Usually staying put on Syracuse’s backline, Taylor Bennett pushed forward from the midline with the ball. The SU defender was nearing the box and passed across the length of the field to a covered Laurel Ness, who gathered the ball in stride.

Ness reciprocated with a similar cross, this one to a cutting Meghan Root, who found space in the middle. Like Bennett’s pass, Ness placed it high, perfectly in reach for Root to gather. The freshman, who has scored twice this season, freed herself and headed the ball left. But Clemson’s Sandy Maclver caught it off balance.

“(The long pass) was a weakness we saw in them,” SU head coach Phil Wheddon said, “and on that occasion it happened to work.”

The play featured the perfect final pass SU has longed for all season, one giving it a chance to compete close to the net. But like most of the year, those opportunities were rare on Thursday.

The Orange made an emphasis to play forward in its final game of the year, something it’s avoided in its 11-player back formation recently. Syracuse (3-15, 0-10 Atlantic Coast) maintained almost equal possession with Clemson (11-7, 6-4), but its inequality in shots, 20-4, resulted from SU’s impotency to finish its final pass.

In its last two games, against No. 6 Virginia and Wake Forest, the Orange reworked its 4-5-1 formation to a strictly defensive plan of attack. At times, all 11 players would play 25 yards from SU’s goal. Following a three-game stretch where SU allowed 18 goals from Oct. 4 to Oct. 13, the change’s objective was not to limit the amount of total shots but reduce the number of quality ones.

But with 11 back, playing forward was almost impossible. Against No. 6 Virginia, SU didn’t record a shot in its 3-0 loss. On Thursday, the Orange switched it up.

Georgia Allen, who started the season playing center midfield, was consistently Syracuse’s most forward player against the Tigers. Wheddon said he kept her there because of her familiarity with Maclver, her teammate on the U-20 England national team.

“Against extreme pressure, she’s really good,” Wheddon said. “We wanted her to post up a little bit and hold the ball for us, so we could play off her.”

No players were made available for comment after the loss.

But Allen is playing at “70 percent” because of a lingering hip injury, Wheddon said. So, for the first extended time since a 2-1 loss to Kent State, SU game-planned more attack.

Two goals in the first 9 minutes of the game could’ve caused the Orange to play to their old habits, but the team stayed to its plan. With Sydney Brackett returning to the lineup, Kate Donovan tried to find the junior in the left corner but could never hit, usually resulting in a turnover.

But in the 36th minute, Brackett cut to the middle instead and was wide-open, eyeing a 1-on-1 with Maclver close to the goal. Donovan floated a pass in her direction, and as it hung, the sophomore jumped up and down itching for a close pass. But it was hit too hard, and the Tigers’ goalie caught it with ease.

Syracuse’s emphasis forward staggered in the first half, resulting in its fourth shotless half of the season. But unlike previous games where Wheddon elected to play back to concede fewer goals, he stuck to his game plan to attack.

Against Notre Dame on Oct. 13, every set-piece triggered SU’s coaching staff to plead for its team to push back. But in its last half of play this season, throw-ins were countered with Wheddon calling out specific players, like Root and Clarke Brown, to push forward.

SU started to double-team defenders when Clemson played back, and that sometimes led to turnovers, giving the Orange possession close to the net. One Allen and Root press gave Root the ball five yards from the right side of the box. She kicked a cross, but no one else on Syracuse was in sight.

“It’s reading what the best option is,” Wheddon said, “We talk about making sure we always have a 100 percent pass, meaning if you can’t go forward, you always have the option of possession of the ball for us.”

Later, Ness regained possession from Clemson off an errant pass and she volleyed a pass to Allen. But again, it was off the target.

In the final 15 minutes, the Orange got what it was longing for: shots on goal. Root’s header, and two late on-target shots from Bennett and Ness, gave Syracuse more on-goal shots than it had in its previous 280 minutes of play.

“At the end of the day, we put a few shots on the frame,” Wheddon said. “We get one of them, and the game is a little different. Maybe it’s 2-1 at that point.”

Wheddon’s tinkering paid off at last, but the clock was winding down and it didn’t result in a score. The Orange gave up another goal and its three late shots were saved to keep it 3-0, resulting in Syracuse being shutout for the 10th time this year.

In a season where Syracuse scored 0.61 goals a game in an average of under eight shots, SU held form in its last game, even when it tried to play forward. Wheddon wanted his team to break out of its offensive dry spell, and though some of its brightest opportunities in several games arose, the Orange were still shutout.

“Today, I thought we tried,” Wheddon said. “…(but) it hasn’t been the season that we all anticipated or wanted.”

Published on October 25, 2018 at 11:16 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman