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Minutes after Syracuse lost its 11th game in a row, this time to Virginia Tech, Lysianne Proulx roamed out of her goal, found Jenna Tivnan among a mob of players and grasped the center back tight. The senior center back whispered a few words into Proulx’s ear before going onto other teammates. Thursday was the graduate student’s final game as a collegiate soccer player: five seasons as a goalie for a Syracuse program that couldn’t crack .500 once.

As the regular season wraps up, Syracuse’s (4-12-1, 0-10 Atlantic Coast) 2-1 loss against the Hokies (11-5-2, 5-3-2 Atlantic Coast) dropped the Orange into last place in their conference, just like in previous years. Despite not playing in the ACC Tournament, the Orange showed promise in a game against a bubble team such as VT, almost matching the Hokies’ shot count 13-16.

Nicky Adams said her team will eventually get to that contention spot, even if it may take five to six years. Players she’s recruited such as Kylen Grant and Koby Commandant have helped Syracuse carry its offensive possession — the Orange more than doubled their goal count this season than last year.

The last time Syracuse went 0-10 in conference play was in 2018, the same year its previous head coach, Phil Wheddon, resigned. Shortly after, Adams arrived and was met with a team that had a limited roster. She’s won eight games total and cemented the worst record in program history last season with just one win. This season, with 10 ACC games and a longer season, the Orange did not capture a single win in their conference.

“I do know that rebuilding a program from where it was is going to take time,” Adams said.

At the start of this season, Adams said she was excited for her team’s starting 11, which contained veterans such as Meghan Root, Tivnan and Adams-recruited players like Commandant. Syracuse went 4-1 within its first five games and then collapsed as its “entire” attacking unit, including key contributors such as Telly Vunipola and Ashley Rauch, suffered injuries.

Against the Hokies, the same problems — the ones that have occurred all season and prior years — arose again. Syracuse’s sloppy passing allowed the Hokies to gain possession early, and their first shot from Allie George tested the Orange’s goal 12 minutes in. Eight minutes later, Emily Gray approached the outskirts of Syracuse’s box and crossed a pass inside to Emmalee McCarter, who then knocked into the center of the net. Then the Hokies tacked on a second goal when a tap-shot from Sophie Maltese creased Proulx’s glove and then rolled past the goal line.

Down 2-0, Syracuse came into the half energized and began to string together passes and maintain possession. In the 56th minute, VT’s Alia Skinner held the ball on the outside of the box and Root approached her, tapping it out of the goalkeeper’s possession. While on a fast break on the left side of the goal, Root tapped it in to close the gap 2-1 Despite 34 minutes of playing time to work with, Syracuse couldn’t close out.

After the game and players clearing out to meet with their families, Adams told a parable about her time at SU so far: coming in during the spring of 2019, having a limited roster and COVID-19. The moral wound up being that her team is rebuilding. Down the street on East Colvin, there’s progress through ribbons tied on Hookway fences, each representing the wins Syracuse has gained so far in the Adams era. There are ones from 2019 with three wins — her first year as coach. Just one in 2020, the midst of the pandemic. Now, there are four this year. As her program continues its rebuild and no matter where it goes, Adams said she plans on keeping them “forever.”

“Losing is not fun,” Adams said. “But this team rallied day in day out and just kept pushing each other knowing that ‘Hey, we might not win this next game, but we’re going to work on the things that we need to keep getting better.’”

Published on October 29, 2021 at 12:44 am

Contact Christopher: [email protected] | @chrisscargs