SU Comes Up Just Short Against Cornell

By: Hudson Ridley

Syracuse women’s soccer kept things extremely close but fell 1-0 to Cornell for its second straight loss. 

The biggest problem for the Orange really boiled down to a lack of connection on the attack. Cornell matched the pace of SU on each attack, especially up the middle. The high rate of defending in the Orange’s attacking third, mixed with a majority of the possession being had by Big Red highlighted some of Syracuse’s early season struggles. The biggest of which is offensive identity and consistency. Two shots on goal, neither of which troubled goalkeeper Natalie Madungo, wouldn’t be nearly enough to get it done.

The identity part of SU’s offense was pretty clear through the first few games of the season. The Orange lack high-end speed in attack, but possess technical skills and solid accuracy up top. Nicky Thrasher Adams tried to use this to the team’s advantage early on, with a solid portion of SU’s shots coming from outside the 18-yard box. Outside of a stunning Erin Flurey goal against Sienna, that strategy hasn’t yielded much success. 

The Orange and Big Red now head on two fairly different trajectories. For Cornell, it’s a 2-0-1 start to the season and a big momentum boost as they topple SU for the first time ever through 14 meetings. Syracuse, on the other hand, only has a tougher slate coming up. Two more tune-ups are all the Orange get before the ACC schedule starts. The next of which is on Thursday, September 7th against Harvard in Cambridge.