For most of the first half, Syracuse’s defense bent but didn’t break. Marquette’s offense had its chances to take a lead going into halftime, but the Orange’s backline held firm.

All that changed, though, in the second half. SU’s defense didn’t just break — it shattered.

‘I just don’t think we did a good job of marking in the box,’ SU women’s soccer head coach Phil Wheddon said. ‘There was a focus in the first half in particular, and it’s been our focus this weekend is marking in the box. And we didn’t do a good job of that.’

As a result of the Orange’s (7-6-3, 6-4 Big East) second-half defensive miscues, Marquette capitalized and exposed Syracuse. The No. 7 Golden Eagles (16-2, 9-1) netted four unanswered goals in a span of 29 minutes to move past the Orange on a soggy Sunday afternoon for a 4-0 victory in front of 224 at the SU Soccer Stadium. SU clinched a first-round bye to the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament, earning the third seed in the American Division despite the loss.

But right from the start of the second half, the Orange’s focus fell off. Golden Eagles defender Ally Miller took a shot from distance that SU’s goalkeeper Brittany Anghel lunged at, sprawling out to her right. The ball went by her and hit off the post, deflecting directly to Marquette forward Maegan Kelly.

Anghel couldn’t recover quickly enough after diving for the save attempt, and with no Orange player marking Kelly, she had a wide open net to give Marquette a one-goal lead in the 48th minute.

The scoring didn’t stop there. Syracuse surrendered another two goals in less than seven minutes to give Marquette an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

In the 53rd minute, Kelly nabbed her second goal of the game when there was a miscommunication between Anghel and one of her defenders. Kelly seized the opportunity and knocked in the easy score.

Marquette added cushion off a perfectly executed corner kick that glanced off the head of Ally Miller into the top shelf of the net to give the Golden Eagles their third goal.

Open Marquette players in the box was a trend all game long, but Wheddon doesn’t pin the poor defensive showing on just one player. For SU to slow down even a high-octane offense like Marquette’s, he said, it’s going to take all 11 Orange players.

‘There’s no excuse for not tracking runners in the box,’ Wheddon said. ‘It’s a team thing, it’s not individuals. It’s a team thing, and we’ve got to be more disciplined.’

Near the end of the contest, SU allowed Marquette more leeway with another goal when Britney Scott scored right in front of the net against a defenseless Anghel.

‘All four of the goals were preventable with good marking,’ Wheddon said.

Wheddon said going into the game he expected Marquette would be a defensive challenge. Wheddon said the Golden Eagles are a big, strong, physical team that keeps going for all 90 minutes.

And from what he saw today, that’s exactly what his team faced.

‘(Marquette head coach Markus Roeders) has got a farm somewhere where he’s growing these 5-foot-10 women,’ Wheddon said. ‘I need to get a pass to that farm.’

Although Syracuse might have been undersized compared to its opponents, there were still spots throughout the game where it had its chances on the offensive end. The Orange registered eight shots and put three on net, but it couldn’t capitalize.

That made the defensive lapses even more costly. Junior Amanda Hamilton said the team knows marking every player is something it is capable of.

It’s just translating it onto the field that has proven difficult for the Orange throughout the season.

‘I think we can do it,’ Hamilton said. ‘We just need to stay focused when we get tired and make sure we’re keeping it up and keep talking.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

 

Published on October 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm