As Morgan Widner sprung into the air to catch her third-straight uncontested draw, Coastal Carolina’s head coach Kristen Selvage simultaneously jumped with her. But for a different reason.

Selvage’s team hadn’t touched the ball for over seven minutes. The Chanticleers were efficient when they had possession— if they made it past midfield — but after the first five minutes, Syracuse dominated time of possession. So when Widner cupped the ball for her fifth time in the matchup, Selvage stomped the turf. 

Long stretches of consistent possession keyed No. 7 Syracuse’s (3-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) offensive domination in its 18-5 win over Coastal Carolina (1-1) on Monday in the Carrier Dome. Nine unanswered goals after CCU’s open strike were led by nine unanswered draws. And it wasn’t just one player — Morgan Widner, Julie Cross, Emily Hawryschuk and Braelie Kempney all shined. Their control limited the Chanticleers to just three first half shots and five total goals and helped elongate a Syracuse 15-minute stretch where it scored 11 goals.

“You can tell it’s something we focus on, and it worked on (Coastal Carolina),” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “We were able to dominate them there.”

Coming off a season where the Orange struggled in the draw with the absence of Widner, Gait has primarily rotated Hawryschuk and Cross with the junior who’s still easing into play. Against Connecticut in its opener, Syracuse controlled the draw, 16-9, with Sam Swart occasionally jumping to the center for reps. Versus Binghamton, its second game against an inferior opponent, the margin narrowed to 12-9. That led to added draw drills during last week, Gait said. On Monday, that practice would materialize.

Widner opened the game and flung the opening draw 15 yards back where Kerry Defliese beat a Chanticleers defender to it. After Meaghan Tyrrell answered Coastal Carolina’s opening goal, Widner whipped it back again, this time scooping it herself.

But when the next draw came, Widner didn’t move. Cross, Hawryschuk or Swart didn’t run toward the middle either. Instead, the freshman Kempney — who played in just one of SU’s three games and hadn’t record a statistic — stood in the center.

“We knew we were going to use her,” Gait said. “She’s very good in draws. It’s (Kempney’s) first real game to get some opportunities.”

Kempney was sidelined most of the preseason with an injury but impressed Gait in fall ball, he said. Like Widner, the freshman came in and won a draw and diagrammed the direction of the ball before her opponent on another and careened two ground balls, leading to two consecutive goals.

Hawryschuk subbed in and followed suit. After that, Cross filled in after her. SU’s first eight draws were done in rotations of two, a reflection of team and draw success, Gait said.

“Our draw circle girls are so awesome this year,” Widner said. “It’s great having so much depth.”

On Cross’ first draw, and in the midst of SU’s 10-0 early draw advantage, she motioned for Defliese to come talk to her. The junior defender hadn’t spoken to a teammate before the draw all game, and Cross’ challenger was late to the 50-yard line. Cross subtly nodded her to the right, suggesting to Defliese that the ball would go that direction. A moment later, Cross laid off on the draw and let it roll. Defliese shoved and half-spinned out of her cover, and the ball was right where Cross told her it’d be.

Kempney followed up Cross, and after making 4-for-4, she stayed out for the 11th draw. But for the first time all game, Syracuse was beaten. By then, the Orange were up 9-1, Coastal Carolina had a pair of four-minute-plus stretches where it didn’t have possession and SU was in complete control. But Gait pulled Kempney from the game anyway.

“We’ll continue to stagger players,” Gait said. “Again, when we get to these tougher games, we might have to find the better matchup and go with that pursuit.”

Widner followed her up with three-straight draws, including her final one that caused Selvage to react on the sideline. All three landed squarely in her stick each time. By the end of the first half, the Orange had won 15 of their first 16 draws. That led to a 26-3 shot advantage, and a 13-2 halftime score. Kempney and Widner split time early in the second half, and paired with backups in the final 20 minutes, SU slowly deflated its draw margin to 18-7.

Gait recognized the power his team’s draw created on Monday — jump-starting the Orange’s offense until all of their energy was exhausted — but was hesitant to compliment Syracuse’s draw control. He remembered Sam Apuzzo, “the best draw control specialist” in college, torching his team in the draw during BC’s 9-to-1 scoring run on Saturday. But the talks Gait and his players had before the CCU matchup coupled with their dominant draw performance gave the 12-year SU head coach confidence in future ranked games, he said.

“It makes all the difference in the world,” Gait said.

Published on February 18, 2019 at 8:51 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman