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Gianna Savella told head coach Nicky Adams before the game that she was going to score against Cornell.

With less than a minute until halftime, Anna Rupert passed to Kylen Grant at the corner of the penalty box, who swung it to Chelsea Domond out wide. Domond sent a high cross to the back of the box, where Savella leapt forward to head the ball into the net. It was Savella’s first goal of the season, giving the Orange a 2-0 lead with 31 seconds left in the half.

“That was a tough goal,” Adams said about the freshman midfielder’s score. “I expected her first one to be with her foot. But the fact that it was with her head, she had to really reach for it. So, you know, the effort that she showed was tremendous.”

The Orange converted at a much higher rate on Sunday than they had in previous matches this season. Syracuse (7-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) has a 47.4% shot-on-goal percentage this season, but it shot nine of its 17 attempts (53%) on goal in a 3-0 win over Cornell (1-4-1, 0-0 Ivy League). SU also converted three of 17 shots, a shot percentage of 17.6% — almost double its 9.7% average this season.

SU’s increase in efficiency made SU head coach Nicky Adams feel a bit more confident going into ACC play next week. She said that the team was much more intentional in their approach when attacking from the outside.

“I thought once we made the adjustment of realizing where the space was to attack, we needed to get them wide and then combine out that way,” Adams said. “Every time we did that, we created chances and I thought we were much more efficient with our shots.”

With this win, the Orange have achieved their best eight-game start since the program’s first year in 1996, when they started 7-0-1. The victory also extended Syracuse’s win streak to six. The Orange have outscored their opponents 15-3 during the stretch.

SU took the lead in the 19th minute on an Erin Flurey penalty kick after she was slide tackled on the right side of the goal. From 12 yards away, she casually rolled the ball into the lower left corner of the net as the goalie jumped in the other direction. SU took the lead and began to control the ball even more.

The Orange outshot Cornell 17-6 while also shooting with higher accuracy — only two of Cornell’s shots were on goal. While Syracuse had the advantage in shots, it didn’t control the ball early as much as it has in previous games. The Orange led just 6-3 in shots at the half, but it didn’t start to dominate possession until the second half.

The game was a clear departure from SU’s nonconference performances up to this point, but a higher accuracy percentage is exactly what SU was looking to improve on going into ACC play, Adams said.

Adams said that Domond and the other forwards’ ability to pressure offensively has been one of the more significant changes from last year’s team compared to 2022’s. The offense has averaged more shots than last season, which will help them be more competitive in a tough conference that houses multiple top-10 teams.

Domond scored the Orange’s final goal in the 73rd minute. Right after a substitution from the Big Red, Domond took possession in enemy territory. She patrolled the left side for a shot but couldn’t get a great look and put on the brakes.

Domond finally found a lane and fired a long, hooked attempt over the defenders in the penalty box. The ball flew past a diving Nicole Shulman and into the top right corner of the net.

“She’s a handful,” Adams said of Domond. “It’s something we haven’t seen from Syracuse, is forwards who have the ability to stretch other teams. And she’s not the only one.”

Published on September 11, 2022 at 7:50 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu