Despite its 11-0 record, No. 1 Syracuse is not a flawless team.

Its offensive penalty corner unit has been arguably the weakest aspect of the Orange’s game.

“We’ve talked about it and it’s a matter of execution,” head coach Ange Bradley said. “If the execution doesn’t come, we’ll probably change the personnel.”

While Syracuse’s defense — which has posted four consecutive shutouts — has made it nearly impossible for the team to lose, the Orange’s offensive penalty corner line is not producing at the level the team expects. On the defensive end, Syracuse has established itself as one of the nation’s most well-rounded units and has been especially successful defending penalty corners.

Syracuse has found the back of the net just 10 times off 89 penalty corner opportunities, based on SU athletics’ descriptions of goals in away games.

That means the Orange is scoring on just 11 percent of its penalty corner opportunities — far under the percentage that Bradley said the team is striving for.

“We just need to continue working on getting closer to our 33 percent,” she said. “And we don’t have those numbers yet.”

This weekend, Syracuse drew 20 fouls combined in its games against Louisville and Yale. The Orange scored on just two of those opportunities.

Defensive back Iona Holloway is a part-time contributor on the offensive penalty corner unit. The senior often lines up wide to the right of the shooting circle and sprints to the front of the cage looking for a deflection — a play that has worked once so far against Kent State on Sept. 16.

Even with five first-half goals against Yale on Sunday, Holloway wasn’t content with the Orange’s offensive performance.

“I don’t think we executed our penalty corners as well as we could have,” she said.

This season, Syracuse has drawn as many as 11 penalty corner opportunities in a game — on two occasions — but has not scored on more than two.

Against Villanova on Sept. 14, the Orange jumped out to a four-goal lead at halftime but was outscored 2-1 in the second half. Syracuse won by three and was able to convert two of its penalty corner opportunities into goals.

If executed well, a penalty corner is a chance for an offense to take a hard shot into traffic in front of the cage, with hopes that the ball finds a way into the back of the net. It is sometimes an offense’s best opportunity to put points on the board.

In seven-on-seven overtime, even fewer defenders come rushing out of the cage and the offense’s likelihood of scoring is even greater. Emma Russell’s game-winning overtime goal to beat No. 2 North Carolina proves how crucial penalty corners can be.

Dating back to the victory over Villanova, Syracuse has scored on a penalty corner in each game, but on only 13 percent of its opportunities.

Defensively, Syracuse is one of the most complete teams in the country. Allowing only six goals all season long, the defensive penalty corner line is responsible for just two.

“We have a really strong unit back there,” said goaltender Leann Stiver.

Out of the opponents’ 41 penalty corners — an average of nearly four chances per game — the scoring percentage sits at just 5 percent.

Bradley said after Saturday’s win over Louisville that the defensive penalty corner unit was aggressive and managed the Cardinals’ second shot opportunities well.

Two weeks have passed since an opposing offense scored a goal — which came off a penalty corner — against Syracuse. The Orange’s defense has been outstanding since then. But Syracuse still has room for improvement, such as further limiting the opposition’s penalty corners.

“Our aim for these games is less than three,” Holloway said. “So that’s something to work on.”

Published on October 2, 2012 at 12:35 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb