Jessica Vigna got to it first.  The senior rose and smacked her head against the ball, sending it off and away from Syracuse territory. The Wake Forest player who tried for the ball stumbled and fell flat to the ground as Vigna stood in place.

“In the (Atlantic Coast), it’s going to be a very physical match,” Vigna said. “Every girl’s going to want to fight. You just have to match it.”

Syracuse (5-3-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) lost to Wake Forest (8-1-1, 2-0), 1-0, on Thursday night at SU soccer stadium despite defense by the Orange that limited the Demon Deacons to just four shots in the second half.  Wake Forest only had one clean shot on the goal all game, and it proved to be the only difference in a very tight match.

“We were kind of frantic in the first half,” Vigna said. “We were just going to cover each other harder, go into tackles harder and whenever we get the ball try to connect.”

The ball was played up in Syracuse’s zone for a large part of the first half of play. Vigna said the Orange was getting “more pressure than they usually get” early on.

Immediately when Syracuse made its first touch, Wake Forest frenzied to the ball, which made the Orange sloppy. That translated to the defense, where Syracuse players were tentative the entire first half and had to clear a large amount of Wake Forest’s pushes.

Multiple Syracuse players sent attempted clearances high into the air, only to have the ball fall in a similar spot to where they were kicked. That gave the Demon Deacons another shot at the ball from close range.

The play translated to 10 shots by the Demon Deacons in the first half to the Orange’s one.

“They outhustled us a bit in the first half,” head coach Phil Wheddon said.

Then it flipped.

Syracuse, out for the second half, started controlling the pace of the game to its benefit. It led to more opportunities for the Orange and a limited amount the Demon Deacons. Wheddon described the Orange’s second half performance as “more us.”

In the second half, the Orange allowed only four shots to Wake Forest and hold them to 14 total in the game.

“We got the first half out of us,” Vigna said. “Just forget about it, come out and play the way we can play.”

The team was under a lot more pressure in the second half, Vigna said. That proved to its benefit on defense as she said the shift to make more plays offensively made it easier for the team to pull up and play tighter on defense.

The goal in the first half was one of the only times Syracuse experienced a total defensive breakdown where the ball was weaved aimlessly through the teeth of the back Syracuse defenders.

Courtney Brosnan made nine saves in the game, which ties a season high matching her performance against Connecticut on Aug.  21 at SU soccer stadium, and very few of them required her to dive due to Wake Forest busting through Syracuse defenders.

“We found (our rhythm) in the 15 to 20 minutes at the end of the game.” Eva Gordon said. “It took us too long.”

Published on September 21, 2017 at 11:17 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary