Head Coach Phil Wheddon hadn’t even sat down yet, but he was already excited. After constantly citing his team’s need for a fast start — Syracuse hadn’t scored once in three weeks —Wheddon got exactly what he wanted. The Orange scored a less than a minute into the match.

SU’s (5-10-1, 1-6-0 Atlantic Coast) offensive execution was the key component in the 3-0 win over North Carolina State (4-11-0, 0-6 ACC) on Sunday at SU Soccer Stadium.

“It was great for the team to come out and get a quick goal like that,” Wheddon said. “…I was very happy for us that we were able to score the goal and settle down into a little bit of a rhythm.”

Coming into the match, the Orange was in the midst of an offensive drought. The last time SU had scored was in a 3-1 loss to Virginia Tech on Sept. 27. The team’s goalless streak spanned over four games.

Within 50 seconds on Sunday, that streak was snapped. Sophomore forward Eva Gordon took a pass and ran with the ball up the right sideline. She launched a ball toward the left goalpost and it landed at the feet of junior midfielder Emma Firenze, who fired it into the back of the net to give the Orange the early lead.

“I think we really came out very hungry and we wanted to score early, and that was one of our goals, and we did so,” junior forward Stephanie Skilton said.

That early goal made Sunday’s game the first time that the Orange held a lead since Sept. 17 against Drexel. The issue that’s plagued SU for most of the season – having to play catch-up after giving up a lead – was nonexistent on Sunday.

The Orange added on to its early lead. Junior midfielder Maddie Iozzi possessed the ball on the left side of the field near the Wolfpack baseline. She passed the ball toward the middle of the field that hit off a defender and found its way to Skilton, who rifled the ball in to make it a 2-0 game.

Coming out of the half, the Syracuse players looked ecstatic. Goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan was grinning cheek-to-cheek in the team huddle before resuming play.

The Orange got out to another fast start in the second half. Just over a minute into the half, Alex Lamontagne took the ball down the left sideline, made a nifty inside move and kicked the ball toward the goal. The goalie deflected the ball, but Eva Gordon recovered, turned and fired into an empty portion of the net for a 3-0 SU lead.

“Coach told us to come out strong … put the third goal away early so we set the tone,” Gordon said. “We didn’t want a 2-1 game in the second half,” Gordon said.

Two of the goals the Orange scored came off of deflections in the box. Being in the right place to capitalize on rebounds was something the practiced over the course of the week.

“It’s happened to us consistently throughout the year where a ball is served into box and its not the first person, the first runner that often scores it, it’s the second or third,” Wheddon said. “… We’ve been really working on trying to get more numbers into the box, and I thought today we did a very good job at that.”

With a six-game losing streak now over, Wheddon wants his team to focus on continuing to play well and win the final three games of the season. Still, he acknowledged that this win could help the team morale.

“Today was definitely a good day to get the win,” Gordon said.

“We needed it.”

Published on October 18, 2015 at 6:09 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer