In overtime, Syracuse had its chances. A shot from Alma Fenne shot trickled by wide right, Laura Hurff fell on a breakaway with a defender on her back and the North Carolina goalkeeper, Shannon Johnson, rushed up high out of the net. Roos Weers clanked a penalty stroke off the right post.

It was the first time all season, in seven tries, Syracuse had missed a penalty stroke.

It was also the first time all season, in 18 games, Syracuse lost.

Minutes later, 8:17 into overtime, North Carolina’s Gab Major collected a rebound off the pads of Syracuse goalkeeper Jess Jecko. She sent the ball home and a sea of blue jerseys onto the field. The officials reviewed the play and after about five minutes of consulting, approached the coaches. They spoke briefly to the coaches. Syracuse head coach Ange Bradley solemnly nodded her head.

The blue jerseys renewed their celebration. The official’s signal confirmed the goal. ESPN cameras quickly cut away from the wet, red faces of Syracuse players.

“We played a very passive first half,” Bradley said. “An outstanding second half, but the breaks didn’t go our way today.”

Syracuse’s run at perfection ended Sunday when the Orange (17-1, 6- Atlantic Coast) fell, 2-1, to North Carolina (18-2, 4-2) in the 2015 ACC Championship. Despite holding the lead in shots, 22-14, and penalty corners, 7-3, SU lost its second consecutive ACC title. The team lost in 2014 to Wake Forest after beating UNC in the semifinals. But in the sequel, Syracuse never led and it dropped its first overtime contest on the season.

The day of firsts was also a day of missed opportunity for Syracuse.

The Orange could’ve ended the game before overtime. With regulation time expired, Syracuse played out its final penalty corner. A shot by Lies Lagerweij bounced off the diving Johnson and rolled out to the right side, where Hurff was waiting. Her shot hit the post. It deflected, hitting a North Carolina defender. Originally, officials called a penalty stroke, but video review showed the defender didn’t initially prevent the ball from going in the goal, so Syracuse received a second corner instead. The team failed to capitalize.

“It doesn’t come down to one moment of a corner or anything,” Bradley said. “It’s little details in a moment. It’s people diving to score, stepping up to pressure; (that didn’t happen) in the first half. Those things didn’t happen until the second half. It wasn’t enough.”

In the game’s opening 35 minutes, the Orange couldn’t score on any of the four penalty corners it drew within four minutes. Three shots were straight on, one was a slide pass to Weers at the top left point in the circle, but all were stopped by ranging dives and leg saves by Johnson. In addition, Emma Russell’s back-chop at the top of the circle with plenty of space flew high over the goal, a shot by Alyssa Manley was turned aside and a baseline drive by Liz Sack ended with a Johnson dive and Sack reverse somersaulting out of bounds.

Syracuse couldn’t muster the magic it did on Sept. 12, when then-No. 4 SU used four unanswered, second-half goals to beat then-No. 2 North Carolina 4-2 at J.S. Coyne Stadium. The second-half spur wasn’t there Sunday.

“We’ve got to be more aggressive,” Bradley said in a halftime television interview. “Nothing great is accomplished without risk.”

UNC’s Casey Di Nardo showed aggressiveness when she snaked through the defense and slid a shot underneath Syracuse goalkeeper Jess Jecko’s feet for the 1-0 lead 18:27 into the contest. Jecko covered her mask with her hands for the first time that day.

Weers, before missing her second penalty stroke, converted her first attempt at 43:45 and tied the game, 1-1.

But the tie was as close as Syracuse would get.

“The bottom line is: In the first half we weren’t aggressive and we were apprehensive,” Bradley said. “We waited for things to happen instead of stepping up to making things happen.

“That’s the first team we did that all year. And it’ll be the last.”

Published on November 8, 2015 at 3:27 pm

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