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When North Carolina’s Tayler Warehime gathered the ball behind Syracuse’s net, Kerry Defliese flashed across the field to apply pressure in the attack’s face. She knew it was important. In the days leading up to the game, head coach Gary Gait emphasized the threat No. 1 UNC posed when its offense operates behind the net. 

With limited space to maneuver, Warehime threw a quick pass to a nearby teammate as she fell to the ground. She rose to her feet and dashed toward the net as SU’s zone pressured. And after a quick ball over the top, Defliese turned around to find three Tar Heels in her zone, completely unmarked. She could just watch as Warehime scored, a goal that sparked a 10-0 Tar Heels run and buried the Orange.

“Our defense relies on pressure on the ball carrier not to be able to feed to the middle,” Gait said after the game. “We allowed them to handle the pressure and they found the open players in the middle.”

Syracuse (9-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast) finished last season with the best scoring defense in the nation through eight games, allowing an average of seven goals a game. Now 10 games in, the Orange are down to 19th and allow 9.8 goals per game. SU’s still lost just one game but has allowed double-digit goals to two unranked opponents, something it didn’t do at all last year. 

The Orange have relied on a zone defense for much of the year, but the results have been inconsistent. There have been the highs, like limiting Virginia Tech to a three goal second half, and the lows, like conceding two player-up goals in the first half against Notre Dame and entering halftime down three.

“When you play a zone defense, you’re always going to have open players in the middle, but you hope you get enough pressure that they can’t find those players when they’re open,” Gait said.

Not many teams play a zone defense, which works to Syracuse’s advantage because opponents don’t have an opportunity to practice against it, Gait said. The zone defense takes advantage of double teams, particularly when an attacker is between two zones and the Orange are passing the assignment between one another.

But opponents have taken advantage of space in the middle, especially when an attack bypasses the initial line of pressure. It opens up space for attackers to run into unmarked spaces and creates opportunities for up-close shots. That’s how the Tar Heels scored the game-tying goal in the first half.

Ally Mastroianni passed the ball out to the left, and when it landed in Katie Hoeg’s stick, three Syracuse players immediately converged on her. As Hoeg cradled the ball, Mastroianni dashed in between Sierra Cockerille and Sam Swart’s zone and corralled a lobbed pass from Hoeg for an easy goal to mark the last time the Orange would lead that game.

Syracuse’s defense was breached several times more with multiple goals coming from point-blank range against goaltender Asa Goldstock. North Carolina finished with 17 goals on just 24 shots.

After leading the nation in 2020 in goals-against-average (7.07) and recording a career-best save percentage of .481, Goldstock now allows over 10 goals per game and has a save percentage of .475, both outside the top 15.

She’s facing more open-play opportunities from close range and more free positions due to SU’s high foul rate. The Orange rank 108th of 109 teams in fouls per game (34) after averaging 24.88 per game last year. Goldstock is up against almost twice as many free positions as last year, and opponents score on nearly half of them. Every team but Stony Brook has scored a free position goal against Syracuse, and a schedule full of ranked teams means opponents are more equipped to capitalize on free positions. 

Despite recent inconsistencies, Syracuse’s defense started the season well. They conceded single-digit goals in their first three consecutive games to open the season. But the Orange have conceded double-digit goals in every game except UAlbany since. 

Defender Kerry Defliese handles the ball for the Orange against Virginia. Syracuse defeated the Cavaliers 15-12. Courtesy of Rich Barnes | USA Today Sports

Against then-No. 7 Virginia on April 10, the defense caused nine turnovers, picked up 22 ground balls and limited the Cavaliers to five shots on goal in the second half. The Cavaliers scored two free position goals in the first half, but second-half defensive improvements fueled SU’s comeback victory.

The performance was fitting for SU’s defense this season — ups and downs, and the inability to play a complete 60 minutes. It’s something that Gait’s repeatedly been asking of his team since the start of the season. 

“We really haven’t (had a complete performance) in the first couple games,” Gait said after the UVA game. “We’re just trying to give them guidance and trying to help get them into that zone where they do feel like everything’s firing on all cylinders.”

Published on April 13, 2021 at 10:49 pm

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu