The 2018 Syracuse season started in a similar way to how the 2017 campaign ended.

Last season, in SU’s first game of the NCAA tournament, Boston College scored in the first minute and jumped out to an early lead against a Syracuse team at home en route to a 21-10 BC upset. The first couple sequences of the Orange’s Friday matchup against UConn hinted at another massive upset.

Syracuse lost the opening draw and watched as Connecticut’s Sydney Watson burst by Ella Simkins en route to the game’s first goal. The sequence took 40 seconds.

Less than a minute later, Watson dusted another SU defender and doubled the Huskies’ lead. It was 2-0 before the home team possessed the ball.

“I thought the first half,” head coach Gary Gait said, “we showed a little bit of the rust … I think we came out and we were very focused on what we were supposed to do individually, and the communication wasn’t there.”

SU’s “rust” came in the form of eight first-half goals allowed, the most its given up in the first half in a season-opener in more than 16 years. No. 7 Syracuse’s (1-0) lackluster defense made it a one-goal game at halftime in what would eventually turn into a 23-11 rout of Connecticut (0-1) in the Carrier Dome. The score at the break would have been worse if not for five free-position shot saves from Asa Goldstock, who finished with 11 stops total.

Aside from junior Alexa Radziewicz, who started every game last season, SU entered the game with three new starters on its backline. Senior Mia DiBello started 10 games a year ago, and sophomore Kerry Defliese and Simkins had nine game appearances and zero starts under their belt. The youth, coupled with SU adjusting to a new man-to-man defense, kept the game closer than it needed to be, and the Orange almost paid for it.

“We let two players kind of dominate that first half,” Gait said. “… In the first half it was really the dodgers dodging hard. We were sliding, but didn’t have a backup.”

Syracuse struggled to stop UConn’s Grace Nolan and the aforementioned Watson. The pair scored six of UConn’s eight first-half goals and Nolan, who scored 44 goals a year ago, gave the Huskies a 3-2 lead seven minutes into the game. The senior juked DiBello behind the net, darted in front of Orange goalie Goldstock, caught a pass and in one swift motion finished the play with a low shot between Goldstock’s legs.

With the game knotted at four with 12 minutes left in the half, Nolan charged at the net and watched two SU defenders trip over and crash into one another. Nolan found herself a few feet away from Goldstock and converted the premium opportunity.

“In the first half, like coach said, we weren’t communicating as well,” Defliese said after the game.

The Orange primarily implemented a zone-based defense in years past. Before this season, Gait said he would start to use a man-to-man scheme. The 11-year head coach said it would be an important tool to “fall back on” but in the season opener, SU relied on its new tactic, even though it didn’t work as well as it wanted to.

It switched on ball screens, pressed high on defenders above the eight-meter and collapsed on the many instances when a player broke free inside. Sometimes, the help didn’t come fast enough, and UConn made its chances count.

With the visitors up one, Watson beat two SU defenders and worked her way to the right side of Goldstock. Watson swung her stick up high and finished over Goldstock. Before the referees could place the ball at the X for the draw, Gait had called a timeout, and associate head coach Regy Thorpe was jotting down plays on a notepad.

Part of the issue came from SU’s poor draw control performance, Gait said. UConn won 12 of the 18 first half draws and was able to pressure Syracuse from the onset. While Syracuse went on a 7-0 run to start the second half as a result of an improved draw control, the shaky defense was protected and only gave up three second-half goals.

“We were getting slides late and they are scoring on the one-on-one,” Gait said. “Or we double quick but we didn’t have a second slide. That’s all communication, that’s all stuff we will continue to work on.”

For a Syracuse team looking to rebound from its worst record in six years and replace a bulk of its defense, it will have to.

Published on February 9, 2018 at 9:43 pm

Contact Nick: nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez