It was happening again. Against Clemson last Saturday, Syracuse played a great first 20 minutes, head coach Nicky Adams said, but then fell off after that. The Orange started Thursday night taking the lead just over 10 minutes into the game. 

But then North Carolina State responded with two of its own. SU was heading into the second half, where it has been outshot 29-3 in the last two games combined, trailing by a goal. 

This time, SU found the equalizer in the second half and forced overtime despite being outshot 14-4 in the frame. NC State (7-5-4, 2-2-4 Atlantic Coast) would find the winner in the third minute of overtime, downing the Orange (3-10-2, 1-6-1) for the third year in a row. Again, Syracuse failed to capitalize on an opportunity to pick up points in the ACC against opponents in similar rebuilding states. 

Kailee Coonan scored her first goal of the season off an assist from Shannon Aviza to give SU the lead in the 12th minute. NC State dominated the rest of the half with 12 shots to Syracuse’s three and a 5-1 corners advantage. Lysianne Proulx, the ACC leader in saves, made three, but the Wolfpack took the lead with goals from Kristina Schuster and Tziarra King. 

The Orange leveled the scores through Marisa Fischetti’s first career goal in the 63rd minute. Meghan Root’s shot caused a rebound which Fischetti finished. The Wolfpack added 10 shots in the second frame but just two were on goal. Proulx pushed her save total for the season to 75. 

It took just two minutes and 39 seconds for NC State to end the game in sudden-death overtime. Kia Rankin’s deflected shot beat Proulx and pushed Syracuse to six ACC losses for the seventh-straight year. 

This season, the Orange have looked to fix the “little things” like showing up to practice on time and with the right amount of balls. Syracuse has pressed and pushed for more possession in games, especially the last four games against weaker ACC teams. It led to Syracuse’s first conference win in nearly a year. 

But since the win against Wake Forest on Oct. 10, SU has slipped back down to a ACC bottom feeder. It has struggled to put together a full 90 minutes, Taylor Bennett said. And now Syracuse has just two games left, both against top-10 teams, to change that. 

Published on October 24, 2019 at 10:09 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder