Minutes before Syracuse kicked off against NC State, Emma Firenze walked to midfield for starting lineup introductions — the first time she’s been able to do that this season. When her name was called, she heard the loudest ovation of any player.

In the opening seconds Firenze raced down the left side of the field. On the right side, Eva Gordon dribbled the ball toward the goal. When Gordon crossed a pass, Firenze was there to corral it and send the ball past diving goalkeeper Sydney Wootten.

Firenze was mauled by her teammates as SU head coach Phil Wheddon, who hadn’t even sat down in his chair next to the bench, pumped his fist on the sideline.  Fifty seconds into the game, Syracuse had a 1-0 lead and its first goal in three weeks.

“We knew we needed to set the tone, so it was good we got an early goal,” Firenze said.

The goal was the first of Firenze’s career. In her first start this season, it helped propel the Orange (5-10-1, 1-6 Atlantic Coast) past the Wolfpack (4-11, 0-6) on a chilly afternoon at SU Soccer Stadium on Sunday.

Before Sunday, Firenze appeared in just six games this season and came off the bench. She spent most of this season recovering from a December surgery on her right knee, the same knee she injured prior to missing her entire freshman season in 2013.

At practice on Saturday, Syracuse laid out its game plan for attacking NC State. That’s when Wheddon told Firenze she’d be starting. Firenze said she was somewhat surprised, but felt like she had a good week of practice leading up to the game and thought the coaching staff wanted to shake things up as SU had gone three consecutive games without scoring.

“She’s shown some good things,” Wheddon said. “… We felt it was a good opportunity for us to start her, and obviously it worked out well for us.”

Firenze said her emotions were running high before the game, but she focused on making sure she had a productive warmup in preparation for playing in the cold weather.

Her goal served as a jumping off point for the Orange. Stephanie Skilton scored less than 20 minutes later to extend the lead to 2-0 and shortly after halftime Eva Gordon cemented the final score — 3-0.

Firenze played for more than 52 minutes after her goal, and though she didn’t record another point, Wheddon said she showed “intelligent movement” throughout the game.

“She moved well when she was off the ball, and she moved well when she had the ball,” he said.

Wheddon added he wants to see Firenze be more effective for longer stretches of play, but called today a stepping stone in the right direction.

Emma’s sister, Jackie, was on the field with Emma the whole time. Jackie, who has watched Emma fight through both knee injuries, said it was an emotional moment to see her score her first career goal.

“I’m really happy for her, really proud of her,” Jackie said. “She deserves it.”

Published on October 18, 2015 at 5:04 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu