Crushing home defeat extends woman’s soccer winless streak

In a game filled with excellent defending, the lone goal came when there were no defenders allowed. 

Syracuse women’s soccer lost its fourth straight game to No. 8 UNC 1-0 Sunday after a 65th-minute penalty kick put the Tar Heels ahead. Despite an impressive defensive effort from the Orange defense, a costly defensive error gave UNC the lead.

“Soccer is a funny sport, right? Sometimes the scoreline doesn’t tell the truth,” head coach Nicky Adams said.

From the opening kick, SU sought to defend, often forfeiting possession. The Tar Heels controlled the tempo and threatened early.

“When you’re playing the legendary North Carolina, you know you’re gonna defend,” Adams said of her team’s tactics.

A scramble after an early UNC corner left defender Tessa Dellarose open at the top of the 18-yard box. Dellarose teed up a volley, sending it wide but forcing a dive out of junior goalkeeper Shea Vanderbosch. 

As the half continued, a moment of indecision nearly cost the Orange.

A bouncing ball near midfield caused confusion between Vanderbosch and her teammates. As the UNC attack came crashing in, Vanderbosch sprinted out of her box and cleared the ball with a sliding effort. 

The best chance of the first half came shortly after.  

Senior defender Kylen Grant attempted to clear the ball from just outside the box but mistakenly sent it careening into her teammate, freshman Gabby Wisbeck. The deflection fell directly into the path of Tar Heel forward Ashley Pennie. Vanderbosch charged at Pennie, made herself big and devised a crucial one-on-one save. 

Despite the consistency of Chapel Hill’s attacks, Syracuse defended well in the first half.

Dellarose once again looked to shoot from outside the box, shifting the ball onto her left foot. Two thuds followed: the ball coming off of Dellarose’s foot, and the ball immediately hitting the outstretched legs of redshirt junior Ashley Rauch. While no goals were scored in the half, SU Soccer Stadium cheered Rauch’s effort as though she had found the back of the net. 

SU carried the momentum it had found in the final 10 minutes of the first half into the beginning of the second. The Orange kept the ball in the Tar Heels’ half but failed to create any real chances. Nearly 15 minutes into the half, UNC looked to score. 

Chapel Hill’s Bella Sember made a smart run and found space on the left-hand side of the box. A slicing through ball put Sember in another one-on-one situation against Vanderboch, and again, Vanderbosch came out victorious.

However, five minutes later, it was Sember who opened the scoring.

UNC forward Kate Faasse sought contact in the box and found it from graduate defender Kate Murphy. Faasse went down easily, but a video review was called by the referee. After a lengthy review, the penalty was given.

Sember stepped up to take the kick, and, despite the jeers from the Orange crowd, buried the ball in the bottom left corner. This time, Vanderbosch could not bail her team out.

After the goal, the game began to open up for both teams. The systematic and calculated approach UNC took for the majority of the game morphed into a sloppier kick-and-run style. Still, the Orange could not get through on goal.

The game ended with SU managing just four shots to UNC’s 17.

“We’re not putting the ball in the back of the net right now, which is a problem in this league,” Adams said.

SU plays No. 13 Wake Forest next, continuing its tough slate of conference games. Sunday’s match is set to kick off at 1 p.m.