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Syracuse is in the middle of a gauntlet. It plays five ranked games in a row, starting with No. 2 North Carolina a week ago. SU entered the third of five matchups Saturday against No. 12 Clemson on a two-game slide.

First, the Orange fell to UNC 16-8 behind a 12-5 first-half deficit. Just a few days later on Tuesday, SU dropped its second straight contest to No. 3 Northwestern after failing to climb out of an early 5-0 hole. In both games, Syracuse was without attacker Olivia Adamson, who was later ruled out for the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury on Friday.

SU was also plagued by constant woes on the draw in the contests. Meghan Rode has struggled all year, but it got even worse against the two juggernauts. Syracuse’s unit lost 18-9 versus the Tar Heels and 17-6 to the Wildcats on the draw, limiting their offensive chances.

But Saturday against the Tigers, Syracuse continued to struggle. It started slow again, trailing 5-3 at half via 11 turnovers. In the back half, the Orange couldn’t recover, notching their third straight loss.

Here are some observations from No. 5 Syracuse’s (3-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) 9-8 loss to No. 12 Clemson (5-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) Saturday:

SU’s stagnant offense

Adamson was an integral piece to Syracuse’s offense. She racked up 16 points (10 goals, six assists) in SU’s first three games before suffering her eventual season-ending injury versus Cornell.

Without Adamson for the third straight game Saturday, SU’s offense had no identity. It passed the ball around, looking for scoring chances, but long possessions with poor shots ensued. SU’s stagnant offense was similar to how it started versus Northwestern when it went down 5-0. But unlike then, when it rebounded to make it 5-4, Syracuse couldn’t respond.

It trailed 3-2 after the first quarter, getting goals from Caroline Trinkaus and Sam DeVito, but no one else stepped up. From DeVito’s goal to Trinkaus’ second goal with 56 seconds left in the half — a 23-minute span — Syracuse went scoreless. It wasted two Clemson turnovers with ones of its own, entering halftime down 5-3 after Natalie Shurtleff extended the Tigers’ advantage.

The second half was no different. The Orange scored just two goals in the third — both on free positions from Emma Ward and Alexa Vogelman and never took the lead again after their 2-1 first-quarter advantage.

Defense forces turnovers

Despite allowing 16 goals versus North Carolina, SU’s defense majorly improved versus Northwestern, allowing just 12 goals, two of which were late empty-netters by Madison Taylor. Against Clemson, it kept improving.

On the Tigers’ first possession, Kaci Benoit stripped the ball and took it down the field. Then, after Lindsey Marshall’s opening goal, Joely Caramelli came up with another turnover for the Orange. Midway through the first, Coco Vandiver slapped the ball away and Superia Clark picked it up before Mileena Cotter stripped Marshall of the ball.

In the second, as Clemson was beginning to gain momentum offensively, DeVito knocked the ball free and gave the ball to the Orange. Benoit forced Clemson’s 12th turnover of the half late in the second, nine of which were caused by the SU.

Clemson was cleaner in the third, but couldn’t get much going offensively, as SU’s defense held it to just one goal in the quarter. The Tigers finished with 19 giveaways in the game, leading to the close result.

Clark hinders MacLeod

Last game against Northwestern, Clark was tasked with defending the nation’s leading scorer Taylor. By face-guarding Taylor, Clark held her to zero first-half goals, keeping SU in the game the entire way.

Clark again got the start versus the Tigers and closely guarded Clemson’s leading scorer
Kayla MacLeod — who entered with 16 goals — for the entire game, not letting her get an inch of space. With Clark’s tight defense, MacLeod didn’t get a shot off in the first half.

Despite switching off MacLeod briefly in the first for a zone defense, Clark continued to hamper her. She was largely eliminated from the Tigers’ offense, with the two not moving at all at the 30-yard line for many of the Tigers’ possessions. MacLeod tried to get free from Clark, but to no avail, finishing with zero points at half.

Clark kept MacLeod at bay to start the second half. But once Clark moved off her with two minutes left in the third, MacLeod drilled a shot past Daniella Guyette in goal for her first score of the day. But that was her only goal of the game, as Clark got the best of her.

Ward quieted

With Adamson gone, much of SU’s offense will now be put on Ward’s shoulders. She entered Saturday with a team-leading 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists), with no other player within 10. In Syracuse’s early games, she scored at will and dished out assists from X.

Against Clemson, Ward was nowhere to be found early. She rarely possessed the ball behind the net and didn’t get much space to work with at all, as Clemson clogged the crease with defenders. She finished the first half with zero shots, scoring her first point by assisting Trinkaus’ second goal to close out the first.

Clemson continued to swarm Ward in the second half. So, she switched things up, driving to the net and drawing a foul at the nine-minute mark. She notched her first goal of the day on the ensuing free position.

But after the score, Ward reverted to her first-half woes. She flung a shot off the crossbar to begin the fourth and ended the game with just three points after converting her second free-position goal halfway through the fourth.

Published on March 1, 2025 at 2:30 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99