Syracuse women’s soccer tops Cornell on Senior Day

Sunday was Senior Day at the SU Soccer Stadium, as Syracuse women’s soccer faced off against Cornell — a perfect opportunity for the Orange to gain some momentum before heading into ACC play. 

In its final non-conference contest of the season, Syracuse dominated Cornell 3-0, a complete performance during which SU head coach Nicky Adams’ attack finally found its form.

“This whole week we’ve just been really focused on putting away chances,” senior forward Anna Rupert said after the game. “A couple of our goals that we had, we’ve been practicing all week.”

The game began with a handful of smaller chances on both ends of the pitch. From the very beginning, Syracuse was actively looking for over-the-top through balls to get their attack going. 

A hectic 30 seconds of play took place about half way through the 45 minutes. A heavy touch from Syracuse freshman center back Bree Bridges called senior goalkeeper Shea Vanderbosch into action far off her line in order to clear the ball away. Following Vanderbosch’s clearance, SU forward Mia Klammer found herself one on one against Cornell goalkeeper Samantha Qureshey on the other end, only to be denied by the freshman netminder. 

Five minutes later, the Orange got its breakthrough. After some sloppy play from the visitors inside their own box, the ball popped out to Syracuse’s sophomore midfielder Gabby Wisbeck, who confidently struck the ball into the back of the net to give the Orange a 1-0 lead heading into the break.

There was a clear adjustment from the Orange when coming back from the half. Adams’ team shook things up in the midfield in order to change the point of attack, a change that put Cornell under pressure. 

It wasn’t long before the change paid off. 

On Senior Day, it was the senior duo of Rupert and forward Maya McDermott who sparked back-to-back goals within 30 seconds for SU, just 10 minutes into the second half. 

In the 55th minute, Rupert played a beautiful through ball that released her in on goal from nearly the halfway line. After her first attempt on goal was stopped, Rupert finished off the rebound into the roof of the net, putting Syracuse up two. 

Then, about twenty seconds of play later, McDermott chipped a beautiful pass over the top of the Cornell backline for Klammer. SU’s leading goal scorer on the season made no mistake, poking the ball past Qureshey to give the Orange a commanding lead. 

Both goals stemmed from insightful, over-the-top through balls that exposed Cornell’s high line. 

“Mia Klammer is one of the fastest players in the nation, Anna Rupert is one of the fastest players in the nation,” Adams said. “So if you’re gonna play high, we’ll go over.”

Another senior that stood out on Senior Day was goalkeeper Shea Vanderbosch. 

The New York native registered her third clean sheet in a row Sunday afternoon, just a week after making her 300th career save for Syracuse. 

“A lot of stuff that we’re giving up are long shots that, hey, we got Shea Vanderbosch in net that can handle that kind of stuff,” Adams said. 

For the Orange, Sunday’s win was a stark contrast to Thursday’s frustrating result against Binghamton, which is a good sign for the team ahead of next week’s transition to ACC play. 

“We wanted to have a really good performance before ACC hits,” Adams said after the game. “I think we had glimpses over the last three games, but it wasn’t complete. It was a really, really good performance today.”

The Orange take on its first ACC matchup next Thursday against SMU in what is the first of a three game home stretch to open up conference play. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the SU Soccer Stadium.