As Syracuse went into halftime deadlocked with Boston University, head coach Ange Bradley issued a challenge to her team: score two goals as soon as possible.

And the Orange delivered with two quick goals, sparking the team to victory.

‘I think I need to set higher goals and higher expectations because most of the time they do what I ask,’ Bradley said jokingly. ‘But I’m really proud of what they did. They moved, they passed and they finished, and they did it right away.’ 

No. 5 Syracuse (7-2, 2-0 Big East) used that fast start to the second half to secure a 3-2 victory over the No. 17 Terriers (5-4, 0-0 America East) in front of 145 on Sunday at J.S. Coyne Stadium. The Orange’s two goals in the first 4:11 of the second half proved to be the difference. It was also SU’s second win of the weekend after the Orange beat Big East foe No. 19 Louisville 2-1 in overtime on Friday.

To complete the weekend sweep, SU had to come out of the break firing against BU.

Kelsey Millman watched from the top of the shooting circle as a crossing pass intended for senior midfielder Martina Loncarica came in from the right. The pass was deflected, setting up an open shot for Millman, who stood a few feet to the right of Loncarica.

And Millman buried it.

‘It came up into the middle, and I popped off the line, and it was a little bit of confusion, but it went in,’ the junior forward said.

The goal, which came more than 30 minutes after junior back Iona Holloway put the Orange on the board, set the tone for a second half in which Syracuse outshot the Terriers 14-3. The Orange also earned eight penalty corners while holding BU to none in the final 35 minutes.

SU only waited seven seconds for its third goal.

Heather Susek worked up the right baseline and snuck a shot past BU goalkeeper Jess Maroney, tallying her team-high seventh goal of the season and extending the Orange’s lead to 3-1.

The senior forward’s goal continued SU’s theme of attacking the right baseline. It’s a tactic the team has been enforcing since its season opener against Monmouth almost a month ago.

‘We’ve just been changing the angle of the goalie,’ Susek said. ‘Which we’ve been working on in practice and basically this whole year.’

Though the Orange only scored three goals, it racked up 22 shots and put 16 on net. In comparison, the Terriers managed to test Syracuse junior goalkeeper Leann Stiver just three times.

Many of SU’s shots came on second and third chances. Often times an attempt would be deflected by the BU goalkeeper and a member of the Orange would be there for an immediate follow-up. But SU didn’t convert many opportunities.

‘It’s great that we’re getting rebounds,’ junior back Holloway said. ‘It would be better if the first shot went in, in the first place, but our forwards have been working really hard on their rebounding. If we just get a few more in, we’d have a more comfortable victory.’ 

Syracuse had to battle all game to get the win. BU threatened to force overtime late, cutting Syracuse’s lead to 3-2 in the 63rd minute on a counterattack.

But the Orange held off the Terriers comeback bid to earn its 20th consecutive victory at J.S. Coyne Stadium.

The last time the Orange lost at home was Sept. 6, 2009. But Bradley said the team must stay focused on every game and can’t take its home-field advantage for granted.

‘If you think of what’s been in the past or what’s in the future, you’re not going to get done what you need to get done in the moment,’ Bradley said.

And at halftime Sunday, the Orange seized its moment. Holloway and company stepped up and rose to Bradley’s challenge to lead the team to another win.

‘All we wanted to do was score at halftime, obviously because we were in a tie game when we really shouldn’t have been,’ Holloway said. ‘So we came out and wanted to score two early goals, which we did.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on September 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1