Players dive to the ground to win loose balls. They argue over what should be a foul. The score is kept in nearly every drill.

Syracuse is trying to finish its final four regular season games strong by keeping practice intense, despite end-of-season soreness. And by adjusting his starting lineup for nearly every game, SU head coach Phil Wheddon has promoted competition in practice.

“Hopefully we grow and we peak at the right time, which should be around mid-October,” Wheddon said on Sept. 16.

Though practice intensity remains high, SU (5-7-3, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) has already been eliminated from ACC tournament contention and hasn’t won consecutive games since the first week of September. The Orange is coming off two conference road games — both shutout losses — as it returns to SU Soccer Stadium to play No. 13 Notre Dame (9-4-1, 4-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday.

After beating Boston College 3-0 on Oct. 4, captain Jackie Firenze said she thought it might be a turning point. Before that game, Syracuse lacked consistent scoring and she said beating BC could spark the offense.

But the Orange followed up that performance with a 2-0 loss at No. 2 Florida State and a 1-0 loss at then-No. 24 Clemson. It is now mid-October and SU is still searching for consecutive conference wins. And three of Syracuse’s final four opponents are in the top-15 of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings.

“It started off strong against BC,” sophomore defender Maddie Iozzi said. “Kind of lost a little bit of that peak this weekend but I think these next four games are a great opportunity for us to get that right back.”

In six ACC games, Syracuse has a goal differential of minus-1 but has lost four times. In the other five conference games other than Boston College, the Orange’s goal differential is minus-4.

Wheddon acknowledges the challenges of playing strong teams and has been modeling his coaching to prepare for them.

“We’re still doing some good things,” Wheddon said. “We’re knocking the ball around well, we’ve got good possession. We’re just not creating the opportunities.”

As the season wears on, Wheddon has also adjusted the drills he runs in practice. In the beginning of the season, drills were designed for players to practice more technical skills in smaller spaces.

Now, drills are designed to practice working together with more teammates at once, similar to gamelike situations.

“We want to make sure that our players are playing together on a larger field more often,” Wheddon said. “Earlier on in the season we did a lot of small-sided stuff. Now we’re focusing on our game play.”

To be eligible to qualify for the NCAA tournament, Syracuse must have at least a .500 record. With each loss, its chances are thinning, but there are four games left in the regular season to finish strong.

And it starts with Notre Dame on Saturday.

“We’re looking forward to this game, looking forward to playing at home,” Wheddon said. “It should be a good crowd, playing against a good team and our team, our players rise to the occasion.”

Published on October 16, 2014 at 12:09 am

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