Syracuse forward Sydney Brackett practically carried Bucknell defender Karli Cirovski on her back to the goal line, dribbling the ball in front of her, hesitating as she approached Bucknell goalkeeper Dani Kaufman. Cirovski’s forearm dug into her back, but provided little resistance against Brackett, who fired low right corner on Kaufman and put the Orange up 2-0.

Syracuse (1-0) defeated Bucknell (0-1), 2-0, on the road. The Orange outshot the Bisons 22-5 and spent much of the game setting up clean looks at the goal.

Brackett scored only one goal on 19 shots a season ago, but in the opening 35 minutes of Syracuse’s debut she netted two goals on her first three attempts. She powered through extra defensive pressure deep in Bucknell’s zone, scoring through two defenders on top of her at 11:06. At the 34 minute mark, Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon put his arm around her.

Most of the first half was spent in Bucknell’s zone as Syracuse outshot the Bisons 10-0. Senior Jessica Vigna chased down most of Bucknell’s deep passes and senior Eva Gordon and sophomore Opal Curless pressed the ball into Bucknell’s zone routinely.

Bucknell struggled to move the ball, failing to craft a quality scoring chance until Maddie Dano’s corner kick flew by Kendall Ham and off Alexandra Catanzarite’s foot as she slid inches from the net. A wall of Bucknell and Syracuse players blocked the kick before a handball was called on the Bisons.

Brackett’s physicality around the net area was complemented by rough midfield play. Gordon got called for one of seven first-half Syracuse fouls and was spoken to by the official after. No cards were given in the game, despite 15 foul calls on Syracuse.

Freshman Kate Donovan entered early for Alex Lamontagne for the Orange. Minutes into her debut, she dribbled to the left of Cirovski in the goal area before firing the ball off the top crossbar with her left foot. At 39:20, freshman Molly Nethercott got one of many slot passes ahead of Bucknell’s defense and shot the ball wide left of the net.

After the half, Bucknell got their first shot on Courtney Brosnan at 45:53. Over the next 10 minutes, the Orange came back with five shots of their own, including Gordon breaking deep toward the Bucknell zone and passing right side to Brackett who shot right into the chest of Kaufman. Five Bucknell players came chasing behind moments too late and were met with Kaufman motioning back with a look of frustration.

Bucknell earned two corner kicks midway through the half, providing a shot for Gabi Rosenfeld at 74:10 that was blocked away by two defenders in front of her. The fourth corner was knocked away and picked up by Catanzarite and shot from the left side of the net into Brosnan’s hands.

Brackett, who recorded six shots, fell on her back at 70:35 shooting high over the net appearing to slip in front of the net. Sheridan Street and Eva Gordon assisted on the goals.

Syracuse’s home opener is against Connecticut on Monday at 6 p.m.

 

Published on August 18, 2017 at 9:30 pm

Contact Bobby: rpmannin@syr.edu