Syracuse players walked off the field on Sunday feeling frustrated after a 1-0 loss to Louisville. The Orange had only two shots in the first half, getting off to another lackluster start that came back to bite.

“It seems to be a trend now that we come out flat in the first half and pick it up in the second half,” said sophomore Jessica Vigna after the match. “This could’ve been a win for us. This should’ve been a win for us.”

The numbers back up Vigna’s claim. Through 13 matches, Syracuse (4-8-1, 0-4-0 Atlantic Coast) has gotten off only 60 shots in the first half but has managed 81 in the second during its games. This helps to explain the difference in goals scored by half, as the Orange has 10 goals in the second half this season compared to just five in the first half. SU faces No. 16 Notre Dame on Thursday at 7 p.m. and looks to get off to faster start.

“I definitely think it takes our team a bit to acclimate to the game,” sophomore forward Eva Gordon said, “…the speed of play, the physicality.”

Head coach Phil Wheddon pointed out that there’s been an even larger discrepancy since conference play started.

The ACC opponents have been an issue for the Orange. In four ACC losses, the team has put up only six shots in the first half of games compared to 15 shots in the second half.

“In our ACC games in particular, we’ve gone into some environments, and allowed the other team to play and wait and see what they do, and then react,” Wheddon said. “In these games you just can’t wait and react.”

Wheddon has tried to find different ways to fix the issue but thinks that the main issue lies in his team being unable to impose its own style of play.

He’s considered changing warm-ups, doing things differently in the locker room or weighing any other external factors that may be adversely affecting his team out of the gate.

“It just comes down to … we’re showing too much respect to other teams and waiting to see how they play and trying to play with them afterwards,” Wheddon said. “We’ve got to come out and play the way that we can play.”

Consistently playing behind hinders SU’s chances at controlling the style of play for the game. The coaches and players have both noticed that scoring an early first half goal helps to rectify that situation.

Senior Maya Pitts noted that finishing strong instead of bursting out the gate is a theme that’s carried over from prior seasons. The team has found a way to consistently play at a high level at the end of close games.

Still, the Orange recognizes the importance of putting together a complete 90 minutes.

“I was just thinking about it the other day … We seem to dominate when we score in the first half, so I think that’s one thing we really have to work on,” Pitts said. “…I think that we need to put the first half into our game.”

Published on October 7, 2015 at 8:48 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer