Two stadium workers heaved away the makeshift goal from midfield at the conclusion of the half time youth scrimmage. Music from the stadium speakers battled that of the 34-person strong pep band.

With four minutes still to go until the start of the second half, Syracuse players began returning to the sideline, snatching cups of water from the sidelines as they milled about.

But no matter what the clock said, it was time for Asa Goldstock to go back to work. She slowly jogged towards the SU net with assistant coaches Allie Murray and Halle Majorana, who each clutched sticks of their own. Goldstock was the only SU player on the field, and not one player from Massachusetts had even come out of the locker room yet.

Goldstock needed to get back in the zone, after posting a save percentage of just 25 in the first half. She spun around in front of the net as Murray and Majorana rifled the ball back and forth, chucking shot after shot at her as the timer inched closer to the second half.

Despite No. 5 Syracuse’s (4-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) nine-goal victory Saturday evening, Goldstock struggled in the net against the Minutemen (1-3). After allowing three goals in the first half on four shots, Goldstock was able to somewhat right the ship in the second, but still allowed four more goals before being pulled with 5:42 left in the half in the Orange’s 17-8 win.

She ended with a save percentage of .500, matching her season worst, but many of those saves were ground balls in the front of the net that she was able to easily scoop up. She also posted a team-high three turnovers.

“I’m very happy with (Asa’s) play,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “But I’m sure she’d like to have some of those passes back. She’ll watch film, she’ll she what the situation was, and she’ll learn from it.”

In a game marred by turnovers at midfield on both sides of the ball, the UMass counterattack got to Goldstock multiple times Saturday evening. Midway through the second half, Goldstock made a save on a hard shot during a Minuteman counterattack, but instead of relaxing and taking her time with the outlet pass, Goldstock rushed it.

The freshman tried to flip a quick pass over the head of UMass senior Hannah Murphy about ten yards in front of the net, but Murphy stuck her stick in the air and intercepted the pass on the run. The midfielder took the turnover and dished it to Cassidy Doster, who fired a shot past a flailing Goldstock into the bottom of the net.

With the turnover, her third of the game, Goldstock had in essence just scored on herself.

“(My passes today) weren’t very good,” Goldstock said. “But I’m gonna come back to practice and work on my passes, and come back better next game.”

After the Orange’s 18-8 win over Boston College on Feb. 11, Gait spoke about how Goldstock’s youthful inexperience is something she’s going to have to overcome. In that game, Gait’s negative comments came mostly due to 30 and 40 yard passes from Goldstock, who tried to stretch the counterattack more than she should have.

On Saturday, Goldstock made more conservative passes, and limited her long-distance outlets, but still the freshman struggled with turnovers and a poor save-to-goal margin. And with just six days until the Orange’s first matchup against a Top 10 team in No. 10 Northwestern on March 3, correcting those mistakes will be at the top of Goldstock’s agenda.

Published on February 25, 2017 at 8:04 pm

Contact Matt: mjfel100@syr.edu