The ball fell to the feet of junior Shannon Aviza just ahead of midfield. She had forward Meghan Root with space to work in front of her on the near sideline. 

Aviza made the pass forward, but with just three minutes to go, steady drizzle throughout the second half caused the ball to skip along the wet grass well past Root and out of play. Root tilted her head back and groaned in frustration as Fordham began to counterattack.

It was one of many missed attacking opportunities for Syracuse (2-4-1) in a 0-0 draw with Fordham (1-5-2) on Sunday at SU Soccer Stadium. The Orange haven’t converted anything of late, going five-straight matches without recording a goal. Today, the leading culprit was missed opportunities.

“How many corner kicks did we generate? Over 10?” head coach Nicky Adams said. “I’m proud of the team for creating those opportunities but we need the team to be more technical in the box and finish our opportunities.”

The Orange generated eight corner kicks in total and dominated the Rams in every offensive category — except goals.

Generating corners and set pieces was the game plan going in, said Adams. She felt from watching Fordham’s film that her unit could exploit the Rams in this area by driving to the end-line and crossing the ball in. Adams was vocal from the sideline throughout the match, urging her squad to push up, yelling, “Let’s get end-line. Let’s get end-line.”

For the first 15 minutes, outside backs Clarke Brown and Kailey Brenner did just that. Brown forced a corner, while Brenner played a ball to redshirt sophomore Kailee Coonan at the top of the penalty area than Coonan lifted just over the crossbar.

Like past games in the winless streak, the Orange faded and communication faltered as the first half wore on. In the 14th minute, forward Alex Steigelfest and Brenner miscommunicated on an overlap and lost possession. The same happened with redshirt freshman Marisa Fischetti and junior Mackenzie Vlachos five minutes later.

Root insisted these miscommunications were “just normal soccer stuff” but conceded that the Orange need to be sharper going forward.

Even with the mishaps, SU finished the first half with six corners and seven free kicks compared to Fordham’s zero corners and five free kicks. Adams’ group outshot the Rams 8-2 in the first half, but only got one of those shots on net compared to Fordham’s zero.

“I think it’s a combination of personnel and conditions,” Adams said, “We changed the second half to be much more direct because we were not combining well in the final third.”

The personnel at Adams’ disposal is now down to 13 eligible outfield players due to injuries. Because of this, the Orange could make just three subs. It also meant third-string goalkeeper Santita Ebangwese had to play 32 minutes at forward. 

Ebangwese’s inexperience was particularly evident in the 78th minute, when Stephanie Delaforcade played a cross under the charging keeper to the far-left post. Ebangwese was just entering the penalty area, nowhere near the ball.

Syracuse’s best chance to end its winless streak and break the deadlock came later in the 78th minute, when a shot by Aviza beat Fordham’s keeper Kelly LaMorte but not the crossbar, inciting another groan – this one from a fanbase that hasn’t seen the Orange score a goal in 498 minutes.

In extra time, true freshman Alexandra Panaggio generated multiple SU scoring chances, recording a shot on net herself while also creating opportunities down the sideline for Brown and fellow freshman Teri Jackson. Panaggio played a career-high 90 minutes in the draw.

“We created a bunch of opportunities which is good for us,” Root said. “I was happy with the number of opportunities we created. We just have to put them in the back of the net.”

Published on September 15, 2019 at 6:46 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu