Jessica Vigna lined up for a goal kick with less than 20 seconds remaining, about to seal Syracuse’s victory by sending a ball from SU’s defensive side of the field.

Wake Forest threatened to score for the final few minutes of the game, but the Orange’s defense stood strong. Momentarily, it seemed as if the Orange had evaded danger.

But after Vigna booted the ball away, it hit a Wake Forest player’s foot and deflected toward Courtney Brosnan. The ball squirted through the arms of the sophomore goalkeeper, and the tying goal lay on the ground in front of an empty net.

A nearby Wake Forest forward didn’t make a quick enough move on the ball, and Brosnan frantically dove on top of the ball as the final horn blared.

“(Brosnan’s) always just so calm and composed,” Vigna said. “You always know she’s gonna save it.”

The scene encapsulated the afternoon for Syracuse. The Orange (7-10-1, 3-6 Atlantic Coast) defense rose to the occasion Sunday at SU Soccer Stadium, neutralizing the Wake Forest (4-12, 1-8 Atlantic Coast) attack in a 1-0 victory for SU’s third straight win. The Demon Deacons only got off two shots in the opening 45 minutes and couldn’t convert any of its six opportunities in the second half.

“Our defense is stingy,” Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon said. “We’re not giving up a lot of goals, we’re well organized.”

In the first half, Wake Forest struggled to get anything going against the Syracuse back line. The Orange limited the Demon Deacons early on, with defender Erin Simon spoiling one of its best scoring opportunities in the waning minutes of the first half.

Wake Forest forward Jenai Davidson gathered a ball in the midfield and went streaking down the field. Simon raced up from behind and bodied up Davidson, poking the ball away in the process.

On a dreary day, Vigna said the wind — blowing against WFU in the first half — helped prevent the Demon Deacons from sending long crosses over the top of the Syracuse defense, something that gave the back line more time to establish its form.

“We’ve been a lot more organized, especially today,” Vigna said. “And we were talking a lot more and that’s why I think we had a solid performance in the back today.”

But after a first half in which Brosnan had to make just one save, Wake Forest came out of halftime with increased pressure on Syracuse’s goalkeeper.

In the 54th minute, Wake Forest strung together a series of passes at the top of the box. The ball made its way to forward Kendall Fischlein, who tripped before she was able to make solid contact.

Four minutes later, a Wake Forest corner kick ended in the ball scooting just far of the left post.

And in the 78th minute, Demon Deacon forward Maddie Huster settled a ball on the left edge of the box, but was quickly rushed by Vigna, Maddie Iozzi and Alex Lamontagne. Hunter hurried her shot and it went wide, rolling harmlessly to Brosnan. It was one of the four saves Brosnan made in the second half.

After the luxury of pushing up in the first half and playing past midfield, the Syracuse defenders found themselves packed in front of Brosnan much more often in the second half.

“They definitely did a really good job,” Brosnan said. “Obviously that team had a lot of dangerous players up top, a lot of strong, physical, tall players and we definitely dealt well with the runs and they didn’t have as many opportunities.”

Published on October 25, 2015 at 5:48 pm

Contact Matt: mralex01@syr.edu