For the first time in the Ange Bradley era, Syracuse couldn’t get a shot off. The Orange’s best chance came early in the game. Peyton Kemp was in the circle, when she passed the ball across the field, expecting a teammate with a better angle at getting a shot. But no one was there. All game, there seemingly never were.

For the first time since joining the ACC that No. 12 Syracuse (3-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) lost to No. 4 Duke (5-2, 1-0). The 1-0 loss to the Blue Devils at the J. S. Coyne Stadium on Friday afternoon was Syracuse’s third-straight loss. SU’s inconsistency with passing caused it to struggle for the offensive possession of the ball. Keeping it on offense was even harder. The Orange were outshot by the Blue Devils, 21-0.

“(Duke) played very well,” Bradley said. “They gave it to our team.”

The last time Syracuse went an entire game without recording a shot was during a 2005 matchup against then-No. 14 Louisville. SU lost the game 6-0 on its way to a 11-9 season that ended in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.

Prior to Friday’s matchup with Duke, SU had 11.8 shots per game. The lack of shots brought that stat down to 9.8. Duke had 21 shots on goal, the most SU has allowed all season. Prior, SU had averaged 8.8 allowed.

“Duke’s a talented team,” SU’s Jamie Martin said. “They step up, they’re aggressive and it will honestly push us in the future.”

The Blue Devils intercepted multiple passes from SU throughout the game, hindering the Orange from gaining momentum. Whenever a Syracuse player had an opportunity to run the ball downfield, they would break toward the midline and look downfield. Every time, a Duke player found herself in the middle.

In the second half, Roos Weers started on a breakaway up the middle of the field. Running with the ball over the midline, there wasn’t a Duke player near her. She fired the ball forward, but it was picked off by a Duke player. Syracuse tried too hard to get the ball from stick to stick and that caused problems on offense, Bradley said.

“I saw us passing the ball quite a bit to Duke in the middle of the field,” Bradley said, “and we did not execute a game plan.”

In the second half, SU wasn’t able to get the ball in the circle until the 19th minute. Martin crossed the line with the ball and was swarmed by the Duke defense, who forced away the ball.

Later in the half, SJ Quigley was alone in the circle with Duke goalie Sammi Steele. The Blue Devils had the ball on offense but Syracuse gained possession. The ball was sent down the field. It reached Quigley and Steele near the end line, on the far side of the circle. The two battled for it but, the ball was hit out of bounds and Duke regained possession. And, as they had seemingly all game, they held it.

“What lessons Duke gave us,” Bradley said, “we can learn from and someday, hopefully Sunday, be able to give it back to the next opponent that comes on Coyne Field.”

Published on September 14, 2018 at 8:14 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu