With 23 minutes remaining in the first half, Syracuse goalkeeper Jordan Harris lined up to defend a Taylor Otto penalty kick. A goal would put No. 3 North Carolina up two goals, an advantage UNC hasn’t surrendered this season. 

Harris read Otto’s shot the entire way. She dove quickly to her left, pushed the ball away from the net and jumped up with an enthusiastic scream. She was immediately mobbed by defenders Taylor Bennett and Shannon Aviza.  

The crowd at SU Soccer Stadium erupted, and emotions were high. But that atmosphere would last for mere minutes.  

Less than two minutes later, UNC’s Brianna Pinto sent a corner kick sailing over all of the Orange defenders to a wide-open Julia Ashley. The senior headed the ball in the back of the net, granting the Tar Heels a two-goal lead. 

The Orange (3-11, 0-6 Atlantic Coast), winless in conference play, kept it close for 65 minutes against a Tar Heels team undefeated in conference. But SU fell apart during the final 25, allowing four goals during that span, en route to a 7-1 loss to UNC (10-2-1, 6-0-0) on Sunday afternoon. Seven different players scored goals for the Tar Heels, who outshot the Orange 29-5. The loss extended SU’s losing streak to nine. 

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“I thought we had some good spells where we did keep (the ball),” SU forward Meghan Root said. “We just need to do it more consistently.” 

Bridgette Andrzejewski opened the scoring for North Carolina less than five minutes in. On a free kick, she positioned herself in front of SU’s Kate Hostage and headed a Pinto free kick into the right corner of the net. 

“It’s just about being physical-on set pieces,” head coach Phil Wheddon said. “We didn’t get a body on them, and … against a team of this caliber, you’re not going to get any breaks.”  

Root, a freshman forward, scored the Orange’s only goal late in the first half. She got behind Andrzejewski and took advantage of a misplay by Ashley, sending the ball into the back of the net, cutting the deficit to 2-1.  

The Tar Heels responded less than seven minutes later, with Alex Kimball squeezing the ball through Harris and defenders Clarke Brown and Aviza. That became the blow SU could not recover from the rest of the game. 

As the clocked ticked down to 10 seconds remaining in the first half, defender Clarke Brown cleared the ball out of bounds against the net. Preparing to defend a final UNC rush, Syracuse assistant coach Ben Boehner started shouting, “Everyone back, 20 seconds, go back!” 

The Orange forgot to account for Ashley, however, who snuck in behind defenders Molly Nethercott and Jenna Tivnan and headed a last-second shot off the left post. Harris looked with confusion towards her two teammates after the defensive breakdown with her palms raised upward. 

Wheddon and his staff stayed out on the field for more than three minutes during halftime, discussing the closing seconds of the half. 

“We lost to Louisville 1-0 with 9 seconds left on the clock, and they (UNC) had less than 20 seconds on the clock,” he said. “And again, we fell asleep for that moment, and it hit the post.”  

The halftime adjustments to set-piece defending worked for SU in the first part of the second half. But in the last 25 minutes, North Carolina scored four-straight goals, including its last three in six minutes and finishing with its highest goal total of the season. 

After the game, while the rest of the Orange were going through their post-game stretching routine, Wheddon pulled aside Harris, a redshirt senior, and talked to her privately. The keeper had 11 saves on the day, including the penalty kick stop that injected a glimmer of hope into the Orange. 

“I thought Jordan had a big performance,” Wheddon said. “She’s upset that she conceded the goals, she’s taken ownership for some of the goals that were possibly preventable.” 

Many of the goals scored by UNC weren’t avoidable, though.  

“UNC is a good team, they have…tons of national team players,” Root said, “so they’re going to be able to knock around the ball.”

Published on October 7, 2018 at 6:12 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew