SU women’s soccer ends season with loss to Virginia

The Syracuse women’s soccer team said goodbye to the 2023 season tonight, suffering a 4-0 loss to Virginia. 

For Syracuse, this season has been full of injuries and challenges, and this game was no different. The Orange came out strong but quickly began to lose confidence against an aggressive and active Virginia.  

SU head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams said the first half was better organized by the defense but, offensively, Syracuse left a lot on the table. 

“I can think of three opportunities. We had an opportunity to get endline and have service or something, and we lacked confidence in those areas tonight,” said Adams.  

Syracuse’s defense held until the 40^th minute of the game, when Virginia midfielder Jill Flammia netted the first goal of the game.  

Virginia doubled its lead in the 56th minute when Maggie Cagle scored off a penalty kick after a yellow card was given to Syracuse sophomore goalie Shea Vanderbosch.  

The Orange recognized their first half struggles and adjusted accordingly. The visitors reacted well.

“We actually changed it and started the game (the second half) with two sixes…but Virginia did a good job of actually stepping up one of their backs into the midfield to create another number which made it difficult for us,” said Adams.  

In the 74^th minute of the game forward Meredith McDermott made it 3-0 for the Cavaliers, before defender Talia Staude killed SU off six minutes later.

Photo by Tara Binte Sharil

Sophomore defender Grace Gillard goes head to head with Virginia’s offense.

It is no secret that Syracuse has struggled with injuries throughout this season, and Adams shared that Vanderbosch, who finished the season just 10 saves away from the school record, had quietly been dealing with injuries the whole season. 

“I’ve said it all year, Shea is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the nation. What’s scary about this year is Shea has been playing the entire season injured. Not very many people know that,” said Adams. “So, to see what she’s done this season, knowing the inconsistencies in front of her with personal changes, lineup changes, not having the same identity every game. I give her a lot of credit for battling and keeping us in a lot of games.” 

In this final game for the Orange, Adams said it’s always tough to see seniors go. She reflected on the fact that this graduating class “were her COVID kids.”  

“Their career started off tough. Having to isolate, separate themselves from teammates when we should be coming together and learning. Having masks, not being able to see expressions, this is a tough way to start. So, they grew into the team the older they got,” said Adams.   

Seniors forward Aysia Cobb, defender Kate Murphy and defender Zoe Van de Cloot will be returning for one more season. 

Adams said it was not an easy season and she will be taking time to reflect on it as a whole. She ended the game with a statement to her players. 

“We gotta look at this season as just purely gaining experience because we are so young. We go into the spring with every single person having ACC experience now,” said Adams.  

SU ends the season with a 2-13-2 overall record and a 0-8-1 ACC record.