Two seasons ago, Erin Simon’s five goals made her second in goals scored for Syracuse. Through 17 games played this season, she’s only registered one shot.

Simon, now a senior, started her career with the Orange as a forward. In the spring after her sophomore season, she approached head coach Phil Wheddon and suggested that she could make the switch to playing defense in order to benefit the team.

“We lost Kayla Afonso, she was our right back,” Simon said. “And I told Phil, ‘Look, I know there’s a hole there, I’ll step in.’”

Simon felt more comfortable making the transition because she noticed a trend that a lot of teams converted their offensive players into outside backs.

Still, she acknowledged that there was a significant learning process to the position switch. She had to change her playing mentality and learned to take different angles to the ball. Her defense has helped limit SU’s opponents to one goal in the last three games — all wins.

Playing out wide means Simon still makes runs up the field, although her first priority is still helping flank the back line.

Junior defender Maddie Iozzi said that the defensive unit has benefited from Simon’s improved play. She noted that Simon’s overall field vision seems to have improved ever since she made the position shift.

“Having her out wide at the fullback is a great position to have her because she can move up and down the field and having her speed is great, too,” Iozzi said.

Wheddon acknowledged that it took a lot of hard work for Simon to make the shift. A year and a half later, Simon has transformed into one of Wheddon’s most trusted defenders.

The Orange knew that when it matched up with Miami last Thursday night, it would have to find a way to limit Gracie Lachowecki, who’s third in the Atlantic Coast Conference in goals scored. Lachowecki played on the Syracuse’s left side of the field, so Wheddon moved Simon to the left side to match up with her.

Lachowecki didn’t manage a single shot on goal in the match.

“Having Erin’s athletic ability, speed and defensive presence allows us to negate some of the opposition’s strengths,” Wheddon said. “…Her physical abilities allow her to be a very, very good defender.”

Wheddon noted that, although a veteran player making this kind of position switch has been uncommon during his tenure with the program, there is precedent for it.

He cited Kelley O’Hara — who was an offensive star at Stanford and is now a defender on the U.S. Women’s National Team — as an example of players making that kind of transition. O’Hara made the switch to fill a void for the team, much like Simon did. In both cases, the results have paid off for the player and for the team.

Wheddon said that in the future, he could look to move players around in order to get the unit that performs the best for the Orange. He can put the 11 most talented players on the team, he said, but sometimes that team won’t play as well. In Simon, Wheddon has found a player who he can use to fill any gaps that the team has.

For a natural offensive player like Simon, the change came at a price. Simon will no longer be racking up goals, but she says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“If it was to benefit the team and make us better,” Simon said, “then I don’t regret it at all.”

Published on October 27, 2015 at 9:39 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer