Ange Bradley shook her head as she walked along the Syracuse sideline. Her victorious players were exchanging postgame handshakes with Boston College, but the head coach wasn’t thrilled with the win.

“I was light-headed. I was yelling so much,” Bradley said. “I was just frustrated with some of the decisions that we made and how we handled the last half.

“I don’t think we played very well as team.”

The Orange’s performance on Sunday afternoon wasn’t its best, but it was adequate for a 4-2 win over the Eagles in front of 366 at J.S. Coyne Stadium. Freshmen Gillian Pinder and Emma Russell each scored two goals to lead No. 3 Syracuse (15-1).

Throughout the game, the Orange players weren’t always in sync with each other. As Pinder ran the sideline, Liz McInerney struggled to lead her teammate with a soft pass and Pinder couldn’t catch up. A backfield miscommunication between Anna Crumb and Iona Holloway allowed a ball to roll out of bounds, a turnover close to Syracuse’s cage.

Holloway said the team is now incorporating drop passes and different angles into its midfield game plan. While the Orange is experimenting, it was fortunate its mistakes were not as costly as they could’ve been, she said.

“These things happen,” Holloway said. “We just need to keep practicing. It’s one of these things and they didn’t make us pay too badly for it, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

Syracuse opened the scoring early when Pinder — starting in place of Leonie Geyer, who wasn’t feeling well — took a pass from Lauren Brooks at the top of the circle and fired an off-handed shot to the right corner of the cage. Just more than 2:30 into the game, the home team led 1-0.

Holloway said Pinder’s goal set the tone for the remainder of the game.

“I thought it was actually really great for the team — as well as Gillian — because they came out very fiery and feisty, and it’s always our aim to score early to take the fight out of these teams,” Holloway said.

Twenty-one minutes later, the Orange capitalized on a two-on-one opportunity and extended its lead. Pinder passed the ball ahead to a sprinting Russell, who dribbled around the lone defender and scored past Eagles goalkeeper Leah Settipane for the Orange’s 2-0 halftime lead.

To start the second half, Russell took another lead pass from Pinder and scored from the near side of the shooting circle.

Three minutes later, BC joined the scoreboard when freshman Kelcie Hromisin got to a rebound before Orange goalkeeper Leann Stiver did. Stiver made the initial save — a shot off a penalty corner — but Hromisin snuck the ball past the goalkeeper and Syracuse’s lead was 3-1.

In the 46th minute, a pass trickled through a group of Orange backs, and BC’s Jordyn Hamilton picked up the ball in the circle and scored past Stiver.

All of a sudden, the Eagles had cut Syracuse’s lead to one goal.

Seven minutes later, the Orange responded with Pinder’s second score of the game. The Irish freshman inserted the ball on a penalty corner and tipped in a pass from Alyssa Manley to pad Syracuse’s lead.

Filling in for Geyer, Pinder stepped up and was huge for the Orange’s offensive attack.

“Really crucial,” Bradley said of the freshman’s performance. “She was really critical in stepping up and I’m really proud of her that she was able to do that.”

When Bradley called a timeout with just fewer than 10 minutes remaining, BC opted to pull Settipane from the cage and place an extra player in the front.

The Orange continued to push the ball on offense and looked to take a shot at the unattended cage, but it needed to establish field position, Bradley said. Bradley was also frustrated with how her team reacted to BC’s man-up advantage. Syracuse took too long to switch to a four-back system, she said.

The Eagles offense attacked more aggressively and drew three penalty corners with their goalkeeper on the sideline. However, the Orange’s defensive unit — disorganized, as Holloway described it — stood strong anyway to secure the victory.

Holloway said the defense didn’t communicate as well as it usually does and allowed the opposing forwards in the shooting circle more often than it would’ve liked.

Despite its structural issues on the defensive side and the miscommunications offensively, another game was added to Syracuse’s win column.

“There were definitely some points in the game where we played pretty well. And some points where we played not so well,” Stiver said. “We just need to calm down and play our game.”

Published on October 21, 2012 at 11:41 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb