Syracuse’s foul trouble trips up momentum in loss to Boston College
Foul trouble trips up SU's momentum vs. Boston College
On a mild October night, under the lights of the SU Soccer Stadium, Boston College won the initial kickoff and retained their aggressive start for the first five minutes of the game.
Syracuse struggled to get it out of their zone, leaving the Eagles too open for many shots on goal early in the first half.
While the Orange grappled with their offensive pressure early on, they managed to keep up a quick and meticulous pace that earned them their first goal of the season.
The Orange struck in the 11th minute of the first half. Drilling the ball from the left side, Hannah Pilley’s cross landed with Meghan Root in front of the net who tapped it past the Eagles goalkeeper Allie Augur.
“I think it’s the weight of the world off their shoulders,” said head coach Nicky Adams about Root’s goal. “It was a great transition, everything we’ve been working on.”
Antsy to answer SU’s score, BC once again piled on the pressure but the SU defense put up a good fight.
The game-tying goal came when SU’s Clarke Brown drew a foul against Boston in front of the net. Forward Jenna Bike took the penalty kick for the Eagles and scored against Orange goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx.
Proulx proved herself a key asset for SU yet again, tying her career-high 14 saves in tonight’s game.
“Thank God for Lysianne. She’s brave, she’s awesome, but it shouldn’t be that way,” said Adams. “It means our back line’s not doing their job.”
Unfortunately, the tie didn’t last for long for the Orange as BC put themselves up 2-1 with just under five minutes to go in the first half.
Eagles midfielder Laura Gouvin notched her first tally of the season, unassisted, after racing the ball into SU’s zone and popped one past the right side of Proulx.
The second half was a completely different story for the Orange offense. Syracuse had two shots on goal early in the second half and their pressure remained constant throughout.
Tensions were high off the field as the SU bench received a yellow card in the 19th minute of the second half.
The Orange ran into more foul trouble when junior defender Jenna Tivnan was given a yellow card out in front of the Syracuse net. While Proulx stopped the initial penalty kick, the Eagles sunk a rebound shot into the back of the net seconds later, putting Boston up 3-1 in the 21st minute of the second half.
Despite a strong effort from the Syracuse offense in the second half, the Orange fell to Boston College, 3-1.
Heading into next week’s game, Adams said there’s a lot of room for improvement.
“We’re going to continue to work on our width defending and our box marking,” said Adams. “The other thing we gotta be better at is clearances.”
SU looks to grab their first win of the season when the Orange kicks off against Miami on Oct. 29.
is a magazine, news and online graduate student and sports lead producer for The NewsHouse.
