Syracuse Women’s Soccer outlasts Holy Cross 3-1 on Sunday

By Cole Purvis | @Cole_Purvis

In its first road match of the 2025 season, Syracuse women’s soccer (3-1-0) held off Holy Cross (0-3-1) on Sunday. Grad student Ashley Rauch continued to leave her stamp on the young season, scoring two of Syracuse’s three goals, while senior Maya McDermott got the party started with the first goal of the afternoon.

For the first 20 minutes of game action, Holy Cross controlled the tempo, rattling off three of the contest’s first four shots, and receiving the first three corner opportunities. After SU settled in, it swung the momentum.

Things seemed to be headed in the right direction for the Orange when freshman Julia Arbelaez subbed into the game. The midfielder put the best shot on goal up to that point, but it was stopped by Crusaders keeper Antriana Mila. Less than a minute later, ‘Cuse senior Mia Klammer had a window of space to operate on the right side. She found McDermott wide open on the back post, and the forward deposited a shot in the back of the net. This was McDermott’s second straight game with a goal, after starting the scoring last time out against Canisius.

Shortly after, in the 35th minute, Rauch dazzled. The grad student dribbled right down Broadway half the length of the field, also putting an excellent in-and-out move on her defender, before ripping a shot into the upper 90 to make it 2-0 Syracuse.

In the second half, each goalie got its turn at a moment of excellence. The Klammer to McDermott connection struck again, with McDermott receiving a through-ball that put her one-on-one with Mila. When the shot was fired, the goalie dove to her right to make the save.

Minutes later, Holy Cross’s corner kick was headed out of the box and right to Crusaders midfielder Cara Bubonovich. She ripped a shot at the stomach of ‘Cuse keeper Shea Vanderbosch, and while the netminder went down to the ground to make the catch, she narrowly avoided falling over the goal line, keeping it 2-0.

However, in the 59th minute, Holy Cross forward Riley Grable scored on a set piece. Grable booted the ball from about 35 yards out, and as it was approaching the net, it seemed as though a teammate was going to put a foot on it and redirect it on goal. Instead, the Holy Cross player let it go by, to the confusion of Vanderbosch. The ball bounced in, and it was 2-1 Orange.

SU got insurance in the 77th minute when Ashley Rauch buried a penalty kick. Mila dove right, Rach shot to the other side of the net, and made it 3-1 Syracuse. That score would hold up.

‘Cuse moves to 3-1 on the season, taking care of business against another out-of-conference opponent. The Orange travel to Hamden, Connecticut this Thursday to do battle with Quinnipiac at 2:30 p.m.