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Entering its clash with No. 12 Clemson Saturday, Syracuse’s offense was lifeless. With attack Olivia Adamson being ruled out for the season, the Orange scored just eight goals in their recent losses to No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Northwestern.

Heading straight into another ranked matchup with the Tigers, SU desperately needed to find a rhythm on offense. Although Clemson’s defense was strong, the Orange mostly hindered themselves instead.

No. 5 Syracuse (3-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) fell 9-8 to No. 12 Clemson (5-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) behind 16 turnovers, only five of which were caused by the Tigers. The Orange have now registered double-digit giveaways in all six games thus far, which contributed to their third straight loss Saturday.

“We have to be 10-and-under in turnovers,” Syracuse head coach Kayla Treanor said. “We cannot be at 16 and expect to win a game.”

In its third straight contest without Adamson, SU failed to score more than eight goals again. The Tigers consistently keyed in on Emma Ward, often double-teaming her and forcing her to quickly pass the ball to teammates instead.

And with Ward not controlling the offense, Syracuse’s other players were sloppy. They wasted strong defensive stands and dropped passes on offense, culminating in ill-advised giveaways.

Just four minutes in, with Clemson leading 1-0, the Orange squashed the Tigers’ chance to extend their lead to two. Mileena Cotter picked up a ground ball and motored down the field. But she barely even got past midfield before turning over possession.

Cotter didn’t see Lindsey Marshall closing in from behind. In one swift move, Marshall knocked the ball free and gave Clemson the ball back in just six seconds.

Just a few minutes later, the woes plagued SU on its attack. Molly Guzik received the ball from Cotter at the top of the 8-meter circle and tried to weave around the Tigers’ Summer Agostino. Instead, Agostino checked the ball from her stick, and Guzik could do nothing but foul her to stop a transition attack.

Syracuse ended the first quarter trailing 3-2 and already had six turnovers, more than halfway to Treanor’s goal of 10. The fourth-year head coach knew SU couldn’t succeed that way.

“We had a bunch of turnovers in transition, and that’s unlike us,” Treanor said. “We can’t start the game with as many turnovers as we are.”

But in the second, nothing changed. With all the added pressure as Syracuse’s best offensive player, Ward began forcing passes, leading to turnovers.

The graduate student opened the quarter with a quick pass inside that flew over Alexa Vogelman’s head and out of play. She followed by squandering a fast break chance, dropping a pass from Sam DeVito in transition. Late in the second, she’d already reached four giveaways when her pass from X was deflected out of play by Paris Masaracchia.

Not only was Ward held to a season-low three points (two goals, one assist) on the day — with both goals coming in the second half on free positions — she recorded a game-high six turnovers.

Syracuse went into the half down 5-3, already totaling 11 giveaways. If it wanted to recover, it needed to clean up both its transition offense and distribution.

SU didn’t do that right away.

On its first possession of the third quarter, Ward fed Vogelman on the right side of the 8-meter. The sophomore drove to her right with two defenders on her. She attempted a pass, but without Clemson having to do much — a common theme in the game — she fell to the turf and dropped the ball.

“It’s self-inflicted wounds. These are things that we’re doing to ourselves,” Treanor said. “And that’s why our locker room is going to be very frustrated, because there’s a lot of things that we did that I don’t think Clemson forced us to do.”

Despite Ward bringing the game within one by snapping a near-24-minute scoring drought, Syracuse failed to tie the contest or take the lead due to more sloppy play.

With six minutes remaining, Guzik heaved a pass over Cotter’s head. Defender Kaci Benoit was there to scoop the ball up, and she sped deep into the Tigers’ defensive end. But Benoit was caught doing too much in an unfamiliar area.

She was left one-on-one with Bryce Pfundstein in the right corner of the field. Trying to evade the situation, she attempted a pass to attack Gracie Britton, but Pfundstein tipped it into the ground. It was eventually knocked out of bounds off the Orange.

Even though it was struggling, SU still trailed just 6-5 after the third. And in the fourth, its offense finally started clicking, resulting in just one turnover in the quarter. This allowed the Orange to tie the game 6-6 and 7-7, the first time they equalized the contest since the nine-minute mark of the first.

Still, they couldn’t pull out the win. Syracuse’s sloppiness — including 16 turnovers — came back to bite it. Without Adamson, the Orange are still looking for an offensive identity, and they need to figure it out soon if they want to revive their season.

Published on March 1, 2025 at 5:05 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99