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Just three days earlier, in the same building, Syracuse’s defense had an uncharacteristic performance facing a top threat. Though the Orange held most of Loyola’s attack in check, they allowed leading goal scorer Chase Boyle to breakout for six goals and bring the score to as close as three in the fourth quarter.

Saturday, facing an offensive unit led by Japanese native Kokoro Nakazawa, the Orange bounced back, returning to the unit that has limited top threats throughout the latter of the 2024 season.

Nakazawa was held to just one goal and one shot on goal through the first 51 minutes of play, allowing No. 5 Syracuse (9-3, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) to balloon its lead to as large as 12 in an eventual 22-12 win over Louisville (6-7, 2-4 ACC). The senior finished with three goals, but her final two goals cut Syracuse’s lead to 10.

“Just trying to play team defense and take away,” SU head coach Kayla Treanor said postgame. “We knew a lot of the stuff that they traditionally run and just try to be able to stop that and fortunately we were able to limit her.”

Syracuse has made a trend of shutting down top attacks. It started against Duke with Katie DeSimone. Entering the matchup, through six contests, DeSimone had tallied 29 goals, scoring three or more in every game and five or more in four of six. But Syracuse’s defense held her to just two goals.

Then VT’s Kayla Downey’s 34 points increased by just one on an assist. UNC’s star facilitator Ashley Humphrey entered with the most points on the team. After 60 minutes against the SU defense, she failed to record a single one.

UAlbany’s Katie Pascale tallied three goals but two of them came late with Syracuse well ahead. After shutting down Pascale, star defender Katie Goodale credited SU’s recent success against opponents’ top attacks to the Orange’s practices led by assistant coach, Caitlin Defliese Watkins. Defliese Watkins sets up a scout offense that mimics the upcoming opponent.

In its latest ACC game, versus UVA, Morgan Schwab — who entered second in the nation in points — was held to zero goals and one assist.

So facing Nakazawa Saturday, the Orange looked to get back to its dominance in conference play versus their foes’ strongest attacks. Through her first 12 games in 2024, Nakazawa has led the Cardinals with 38 goals and 57 points. The senior didn’t start a game in her first three collegiate seasons but moved into the starting lineup after the first three games this season.

Nakazawa often circled around the right-corner mark off the ball before moving to X. Because of her positioning, Coco Vandiver at the corner and Goodale marking X were tasked with handling the star.

Her left-handed stroke allowed her to move right to left across the offensive zone in hopes of ripping across her body at the net. But Goodale and Vandiver held strong.

On one possession in the second quarter, Nakazawa emerged from X with the ball she attempted to split Goodale and Vandiver on a pick play but the two quickly covered the slot. She was pushed away from the net by Vandiver as Joely Caramelli pushed her further, forcing a pass across.

Multiple times Vandiver forced her outside the 12 meter with the help of a midfielder. Sometimes it was Caremelli, others it was Maddy Baxter, Emma Muchnick or Natalie Smith.

“If you play defense here, you’re allowed to take risks and take chances and be athletic,” Treanor said after Wednesday’s win over Loyola. “It makes us hard to play against.”

With Nakazawa limited, Syracuse held Louisville scoreless from the 5:23 mark in the second quarter to the 6:57 mark in the third, a nearly 13-minute window. Syracuse tallied four goals of its own in the sequence, increasing its lead to five.

Another drought occurred later as SU held U-of-L scoreless from the 6:57 mark of the third to 8:26 left in the fourth. During the drought, SU recorded an 8-0 run while holding Nakazawa down.

“Being able to make some changes throughout the game, we didn’t have our best stuff that we wanted to but being able to adapt as fast as possible to kind of shut down their run,” SU defender Bianca Chevarie said postgame.

Down six with four minutes left in the third quarter, Nakazawa attempted to tally her first goal of the game since the 6:32 mark in the first. She circled at X before beating Vandiver on a cut across the middle. But Vandiver quickly caught up as Hallie Simkins, Kaci Benoit and Chevarie pressured on the inside.

The pressure prompted Nakazawa to perform a dangerous shot, turning the ball over and going off on a two-minute yellow card penalty. Nakazawa would record two goals in the fourth quarter but Syracuse was already well on its way to its sixth straight victory and a 6-0 start in ACC play.

Like Goodale did a few games prior, Chevarie credited the success against a top attack on preparation with the scout team and Defliese Watkins.

“They get us prepared and ready in mimicking their playing style and things like that,” Chevarie said postgame. “We try to understand their offense as much as possible to be able to shut it down.”

Published on March 30, 2024 at 6:23 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky