Women's Lacrosse

Improved clears help spark Syracuse’s winning streak

Hannah Wagner | Staff Photographer

Brenna Rainone and Syracuse have improved their clears this season to help propel the Orange on a five-game win streak.

The clear is a facet of Syracuse’s game that has given and taken from SU this season, instrumental in clutch wins, and the culprit in crushing losses.

On Feb. 28 against then-No. 5 Northwestern, defender Mallory Vehar was consistently left open in the clear formation, SU head coach Gary Gait said, and she exploited that to help facilitate Syracuse’s transition offense in a 16-12 win.

In overtime on short rest against then-No. 3 Florida on March 1, goalkeeper Allie Murray walked the ball up to midfield to clear. But two Orange midfielders strayed too close to Murray, breaking the formation, and the Gator defense struck. Florida forced a turnover and outran Murray to the goal to give SU its first loss of the year.

“We’ve always done (the aggressive goalie) thing,” assistant coach Regy Thorpe said. “… We’ve had some botched clears, but nothing’s perfect and our girls are resistant. We’re working on it.”

Prior to the last two games, Syracuse had an 80.2 percent clear success rate, which was the team’s lowest since at least 2011. In SU’s last two games, wins over Virginia Tech and Albany, the Orange is 25-for-25 on the clear. The script flip has led to No. 4 Syracuse’s (12-3, 4-1 Atlantic Coast) five-game win streak after losing three of five at one point during the season.



On Saturday at noon in the Carrier Dome, Syracuse has to stop one of the nation’s best offensive teams in No. 3 North Carolina (11-2, 6-0) and clear the ball out of the defensive zone.

“If you hesitate, think again,” said defender Brenna Rainone on the key to Syracuse’s improvement. “If you think again, don’t make the pass. That’s what we (practice and) try to focus on in the clear. If there’s any doubt at all, don’t pass it.”

That sort of mindset is the product of adjustments made by Thorpe a few weeks ago. He split up the offense and defense and began running them through different drills designed to force players to decide whether to pass or run the ball up once they gain possession in the defensive zone.

Thorpe employed that technique because the opposition, like Florida and Maryland he said, has gotten more aggressive, athletic and riskier. In the past teams were doing a “drop-ride,” meaning that they’d pursue a ball-handler to midfield then drop back into a packed-in defense, but that’s no longer the case. They pursue the ball-handler longer and harder, and it’s causing more turnovers while limiting successful clears.

This season, Syracuse has turned the ball over 219 times compared to 210 for its opponents.
When Syracuse gains possession in the defensive zone, Rainone said the first thing she does is look up to make a pass to the midfield to begin a counter-attack, but if she hesitates, there are two options coaches want her to consider, the first of which is looking to Murray.

“We like to settle (the ball to Murray) a lot,” Rainone said. “But (secondly) running the ball (up to clear) has gotten a lot better and we need to focus on our athleticism. We’ve noticed. We haven’t had a lot of turnovers and running has worked a lot. We just need to be a lot more smart.”

The adjustment has seemingly paid dividends. In a stretch when SU lost three of five, including one on the road against then-No. 16 Boston College in an upset, the Orange converted just 79 percent (65-of-82) clear attempts. In its current five-game win streak, excluding Canisius, the Orange has been successful on 91 percent (67-of-74).

But some defenders, junior Kaeli O’Connor for example, don’t feel confident in running the ball into the midfield to clear. That’s why Thorpe is making them practice.

“It’s definitely a focus point,” Thorpe said. “We’ve got to get better if we want to make a run.”





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