HAMILTON — SJ Quigley perched near the Colgate end line and stretched her arm out to corral a Clara Morrison pass. Near the end of the fourth quarter, she turned to feed sophomore Alex Morales near the top of the crease, a final pass to result in another SU shot. But it was chipped away by a Raiders’ defender and a counter-rush ensued.

Moments later, sophomore Laura Graziosi stole back possession at midfield for the Orange but her pass up to Quigley and Morrison sailed long too. The pair jogged back to their offensive positions and sunk their heads.

Neither turnover on that attacking sequence turned into damage at the SU cage because of defensive stops by the Orange. A first half in which Colgate tallied zero shots had been nearly repeated in the second half — SU outshot the Raiders 21-6 overall. By that point in the game, the Orange had scored enough goals and produced ample opportunities to knock off the Raiders, a team without a conference win since 2014. But an inability to finish offensive rushes from subpar passing overshadowed No. 19 Syracuse’s (6-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) 3-1 win over Colgate (2-6, 0-1 Patriot) Sunday at Travis Field, an asterisk next to another game that the Orange dominated statistically.

“I think we were slow and sluggish,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “Our rhythm wasn’t as tight.”

Facing Colgate was supposed to be the Orange’s tune-up for No. 2 Duke on Friday. It was the Raiders, a program that stumbled to a 4-14 record last season. A program that already had losses to Lock Haven and Rider this season. But SU struggled to pull away early.

It started eerily similar to loss to unranked Cornell on the road on Sept. 7. Flaws that surfaced but hadn’t hindered the Orange in the season’s early games returned: ineffective outlet passes to establish offensive attacks, sloppy receptions on the final pass to set up shots in the circle.

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Until freshman Charlotte de Vries knocked home a penalty corner shot 11 minutes into the first quarter on Sunday, SU rushes had been halted by passes that never reached their destinations. Later in the first, junior Sarah Luby tip-toed the line next to the Raider cage and flicked her stick toward the front after a brief pause but a deflection after Luby’s hesitation knocked the ball away. From the sideline, Bradley crouched with her game notes and shouted “Pass” when Syracuse took long to circulate passes. Gaping holes in the Colgate defense closed when extra glances overlooked open midfielders.

“We are our opposition every time we step on that field,” Bradley said.

Typical role players off the bench — Sasha Bull, Nina Watson, Stephanie Harris — all logged extensive game time against Colgate, which allowed SJ Quigley to slide up to midfield at times and kickstart attacks, a role she had only against Bucknell on Sept. 15, Bradley said.

Quigley’s goal late in the third quarter provided insurance for the Orange, who already held a two-goal lead after de Vries capitalized on another penalty corner late in the second. Claire Cooke sprinted down the right sideline and centered the ball to Quigley, who turned and slotted it past goalkeeper Anna Unger. Cooke and Quigley embraced, and the sophomore did the same with de Vries while “SJ” chants echoed from the Syracuse bench.

“She’s aggressive up there and really works hard off ball to get open,” Bradley said. “That’s what I like up there with her.”

But sandwiched in between the SU goals were additional passes that slopped up the field and bounced over sticks. On the rush immediately following de Vries’ second goal near halftime, Watson maneuvered past the Raiders defense toward the cage, but Luby couldn’t finish her feed.

As Colgate’s last-second rush was turned aside by goalkeeper Sarah Sinck, who replaced starter Syd Taylor after the Raiders’ goal in the fourth, the Orange sauntered onto the field after the final horn sounded. Syracuse had, sloppy play aside, accomplished its goal for Sunday: a tune-up win for conference play. It was nothing to celebrate extensively about. Just enough to finish what the Orange needed to.

“We were able to really get a lot of rotation and see how those kids are playing with the speed or being locked up,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “It was a good opportunity for us just to practice.” 

Published on September 22, 2019 at 5:37 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew