Syracuse downed by No 2 Florida State 5-1, but it wasn’t a demolition?

By Timmy Weiss | @TimmyWeiss3

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Just 15 minutes into this contest Syracuse was down to the No 2 team in the nation Florida State 2-0.  It seemed evident that the Seminoles were a ridiculously good soccer squad and the Orange didn’t seem to have any answer.  Although SU never did have an answer, things drastically changed throughout the first half.  

After the tough first 15 minute spell, the Cuse played toe to toe with the Noles the rest of the half.  Anna Rupert nearly scored, Iba Oching almost curled one in, and Ava Uribe was nearly taken down for a penalty kick.  Syracuse was impressing and although Florida State continued to look dangerous, the team hung in there and allowed no more goals going into halftime.

As the second half begun though, we saw why the Seminoles haven’t lost since 2022 and why they have 12 straight ACC wins.  By the 60th minute it was 4-0 to FSU and there really was no coming back from that.  Despite the goal of the season from Ashley Rauch in the 84th minute from way outside the 18 yard box it was not nearly enough. Syracuse (6-4-1, 0-3 Atlantic Coast) was trounced in the end by 2nd ranked Florida State (6-0-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) 5-1.

At the end of the day Syracuse was never expected to get a result against Florida State, but there was multiple things that went wrong, that made the scoreline worse than it should’ve been.  First of all, the Orange couldn’t stop the counter-attack.  The Seminoles got 4 of their 5 goals on the counter and that very well could have been more if it wasn’t for Shea Vanderbosch’s 9 saves, which was a season high.  The other major problem, which is something that has been plaguing SU since the start of ACC play, is that the team couldn’t finish its chances.  The Cuse had 11 shots and only 4 of those were on target.  The team was unlucky yet again to have only notched 1 goal and that’s saying a lot since FSU had only allowed a single goal all season before tonight.

Every chance matters next time Syracuse takes the field as it welcomes No 8 North Carolina to SU Soccer Stadium on Sunday at noon.  The team seeks revenge since last season the Orange were thumped by the Tar Heels 6-1.  UNC is going to be almost as dangerous as FSU on the counter, so SU will have to be on its toes all day.