Defenses dominate in Orange's first conference game

By: Jen McCaffrey

Posted: 9/22/08

Each shot either barely tipped over the top of the net or was swatted away in a diving stop. After 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime sessions, the Orange (3-3-2) tied St. John's, 0-0, Friday night at the Syracuse Soccer Stadium.

The two teams matched each other possession-for-possession through regulation. St. John's (4-1-3) best scoring chance in the first half was barely saved by Orange goalkeeper Eliza Bennett-Hattan, who used her fingertips to push the ball over the top of the net. She recorded three more saves in the second half, her last coming with less than two minutes left in regulation as she dove to her right and pushed the ball out of bounds.

The back-and-forth game challenged the defenses on both teams. Syracuse was able to generate more offense than St. John's, out-shooting the visitors 16-11. But the Red Storm - who leads the conference in most defensive categories - kept SU scoreless.

Syracuse played a very aggressive, vocal game surrounding and pushing past Red Storm defenders to get inside while exposing St. John's lack of speed up the middle.

Forwards Crystal Rinaldi and Amanda Arcuri continued the attack combining for four shots on goal. Megan Bellingham came back strong in the second with Syracuse's first shot on goal of the half and remained aggressive until the last shot in double overtime.

"We knew going into the second half we needed to do a better job of keeping the ball," Bellingham said. "Obviously when you keep the ball you're going to create more chances. I thought we did a great job at stepping up our intensity."

But both goalies rose to the occasion to keep the game scoreless.

SU's Bennett-Hattan recorded her third shutout of the season and 15th of her career, moving her into sole possession of first place on SU women's soccer career shutouts list. She also recorded her 200th save moving her into sole possession of second place on the Syracuse women's soccer career saves list.

"I asked Eliza to play a little higher off her goal line so she could scoop up all the balls that came through," said SU head coach Phil Wheddon. "She did a great job of playing - marshaling behind the back four and denying them goal scoring opportunities either with her feet our her hands. I thought she was exceptional tonight."

Her counterpart, St. John's goalkeeper Kristin Russell, had a busier night, recording 10 saves on 16 shots from the Orange. In eight games this season, Russell has only allowed two goals.

"We planned to get up high and put a lot of pressure on them," Bennett-Hattan said. "We've been training really hard in practice putting in good hard workouts, and I think its starting to pay off. We're getting to the balls we can get to easier and faster."

The Orange defense was aggressive in keeping the ball on the Red Storm side of the field allowing four shots on goal.

"A big role definitely in this game was catching them offsides," said sophomore defender Marjory Elwell. "Sticking together as a team in the back communicating with each other and figuring out where everyone else is going to be so you can support them and get behind them."

Wheddon credited the team for its intensity and collaboration on the field working off each other to get possession of the ball. Even though neither team scored, Wheddon found a silver lining.

"Obviously the first game in the Big East there's some pressure there," Wheddon said. "We out-shot them, and as a team that beat us last year for us to come out and outplay and out-shoot them was very positive for us."

jcmccaff@syr.edu