Monica Flores sent a corner kick flying into the box. Bodies from both sides flew toward the ball, but above everyone else, Syracuse goalie Courtney Brosnan rose up and punched it away.

The ball sailed outward, but was recovered by Notre Dame. Another shot attempt led to a scrum around the left goal post and Brosnan aggressively dove to gobble up the ball.

In the 1-1 draw against the No. 20 Fighting Irish (5-1-3, 0-0-1 Atlantic Coast) at SU Soccer Stadium on Sunday, the Orange (7-1-2, 0-0-1) was outshot for the first time all season. Brosnan saw 16 shots come her way. The previous high against Syracuse this season was Buffalo’s 11 and the Orange managed to shut out the Bulls. Brosnan came away with six saves and was the backbone of the Syracuse defense.

“I’ve said time and time again that Courtney is one of the best in the ACC,” Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon said. “I think that was very clear today.”

In only the second minute, Brosnan found herself on the ground after diving back to deflect a shot up and over the crossbar.

Notre Dame controlled the beginning of the first half and was relentless on the attack. After 22 minutes the Fighting Irish had generated five shots and four corner kicks, keeping Brosnan constantly on her toes.

“I thought they dominated for the first 20 minutes of the game,” Wheddon said. “It’s important to have a big-time goalkeeper.”

The Orange began to settle down and find its rhythm after Notre Dame’s fifth shot attempt. SU began to generate some offense and ease the pressure on Brosnan. An Eva Gordon goal in the 33rd minute put the Orange up 1-0.

Once the second half got underway, Brosnan saw a flurry of shots come her way, leaving her diving in every direction.

Her one slip up came in the 53rd minute. A scrum in front of the goal left Notre Dame’s Taylor Klawunder wide open on the right side of the goal and she eased a header off a corner into the back left side, past Brosnan.

“Courtney was a bit unlucky,” midfielder Carolin Bader said. “She held us in the game.”

With the game locked at one, Brosnan’s responsibilities went beyond just making saves. After her save on Flores’ shot, Brosnan rose to her feet and punted the ball down the field to teammate Stephanie Skilton.

Brosnan had been trying to avoid taking punts and goal kicks because of a nagging right knee injury — center backs Jessica Vigna and Taylor Bennett had been taking the goal kicks instead. But in the 82nd minute on Sunday, the pace of the 1-1 game took over and Brosnan launched a ball past the midfield line to try to generate offense.

She took a season-high six goal kicks, something Wheddon did not expect, in an attempt to help Syracuse’s offense get up the field.

When teammates Alana O’Neill and Sydney Brackett were wandering around the box trying to find opponents to mark before a corner kick, Brosnan yelled their names, positioned them and pointed back to her head coach, who had been trying and failing to get O’Neill’s and Brackett’s attention to get them in the right spot.

Notre Dame continued its pressure on goal throughout the rest of the game and Brosnan continued to stifle the UND attack with diving saves.

Brosnan walked off the field after the game, her jersey littered with grass stains and turf filling her hair.

“The competition is amazing and I love facing this big competition,” Brosnan said. “It gets me amped up to make big-time saves.”

Published on September 18, 2016 at 6:46 pm

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu