Syracuse junior Carolin Hoffmann stood motionless, her hands on her knees, head bent over her legs. The scoreboard read 1-0, and Syracuse’s weekend would be cut short on the first day of the conference tournament. 

Five days after beating Louisville (15-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) in overtime to complete the regular season, Syracuse (12-6, 3-3) couldn’t generate any offense against the Cardinals in a 1-0 shutout loss. SU went long stretches without possessing in the attacking zone and was outshot 13-3 in the ACC quarterfinals match. SU recorded just one shot on goal. 

“Louisville played a good game,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “There were times they were able to open us up and we didn’t make the adaptations.”

After Saturday’s win over the Cardinals, SU players and coaches said Louisville’s strength lies in its center midfielders and their ability to open up the field. That continued in Thursday’s rematch. 

In the seventh minute, a Cardinals’ center midfielder initiated a counterattack, which led to a rush down the right sideline by Erica Cooper. Cooper angled in and sent a shot across the penalty circle. SU goalie Sarah Sinck kicked away to the right, then slid off her line to corral the rebound, but tapped it to the outside of the shooting circle. Before Sinck could recover back to her cage, Louisville’s Mercedes Pastor — a two-time All-ACC first team forward — struck a shot into the bottom right corner.

With nine minutes left in the first half, Louisville nearly tacked on another goal. Off a penalty corner, Sinck had to make a diving save, just barely knocking down the ball with her glove and covering it up. 

SU was dominated in the second quarter, gaining possession inside the shooting circle just once in the first nine minutes of the period. But SU only entered halftime down one goal, largely thanks to Sinck (seven saves) in the cage. 

“We gotta be quicker on our free hits in the front third,” Bradley told ACC Network during her on-field halftime interview. “And be able to get our counter a little bit stronger, a little bit more stretch.”

Three minutes into the second half, SU earned one of its best chances of the match. Hoffmann intercepted a pass at midfield, then passed laterally to midfielder Claire Cooke, who advanced it forward Chiara Gutsche at the edge of the shooting circle. Gutsche turned the corner and drove down the baseline, but was turned away by LU’s goalie before she could attempt a shot. 

Then, Sinck had to make another acrobatic save to keep SU within one goal. As a Louisville cross went all the way through from left to the right post, Sinck departed from her line and slid to deflect a shot out of bounds.

Later in the fourth quarter, Louisville’s Minna Tremonti snuck behind SU’s backline and had only Sinck to beat. She deked away from the freshman goalie, but defender Olivia Graham sprinted back from outside the circle to cut down the angle on Tremonti, whose shot went wide.

A last-minute swinging shot attempt from freshman Charlotte de Vries was rushed and mishit. de Vries, SU’s leading scorer, registered two shots — neither on goal. For several freshmen, including de Vries, Graham and Sinck, Thursday was a first taste of collegiate postseason. Though Bradley said on Tuesday that she doesn’t have a different message for them and doesn’t prepare the team any differently than for the regular season, SU’s inexperience flashed against Louisville.

“I think a lot of people going through something for the first time in the postseason really made us get focused on outcome versus process,” Bradley said. 

Though the Orange’s spot in the NCAA tournament is likely secured, their performance on Thursday may hurt their seeding. Sixteen teams make the NCAA tournament, and SU entered the ACC tournament as with the eighth-best RPI. The NCAA tournament selection show is Sunday night at 10 p.m. 

Said Bradley: “This is a very disappointing loss but this group is resilient, they’re gritty, and will bounce back and be ready for the postseason.”

Published on November 7, 2019 at 2:39 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman