The first time Notre Dame got the ball Sunday, the Fighting Irish started behind its own goal. Twenty-five seconds later, the ball flew past Syracuse goaltender Liz Hogan into the net.

Syracuse’s Alyssa Murray had just missed a free-position shot to cap two minutes of SU possession to start the game. The Irish took little time getting the ball up the field, launching a pass from its own defensive third to a Notre Dame attack about 40 yards down field. The Irish’s Megan Sullivan finished the play with a goal to give the Irish an early one-goal lead.

But after giving up two more quick goals, the SU defense began clicking.

‘We started off slow in the beginning of the game,’ Hogan said. ‘Our communication wasn’t there, but I think it was impressive that we could come back from that and really start talking, communication, hitting our slides, getting to groundballs.’

For the next 50 minutes, SU was able to control the pace of play and keep Notre Dame from exploiting the fastbreak. Even with defensive leader Lindsay Rogers out due to injury, the defense found a way to communicate, helping the Orange to a 12-7 win.

Early in the game, there were many opportunities for communication. But that’s only because the Irish scored three goals in the first eight-plus minutes. After each Notre Dame goal, the defense took time to talk through the goal. Hogan said they watched the replay of the goals on the big screens in the Carrier Dome to assess the problem. They identified that the problem was their inability to stop Notre Dame’s quick-paced offense.

The game, which was televised by CBS Sports Network, had a television timeout early on, giving SU head coach Gary Gait a chance to talk to his players. He said what he was trying to communicate, both to the offense and the defense, was to simply slow down.

‘We just wanted to settle down and take advantage of having the ball, and I think that was key,’ Gait said. ‘We slowed it down at times and took our time.’

Often, slowing the game down meant Syracuse had to run harder to get back on defense. During the slow start, SU was getting caught man-down because of Notre Dame’s quick counterattacks.

Senior Catherine Rodriguez said the key to keeping the numerical advantage on defense was the smooth transition of defensive midfielders, something the team has gotten better at over the course of the season.

‘We’re trying to open our mouths and actually get the communication down,’ Rodriguez said. ‘We still got caught a couple of times, but less than we were before.’

Some of the difficulties at the beginning of Sunday’s game came about because Rogers was not there to lead the defense. Rogers, whom Gait described as a ‘warrior,’ has been a force for the Orange this year, with 14 ground balls, the second most on the team after Hogan, a goalie.

Rogers hurt her knee in Friday’s game against Connecticut and did not dress to play Sunday.

‘Everyone on defense really stepped their game up,’ Hogan said. ‘Without Lindsay Rogers, you really just have to pick it up a little bit more.’

Hogan herself took on a good part of the defensive responsibility. The senior had 11 saves, three of them coming on free-position shots. After a slow start to the season, Hogan said she spent extra time working on saving shots, and it showed Sunday.

Particularly on shots to the middle and top sections of the net, Hogan was seeing the ball and making the saves.

And despite the problematic first 10 minutes, Syracuse reached its defensive goal for the game. Before each game, the team agrees on how many goals it can give up while still having a successful defensive outing. Sunday, that value was seven.

Said Rodriguez: ‘It’s always great when you set that and then follow through.’

alguggen@syr.edu