Two minutes into the second half, the referee’s whistle blew for a foul against Albany. Senior captain Roos Weers raced into the circle and ran up to the referee and waved her arms. The call was a free hit outside the circle for Syracuse, but Weers didn’t see it that way: it should have been a corner.

A review deemed that the foul for a dangerous high ball occurred inside the area, setting up the corner. It led to a Weers score that helped No. 11 Syracuse (2-0) secure a 1-0 win over No. 25 Albany in the second game of the season.

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“They thought the ball was outside the circle,” Weers said. “I thought it was inside the circle. Any player can review anything that leads up to a goal.”

Syracuse had not produced an attempt on goal for the opening 37 minutes. Syracuse was held without a shot attempt or corner in the opening half for the first time since October 14, 2017 — a 2-1 loss to Virginia. The Orange drew just one prior corner, committed more than seven defensive half giveaways, and allowed five penalty corners without sustaining a single offensive attack until Weers gave SU the lead for good.

“Set piece plays like penalty corners are becoming more and more important in field hockey,” Weers said. “We just have to keep executing.”

Syracuse’s penalty corners have now accounted for three of its five goals on the season after Weers scored a goal in SU’s opening win over Vermont off of a corner.

The goal spurned a flurry of chances for Syracuse as Bradley stood on the touchline, yelling out for her team to improve its energy and movement across the pitch. The next 10 minutes brought about the Orange’s best of the afternoon, when Syracuse produced five of its seven shots, two of its three corners, and had Albany on its heels for the first time.

“They played a definitely better second half,” Bradley said. “And again we’re a young team, that’s the ebbs and flows of a young team.”

Early on in the first half, Weers came off the pitch for 70 seconds, sitting on the bench to discuss tactics with assistant head coach Allan Law.

Law wrote instructions and drew on his drawing board surrounded by Weers and a few other SU coaches. Even after Weers re-entered the game, Syracuse struggled to deal with the Albany press as the backline failed to connect with the midfield on multiple occasions. The failed connections led to turnovers, which created counterattacking chances for Albany.

Late in the second half, SU’s defense was tested, as Albany pulled its goalie with 4:30 remaining to add an extra attacker. In those four minutes and 30 seconds, the Great Danes produced two shots and forced a kick save from sophomore Borg van der Velde. With the extra player, Albany drew five penalty corners, including four successive corners after time expired. As Jamie Martin flicked the ball out of the circle after the fourth corner, SU clinched its second victory of the season.

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The Orange improved in the second half, but Bradley said that her team is still not close to where she wants them to be. With four top 15 teams on the schedule for the next four games, the Orange has to improve its energy and consistency everywhere, Bradley said.

“The aggression that they brought in the second half is a base level of where we need to be this season,” Bradley said. “It’s a good thing that I could show them this is the first step to being aggressive in the ACC.”

She added: “We’re still a long way from that.”

Published on August 26, 2018 at 7:07 pm

Contact Anthony: [email protected] | @AnthonyDabbundo