Freshman Teri Jackson took off her yellow pinnie on the sidelines and handed it to Marisa Fischetti, who was exiting the field. Replacing the redshirt freshman in the 26th minute, Jackson took over operating the right wing of the Syracuse attack. Having spent less than a minute on the field, Jackson received the ball, picked up her head and found forward Meghan Root with a through-ball. 

Root’s shot trickled just wide of the post, but it was the first of many attacking moves that Jackson would be a part of on Sunday afternoon. With a roster crippled by injuries, the Orange (2-4-1) turned to Jackson and fellow freshman Alexandra Panaggio to spearhead the front-three in a 0-0 draw against Fordham (1-5-2) at SU Soccer Stadium. The two freshmen combined for nine shots, three of which were on target, and played the entirety of both overtime periods despite not starting. 

“Great for both of them to get in,” Root said. “And I thought in both games that they’ve played in, they both made a direct impact right away.” 

Panaggio’s afternoon started poorly when she sent a corner kick into the side netting about five minutes into her shift. Later in the first half, the forward went down from a challenge in the midfield holding her ankle but got up in a few seconds. She did not seem to feel any effects from the tackle the rest of the game aside from a few winces. Panaggio stayed quiet the rest of the first half, not featuring in any moves in the attacking box.

Jackson, however, used her speed to get the better of the Fordham outside backs and gave another wide option for a Syracuse team looking to play more direct. After nearly assisting Root, Jackson fired the Orange’s only shot on goal in the first half when a blocked shot bounced to her. Fordham goalie Kelly LaMorte made the save comfortably.   

Both Jackson and Panaggio made their debuts against St. John’s on Thursday, but otherwise have not experienced college play. The faster pace of the college game has been difficult to adapt to, Panaggio said. And with Syracuse looking to play long balls, she was unable to showcase her technical ability until the second half when the Orange played shorter as they looked for a winner. 

“(I) Definitely (worked on) getting my head up and finishing,” Panaggio said. 

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Though Panaggio has been practicing executing in the box, her skills are still developing. On Sunday, she was unable to make an impact on the scoresheet, though not for a lack of chances. Led by Panaggio and Root (5 shots apiece), Syracuse out-shot Fordham 23 to six. 

In practice, because of extensive injuries, SU hasn’t been able to scrimmage or simulate game-scenarios to work on tactical play, head coach Nicky Adams said. The coaches have had to step in and play with the girls at times, and the injured players have acted as “mannequins” to emulate opposition.

It’s left a hole in player development regarding awareness and defensive positioning, Adams said, and not just with the freshmen. Fitness has also been a cause for concern even outside of the injuries. 

“There’s a lot of work we have to do but with limited players, tactically, there’s little we can do besides watching film,” Adams said. 

Early in the second half, Jackson created the best chance of the game to that point as her shot whistled past the crossbar and landed on top of the goal-netting. Then, as the rain started coming down, Panaggio looked to hold up play in the midfield to give time for her attacking options to get forward. At times, she would race down the left wing and look to take on the defenders one-on-one. 

She turned her defender on one occasion and was able to cut inside on her right foot, but with a slippery field because of rain and divots, she fell while attempting the shot. She would get a similar chance near the end of the second extra-time period, this time aiming for the top-left corner. Her looping effort would end in the safe hands of LaMorte, who didn’t have to dive and simply shuffled over for the stop.  

Over the two extra-time periods, Panaggio added three shots and Jackson added two. On a couple of occasions, Panaggio was able to hold the ball up and try to find Jackson making a run in behind the defense. While neither put Jackson through on goal, they did lead to corners. 

“I think we were meshing well,” Panaggio said. “It’s just connecting. She’s making great runs and I’m trying to play her in.” 

Syracuse didn’t find the result it was looking for on the scoreboard and Adams admitted there was plenty of work to be done by the team. But in her first season at SU, she realizes there’s a long road ahead to turning around a team that hasn’t played the offensive style of soccer she wants in a long time. 

For now, Adams just wants “maximum effort,” she said. And that’s exactly what Jackson and Panaggio brought on Sunday afternoon.

Published on September 15, 2019 at 6:00 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder