As the referees ordered captain Emma Russell off the field, Syracuse knew the next two minutes could determine its season.

For the next 1:16 early in the second half, the Orange held a one-goal lead and had to play with two of its best players, Russell and freshman Laura Hurff, in the penalty box. And SU’s defense, led by Alyssa Manley and Jordan Page, rose to the occasion and didn’t let Boston University get a shot off in that stretch.

This defensive shutdown was key in the No. 4 Orange’s (16-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) 2-1 victory over the  No. 17 Terriers (13-8, 5-1 Patriot) at J. S. Coyne Field in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday. SU will now host the winner of Penn State vs Boston College in the quarterfinals on Sunday at 2 p.m.

The timely defensive effort was led by Manley and Page and complemented by a Lieke Visser goal shortly after, which put BU permanently out of reach.

“We had to endure and be able to manage it,” head coach Ange Bradley said. “They had good structure behind the ball, and we valued possession and bought time to be able to get our players back on the field.”

When the referee issued Russell the green card, Manley’s thoughts immediately turned to strategy and how her team would defend while down two players.

“I just knew that we needed to not drop off and keep pressure, but not so much that we were just like running all over the place,” Manley said. “We just needed to stay calm and stay together with the players we had left on the field.”

As soon as Boston started attacking, Manley and her team did just that. Syracuse played somewhat off of BU, but as the Terriers tried to get into the circle, Manley stole the ball and was able to possess it for a little bit, taking off precious seconds of the penalty.

While she was not able to cross midfield with the ball, she did eat almost half of the penalty time in the process.

“I think we did a pretty good job of double teaming and getting pressure on the ball pretty quickly,” Manley said. “Then getting the ball back and trying to keep control.”

Manley was not the only one to step up on defense during this penalty kill. The whole Orange team stuck with the strategy once BU got the ball back, playing a little off and not letting the Terriers to establish themselves in the circle.

As BU tried to get in the circle, Page was able to poke the ball away multiple times and prevent the Terriers from firing a shot off.

The job Page and Manley did is even more impressive when considering the pair starts in  the midfield. Page and Manley had to play both offense and defense the entire game, a dangerous job where stepping out too far on offense could cost the team a goal.

“We were just having a better defensive structure and making sure we have layers behind,” Page said. “So that when we are aggressive in our attack, that we have people behind to stop them from getting those breakaways.”

The Orange was able to ride the momentum off its penalty stop to a goal shortly after, as freshman Lieke Visser scored just 29 seconds after Russell stepped back onto the field to give the Orange a 2-0 advantage.

“I was really happy,” Visser said. “It was a really frantic game. I think that goal was really important so that we could be calm and relax a little more.”

Published on November 15, 2014 at 7:36 pm

Contact Ryan: rlraigro@syr.edu