Shannon Aviza stood still as she watched a Clarke Brown clearance float over her head. The ball crept slowly away from her with 10 minutes to play. SU’s Aviza changed directions, away from the ball, assuming goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx would run up 10 yards from the box to careen it.

Proulx didn’t read the play correctly. Like Aviza, she stayed still.

Kent State’s Isabelle Mihail read the ball, though. She jumped toward the slow roller, pouncing on it with her right foot. Proulx caught on and ran toward the ball. But she hesitated, motioned backward and Mihail dropped her. She ran free to the right side of the field for an easy finish.

“Those things happen. I can’t blame Shannon, I can’t blame (Proulx), things happen in the game,” SU head coach Phil Wheddon said. “Unfortunately, it happened in the wrong part of the field … You have to put that behind you and move on.”

SU headed to overtime, then double overtime because of its 80th minute blunder. And like in regulation, Mihail found herself open in the box in the 103rd minute to seal the win for the Golden Flashes. Despite being outshot, 26-10, Syracuse (3-5) only needed 10 clean minutes to pull off a win against KSU, but its backline couldn’t hold up in a 2-1 loss to Kent State (4-3-1).

Entering the game, Syracuse had allowed 11 goals in its last four games. The stability in its backline was put into question after 4-0 loses to No. 11 Penn State and then-winless Harvard, but SU opened its matchup Thursday on the offensive.

The Orange maintained possession for most of the first 15 minutes, something it struggled to do on its road trip, and traded shots with KSU early.

The fast pace of the Golden Flashes was limited because SU controlled the tempo. Kate Hostage finished off the assertive first half for the Orange with a 40th minute shot to the right side of the net to make it 1-0.

But the second half was a different game for KSU. The Golden Flashes started to accumulate shots off of clears and crosses. In most possessions, Kent State pushed long balls forward to increase the pace. Holding a lead, SU laid back and trusted in its defense.

“I personally trust our defense 100 percent,” Hostage said. “They’re going to do their job like we’re going to do our job. In the end, we didn’t put the shots they were taking.”

While Jordan Harris started the first half in the net, not allowing a goal, Wheddon made a predetermined switch to go with Proulx for the rest of the game, he said. With the SU backline facing more pressure with the lead, Proulx didn’t let the abundance of shots get to her.

A 61st minute block off a header and two diving saves off of close Mihail shots in the box kept SU on top. As the shots kept coming, Proulx buckled up and caught them.

In the 77th minute, two gassed SU defenders chased a ball rolling toward their goal with a sizeable lead over the closest KSU player. Seconds later, that forward caught up to them, and tapped the ball in the arms of Proulx. It was the first sight of the backline’s exhaustion.

After Aviza let the ball roll toward Mihail to level the score, SU had to start pushing its offense. But with the Orange’s turnovers, the pressure was once again put on the backline in the final 10 minutes.

“I’m not blaming anyone. It goes both ways,” Wheddon said. “Sometimes its a case of a midfielder taking a touch and evading pressure, a shot on goal, sometimes it a bad pass that drops kindly for someone. There’s many reasons for shots on goal.”

In the first overtime, SU elected to stick with most of its starting defenders. Aviza, Brown and Abby Jonathan played all 103 minutes of the game, while defender Molly Nethercott played 93 minutes.

Nethercott made a game-saving tackle when Kent State had an open opportunity in the box early in the first overtime, but after Hostage got injured in the 98th minute, SU was forced to stay back.

Three minutes into the second overtime, KSU’s Maddie Holmes crossed a pass to a wide-open Mihail. Mihail shot it high, hit the crossbar, and the ball slowly rolled into the goal.

“I’ve devastated by this loss,” Wheddon said, “We knew Kent (State) was going to be a direct team and get behind us. It was very disappointing.”

In SU’s last home game, St. John’s doubled the Orange in shots, 9-4. Despite that, the Orange pulled away for a 1-0 victory. This time, the game was set up the same, but SU’s backline couldn’t limit its mistakes, which ultimately cost it the game.

“We made some poor decisions, and we got punished for them,” Wheddon said. “Unfortunately, we had to learn that lesson.”

Published on September 13, 2018 at 10:24 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman