliers in the first quarter. The first two frames played out with both teams scrapping for possession and looking to control the tempo of the game. 

Virginia mixed between dropping off and pressing Syracuse in possession to stifle the Orange’s offense. SU was forced to build possession through its defensive unit, shifting the ball back and forth on both sides of the field. Defenders Sienna Pegram, Eefke van den Nieuwenhof and SJ Quigley strung passes together in attempts to safely clear the ball from their defensive half and initiate offensive moves. 

While the trio was able to successfully maintain control of the ball among themselves, they often saw their forward passes either intercepted or roll out of bounds, reinstating possession for the Cavaliers on several occasions. 

“(UVA) dropped everybody back in defense and (then) they double, triple teamed,” Bradley said. “They did a nice job defensively.”

But the Orange didn’t concede a goal in the first half and came out in the third quarter even sharper. SU earned three penalty corners within the first five minutes of the second half and registered four total shots during these plays.

“I think we did a better job at releasing the ball quicker so that way we could get up front better,” Graziosi said about SU’s second-half performance. “We should have the capability to get through them.”

Syracuse did everything but score in the third quarter. The Orange controlled the tempo of the game and continuously pressured the Cavaliers, but it was Virginia substitute Danielle Husar who opened the scoring. She netted her first goal of the season with just six seconds remaining in the third quarter after finishing off a Virginia attack that cut straight through the center of SU’s defense. 

The Orange resumed their pressure on Virginia in the fourth quarter, but UVA’s Noa Boterman scored from a direct penalty corner shot with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter after the ball bounced off Borzymowski’s leg and slowly rolled into the bottom right corner of the goal. This doubled Virginia’s lead and proved to be the Cavaliers’ game-winning goal. 

“I thought we were much better in the third and fourth quarter,” Bradley said. “We outshot them, outcornered them, and they outscored us,” Bradley said.

Published on October 22, 2021 at 9:58 pm

Contact Bryan: brbrush@syr.edu