FH : Strong defense makes for easy night in goal
She couldn’t break a sweat. Standing feet from her goal, the goalie would stand, watch and shout from behind the Syracuse arc.
No need to slap sticks. She didn’t have to raise her pads. Heather Hess anticipated in vain for the shots that never came.
‘I can’t really complain,’ said the senior goalie. ‘It’s obviously working, what we’re doing.’
It’s what left Colgate head coach Cathy Foto and her team with zero shots at the end of the first half Tuesday at J.S.Coyne Stadium. On a night when No.18 Syracuse’s offense broke all the records, defense led them to convincing 12-0 victory.
‘This defense, they barely let the ball go past the fifty,’ Hess said. ‘It’s probably the best team that I’ve been on the four years I’ve been here.’
Quick hands from the backfield gave Syracuse the transitions needed to score on the counterattack, eventually shattering the team-record for goals in a game (10) with 12. It was the team’s second consecutive shutout, and the second time Hess would not see a single shot in the first half.
The team did not allow a shot in the first half of Sunday’s 5-0 shutout over No. 8 Old Dominion in its season opener. Now, Syracuse remains undefeated against the Raiders in the past six games since 2003.
‘When we work together, we get good results,’ said Kim Coyle, the sophomore back. ‘That allows us to communicate.’
Regardless of Hess’s motivational shouts – ‘Pressure ball!’ and ‘Off your left!’ – in her empty half of the field, the eventual shutout didn’t come without cautious moments.
Seven minutes into the game, Colgate took advantage of a timeout to move the ball into Orange territory for the first time. Their scoring stalemate seemed to break the 2-0 deficit when a Raider marched down SU’s half. But Anne-Sophie Van der Post, the freshman back, tipped the ball.
‘That could have been 2-1 against me,’ Hess said.
Though proud of her team, head coach Ange Bradley believes the team still requires an improved defense for these types of moments. ‘We have to cut down spaces a little bit better,’ she said.
Colgate couldn’t respond to SU’s strategy, and it showed in the box score. The board couldn’t display double digits, only reaching 9-0, but by the end of the first half SU outshot Colgate, 24-0.
Bradley replaced Hess for Christina Puggi in the second to prepare the sophomore for future games.
Foto pulled Peterson for Kirsten Lalli with 12 minutes remaining, but the shots kept pace. Syracuse would add another six goals on the scoreboard and 25 additional shots in the second half.
Syracuse eventually gave up two shots in the frame.
Two shots are a statement, said Bradley, that defense won the game.
‘Clearly the ball didn’t get back behind there but I think our defenders – if you look at Maggie (Befort), Soph (Van der Post), Kim (Coyle), (Heather) Doran or the freshman Shannon Connolly – did have the ball in their hands quite a bit,’ Bradley said. ‘So they were tested in being able to win the ball and go forward.’
Foto, though, would have to disagree on Syracuse’s defense being the difference last night. Passing the chain-linked fence after the game, Colgate’s coach laughed.
‘You’re kidding right?’ Foto said on the short walk to the bus. ‘On defense, we didn’t really test them.’
Published on September 2, 2008 at 12:00 pm
