Syracuse controls possession in 20-2 win over Binghamton

Two Binghamton defenders bracketed senior Vanessa Costantino with their sticks extended as she readied herself for the free position. As soon as Costantino took her first step forward, the Bearcat defenders exploded, edging her out and blocking her lane to the net.

Except, Costantino had passed.

Redshirt senior Cara Quimby collected Costantino’s lob with ease, and with the defenders caught off guard, Quimby fired a bounce-shot into the left corner of the net to make it 11-0.

“We talked about making one more pass if somebody’s open,” Quimby said. “A couple times, a bunch of girls made another pass if somebody else had a better chance to score.”

Sunday night in the Orange’s 20-2 win over Binghamton (0-2), the key was making that extra pass. It allowed the Orange (3-1) to control possession — so much so that it took Binghamton 37 minutes to register its first shot. That dominance stemmed from SU’s accurate, smart passing, paired with creativity on the offensive side of the ball.

For the first 38 minutes of the game when the Bearcats couldn’t register a shot, the ball rarely ventured into SU’s half. That was largely due to Syracuse’s success on the draw, where Syracuse won 18 draw controls compared to Binghamton’s four. The Orange controlled possession so much that with 11 minutes left in the first half, goalie Asa Goldstock was watching the game on the big screen behind her net.

“We were dialed in and ready to play,” head coach Gary Gait said. “I can’t ever remember a time looking up, walking into halftime and seeing zero shots on goal, or zero shots.”

Midway through the first half, Mary Rahal collected a pass and sprinted into the 8-meter arc. When the pressure arrived from the Bearcats defender, she feinted right and then made a sharp cut to the left, bouncing her shot off the turf and past the goalie to push SU’s lead to 9-0.

Like Rahal, Emily Hawryschuk showed her creativity and versatility in her six-goal performance. On one instance, Hawryschuk was running from the left side of the 8-meter arc toward the middle of the field when she came to a halt after reaching the top of the arc. The Binghamton defense thought she was going to flip it to a teammate on a crossing route. Instead, Hawryschuk kept it, nutmegging the goalie with her bounce-shot.

“From the beginning, I asked the team to make that extra pass, communicate better, let the player know you’re open,” Gait said. “I thought they did a much better job today.”

Hawryschuk also scored on a sidearm shot and from a free position, where she elected to run it in instead of shooting immediately. Each of her goals was vastly different — the only thing Hawryschuk was missing was a behind-the-back goal, which teammate Morgan Alexander did in the first half.

Toward the end of the first half, Megan Carney collected the ball at the 15-yard line, and with no pressure, she drove towards the net. Five Binghamton defenders stood still, ball-watching as Carney completed her hat-trick. She would finish the game with four goals and an assist.

Because of the lopsided possession, SU’s defense didn’t have much work to do. They found success in getting numbers back and shifting back and forth as the ball moved. Late in the second half, the defensive unit did that until the shot clock ran out and the Binghamton attack was forced to fire a wild shot that landed way over the net.

In the second half, Sarah Cooper even felt confident enough to let the Binghamton attack wander 20 yards away from her when the play was on the other end of the field. By then, though, the Orange were leading 15-0.

The Bearcats’ defensive efforts clearly tailed off by the end of the first frame. Quimby’s second goal came one play later after Carney’s as Quimby ran straight to the top of the crease on the free position for one of the easiest goals of the game.

Saturday against No. 3 Northwestern, the Orange will face one of the most explosive offenses in the country, a stark contrast from Sunday’s matchup with Binghamton.

“It’s such a different level when we head to Evanston,” Gait said. “(Today’s game) does carry over, and that’s what we’re going to focus on. It’s going to be about execution.”