SU women’s soccer blanked by Wake Forest in 2-0 loss

The Syracuse women’s soccer team suffered its fifth loss of the season in a 2-0 defeat to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday.

The first half started slow, as both teams tried to get their adrenaline running. Both teams traded shot attempts and defensive aggression. 12 minutes into the game, the Orange gained momentum from three consecutive defensive stops and applied further pressure.

Moments later, the defensive schemes would quickly fell apart. Wake Forest forward Hulda Arnarsdottir would put the Demon Deacons on the scoreboard first with a dagger goal from outside the box.

From that first goal, the game’s tempo increased and became more physical. The Orange attempted two more unsuccessful shots before the first half ended, on account of freshman midfielder Pauline Machtens, and sophomore forward Aysia Cobb.

In the second half, the Orange came out with more aggression and pressured the Deacons in their defensive zone. Freshman defensive players Kylen Grant and Grace Franklin led the defensive charge.

The Orange continued to shut the Demon Deacons down defensively but missed on scoring opportunities and appeared out of sync in the offensive zone

73 minutes into the game, Wake Forest forward Shayla Smart scored her seventh goal on the season and expanded the Demon Deacon’s lead to 2-0 lead.

The rest of the second half slowly dwindled, as Wake Forest kept the ball away from the Orange. Their preventive play left SU with limited opportunities to score.

“We let ourselves down by easy details, playing the wrong foot, not creating overloads like playing the ball too early,” head coach Nicky Adams said. “We were dangerous on all of our corner kicks but unfortunately, just couldn’t put it on target.”

Next, the Orange will hit the road to play the Duke Blue Devils this Saturday at 7 p.m.