Syracuse’s scoring struggles end 2014 campaign early

After beating Boston College 3-0 on Oct. 4, Jackie Firenze said the game could be the turning point of the season.

It was — except it turned in the opposite direction of what she hoped.

Syracuse was shut out in its next five games as the season sputtered away. The rest of October was marred by inexperience and blown chances.

“We’ve gone through some growing pains,” Firenze said.

Nineteen of SU’s 24 players on the roster were either freshmen or sophomores. Though its freshman class was ranked No. 17 best in the country by TopDrawerSoccer.com, Syracuse’s (5-10-4, 2-7-1 Atlantic Coast) struggles throughout the season were underscored by an inability to score in conference play.

The Orange and the many young players who were thrust into contributing roles hope the team will learn from the disappointing season and improve in the future.

“I don’t think it’s a question of if people are good enough or skilled enough or want it bad enough or anything,” Firenze said. “I just think it’s a little — I wouldn’t say immaturity, but it’s just people aren’t used to it yet.”

SU’s inexperience was manifested in a lack of scoring. Syracuse finished last in the conference in shots with 51 in 10 games.

“One of the main lessons we learned this year is we’re not going to get perfect opportunities in the run of play to score goals,” Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon said. “We just have to take more shots.”

Wheddon called this team the deepest he ever had at Syracuse. It set preseason goals of reaching both the ACC and the NCAA tournaments.

Both went unfulfilled.

Playing in what coaches and players constantly heralded as the country’s best conference for women’s soccer, Syracuse wanted to peak in mid-October in preparation for what it hoped would be one of four spots in the ACC tournament. Instead, it lost seven of its last 10 matches and the season slipped away.

SU had very few bright spots, but Courtney Brosnan was one of them. After she returned to the pitch from a preseason injury that sidelined her for the first eight games, Brosnan made 63 saves, second in the ACC, and finished with the fourth best save percentage in the conference, 80 percent.

While the Orange defense was often under fire, Brosnan seemed to rise to the challenge with diving save after diving save and earned ACC All-Freshman Team honors.

“Courtney’s an exceptional goalkeeper,” Wheddon said. “In my opinion, she’s the best in the ACC.”

But even her highlight-reel saves weren’t enough against the nation’s top teams.

Moving into next season, every player on the team has the opportunity to return. Even Syracuse’s only senior, Alexis Koval, still has a year left of eligibility after redshirting as a freshman. The team’s only other senior this season, Hanna Strong, was suspended indefinitely

With what Eva Gordon described as “another strong recruiting class” coming in for the 2015 season, the Orange hopes that learning from the losses this year will help it build for the future.

“You shoot as high as you can and we had high expectations coming in with the freshman class that we did,” Gordon said. “It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”