Syracuse’s defense holds strong in 1st 7 games of season
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In No. 6 Syracuse’s 5-1 win over Wagner on Sept. 17, SU surrendered just two penalty corners.
Syracuse held Wagner to zero shots in the second and third quarters. Meanwhile, the Orange scored all five of their goals in that span.
“Their midfield definitely limited our attacking play,” Wagner head coach Niki Miller said. “We couldn’t really get (the ball) out of our midfield into that attacking 25 except for that last quarter. They had great intercepts and denied us being able to break out and go down the field.”
Led by Eefke van den Nieuwenhof, Syracuse’s opponents have only registered 1.4 goals and 3.1 shots on goal per game. Three of the four defensive starters from its 2022 squad, which held opponents to 1.64 goals a game, returned to this season’s team. While still early in the season, the Orange have locked down on defense.
This season, the Orange have allowed two or fewer goals in six of seven games, all resulting in wins. Across the first three games of the season, Sacred Heart, Vermont and Monmouth were each only able to score one goal.
“It’s so important to have that trust in your defensive line for me to go up and be able to attack,” said midfielder Charlotte de Vries, after defeating Monmouth 5-1 on Sept. 1.
The win over Monmouth was the first time Syracuse allowed zero penalty corners to an opponent since SU played Cornell on Oct. 31, 2021. Throughout the season, the Syracuse defense has only given up 3.1 penalty corners per game, while earning 9.6.
Miranda Fournier | Design Editor
The only game where SU gave up more than two goals was when No. 9 Duke netted four in a 4-0 loss on Sept. 15. Megan Maransky dribbled down the baseline and found Blue Devil teammate Barb Civitella to put Duke up 1-0. Charlie van Oirschot increased the advantage to two before Alaina McVeigh, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s leading goal scorer, notched two goals of her own, capping off a 4-0 victory.
But two days after the loss, Syracuse’s defense got back to their style of play against Wagner. The Seahawks scored six minutes into the game but were held scoreless for the remainder of the contest. The Seahawks only managed six shots across 60 minutes, half of the attempts SU allowed the Blue Devils to take.
Aside from the uncharacteristic loss to Duke, the SU defense has remained stout this season.
“We knew going into (the Wagner-Syracuse Game), any opportunity we had, they may be limited and we needed to capitalize on them,” Miller said. “(My players’) mindsets were ‘we may not have another opportunity to score off of this goal or this corner or get another corner so we have to capitalize now.’”
