TALLAHASSE, Fla. -- The Syracuse women’s soccer team shut out No. 2 Florida State in the second half but couldn’t overcome a first-half deficit in a 2-0 setback in Tallahassee, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 9.

Freshman goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan (Short Hills, N.J.) recorded a career-high 11 saves, including eight in the first half. The Orange (5-6-3, 2-3-0) successfully defended against nine corner kicks.

“Courtney was brilliant,” said Syracuse head coach Phil Wheddon. “She came up huge for us time and time again.”

Florida State (12-1-0, 5-0-0) notched both of its goals in a span of 10 minutes in the first half. Berglind Thorvaldsdottir put the Seminoles on the board when she scored on a header from four yards out. Marta Bakowska-Mathews added to the lead in the 35^th minute when scored on a feed into the box from Isabella Schmid.

The Orange’s best scoring chances came on breakaways. Freshman Alana O’Neill (Chester, N.Y.) had one in the first half, but Florida State goalkeeper Cassie Miller got to the ball before O’Neill could get off a shot. Senior Alexis Koval (Syracuse, N.Y.) also had a scoring opportunity eight minutes into the second half, but her shot went just wide of the goal.

“Florida State is the best team we’ve played this season,” Wheddon said. “They are dynamic at every position. In the first half they showed their superiority. We didn’t connect passes and didn’t defend particularly well and we were exposed. In the second half we had a few opportunities but we were playing so deep that we couldn’t get forward to support the ball.

The Orange’s road trip continues on Sunday, Oct. 12 when it plays at Clemson at 1 p.m.

“There are many lessons to be learned from this game,” Wheddon said. “We look forward to fixing some of the issues (we had tonight) on Sunday.”

 

AGATE

                                1^st           2^nd          Final

Syracuse              0              0              0
Florida State       2              0              0             

Scoring

25:49     FSU        B. Thorvaldsdottir (M. Bakowska-Mathews, Megan Campbell)
35:08     FSU        M. Bakowska-Mathews (Isabella Schmid)

Shots: Florida State 24, Syracuse 2
Corner Kicks: Florida State 9, Syracuse 1
Saves: Syracuse 11 (Courtney Brosnan), Florida State 0 (Cassie Miller)

Attendance: 1,767