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Forward Blue Ellis was in control of the ball at the top of the goal box with a pair of defenders following. With her back to the net, she faked to her right and spun around to create a clear line of sight between her and NC State goalkeeper Maria Echezarreta.

Ellis’ shot left her foot with a lot of speed and Echezarreta needed to react immediately. In a split second, she dove low to her right and extended for the save. She got there just in time.

“Hopefully we get more of those shots into goal next time,” Ellis said.

But Ellis, a graduate student, unfortunately won’t be there for next time. Syracuse (8-7-3, 1-5-3 Atlantic Coast) finished out its regular season with a 1-1 tie to NC State (7-7-5, 2-6-2 ACC). The team applied a lot of pressure on NC State’s defense.

It was also the last game for Michaela Walsh. Walsh hadn’t started a game in net after an injury on August 21st against UConn. Shea Vanderbosch had taken the job. But after a red card in Syracuse’s last game against Virginia Tech, Vanderbosch couldn’t play on Thursday. 

“I’m so proud of (Michaela),” head coach Nicky Adams said. “We kind of came in at the same time. She was an incoming freshman when I came in so we’ve been together the four years. I’m glad she was able to finish her career strong tonight.”

Ellis fielded a lead pass along the right sideline into NC State’s zone, but got chased down and forced out of bounds. This set up when Murphy corner on the right side. Her ball sailed over several players trying to head it in the center of the goal box, but landed right in front of Erin Flurey near the left post.

Flurey forced a penalty kick on her shot attempt. Grace Gillard was immediately chosen to hit the penalty kick. Adams said it was a no-brainer after Gillard showed in practice that she’s consistently good at them. She said she told Gillard before every game this year, ‘Grace, if we hit a penalty kick, you’re on it.’”

Gillard stared at it for a second and paused. She then slowly approached the ball and quickly whipped her leg back. She kicked it hard to the top right of the net. Echezaretta guessed wrong and Gillard got her first goal of her NCAA career to put the Orange up 1-0.

“It’s amazing for a freshman to step up and hit it the way she wanted to,” Adams said.

Following that goal, Syracuse continued to pound the Wolfpack net with shots. But Walsh had to take her share of shots as well. In the 19th minute, Walsh had to track NC State’s Leyah Hall-Robinson as she had a give-and-go with her teammate on the right side of the Orange goal box. When Hall-Robinson got the ball back, she booted a shot near the right post. Walsh was in the perfect position and saved the shot. 

Just 10 minutes later, a long NC State cross fell really close to the left side of the goal. Wolfpack forward Alexis Strickland headed it in mid air, but didn’t connect cleanly. The ball popped up and Walsh jumped high and grabbed it right before it crossed the goal line. A right corner by NC State led to a header near the left side of the goal box. Walsh reached over and got her fingertips on it to bat the ball away.

Going into halftime, the two teams forced the same amount of saves, but NC State had four more shots. This flipped in the second half, with Syracuse nearly doubling the Wolfpack in both those categories.

In the opening minutes of the second half,  Savella had an opportunity with a left corner. Gillard headed the ball in mid air but it bounced off defenders and landed right back in front of her. She quickly delivered another hard shot, but it was blocked by Wolfpack defenders.

Midfielder Pauline Machtens came alive in the second half. She almost had a beautiful assist to Anna Rupert, but Rupert stumbled and ended up taking an off-balanced shot that was easily saved.

A few minutes later, Machtens took a deep shot from the middle of the Wolfpack zone, but Echezarreta leaped and swatted it up in the air. As Echezarreta came down from her jump, the ball barely fell on the top of the net, almost landing ahead of the crossbar and trickling in.

The Orange didn’t give up many quality chances throughout the second half, but that changed in the final twenty minutes. Wolfpack forward Jameese Joseph dribbled in the right corner of Syracuse’s zone near the endline in the 70th minute. 

She ran across the endline to her left and towards the goal. Walsh faced her and the two almost collided, but Joseph took a shot to her left as she faded away before they hit each other. The close shot didn’t give Walsh enough time to react and NC State evened up the game at 1-1.

Despite a mostly dominant second half for Syracuse, the Wolfpack continued to press after the goal. They got off three shots in the last four minutes of the game and one required another immaculate save by Walsh.

As time expired, Tivnan, Domond, Walsh, and Ellis hugged their teammates. It was their last time on the field with them as Syracuse likely will not qualify for the NCAA tournament. Adams was also very emotional after the game. She called it a pivotal year full of “progress.”

“Taking over this program has had some ups and downs, but it’s really cool to see the changes that we have made over the last three years come finally together: healthy roster, largest roster, players playing in the appropriate positions and the belief that the players have.” Adams said with tears in her eyes.

Published on October 27, 2022 at 11:39 pm

Contact Matthew: mahassan@syr.edu