The offense of the Syracuse women’s soccer team finally looked like a unit in the last 10 minutes against Pittsburgh at SU Soccer Stadium on Sunday. But a late goal by Pittsburgh’s Kristina Francois put that to rest, dealing the Orange its eighth loss of the season by a 4-2 score.

Trailing 3-1 with 9:54 remaining, SU’s Samantha Hawn sprinted down the right side, blowing by a defender on her way to the net. Hawn passed to an open Amanda Arcuri in front of the goal, and the sophomore slipped a shot by Panther goalie Alison Finch on the near post. The goal gave Syracuse life after trailing by two goals for almost the entire second half.

The Orange (1-8-1, 0-3 Big East) needed immediate offense to try to tie the game late, causing head coach Pat Farmer to shuffle his lineup to find a spark. Tessa MacDougall, a freshman forward, re-entered the game as a defender after sitting to rest her legs for the final minutes.

‘We just kept taking out defenders and putting in attackers,’ Farmer said. ‘Get all the forwards out there and just see what happens and if you give up a goal, you give up a goal.’

The strategy kept pressure on the Pittsburgh defense, but it eventually backfired. Minutes after the Arcuri goal, Francois took possession of the ball in the center of the box. She turned and fired a left-footed shot to the left side of the net. SU goalie Sami Hirsch had little chance to stop the ball.

MacDougall scored her first career goal in the first half but said the result made her unhappy at the end of the game.

‘It’s good to score a goal, but when you don’t win the game it doesn’t really count for anything,’ MacDougall said. ‘It was pretty disheartening. We did well at the end offensively but it was just too late.’

Syracuse dug itself into a hole in the minutes before and after halftime. In less than five minutes, the Orange surrendered two goals.

With 3:41 left to play in the half, Hirsch came out of the net to attack a long pass to Ashley Habbel. The freshman goaltender missed the ball, and Habbel scored on an open net to break the 1-1 tie. Habbel made another charge up the left side just 59 seconds into the second half and launched a low shot to the right side of the net for her second goal.

Farmer said the two-goal lead seemed insurmountable considering the Orange’s struggles on offense this season. The Orange had only scored four goals all season entering Sunday.

‘Instead of being tied, 1-1, one minute into the second half, now were down 3-1,’ Farmer said. ‘We haven’t scored three goals (in a game) yet this year so it’s looking like we were not going to win this game.’

Even though Hirsch gave up four goals, Farmer said he was happy with the way his goaltender played. He said he wants Hirsch to play aggressively and not be afraid to give up goals. He said the 5-foot-8-inch freshman needs to make up for her lack of height.

The Orange has been experiencing the same problems all year long, lacking offense and giving up similar goals. Farmer said when his team cannot fix its recurring weaknesses, coaching is to blame.

‘I told them I was mostly disappointed in my ability to make an effective change in how we’re doing on the field quality-wise or on the scoreboard,’ Farmer said. ‘It feels to me like I’m supposed to be able to do that.’

Published on September 23, 2006 at 12:00 pm