SYRACUSE N.Y. – Syracuse Women’s Soccer broke cold streaks and made history Thursday at SU Soccer Stadium.
The Orange entered with a five-match scoring drought, in danger of holding the longest drought in history if not netting a goal against the Panthers.
The team did so twice, knocking off Pitt 2-1 for the first time in nearly a decade.
Abby Incorvaia officially found the back of the net minutes after being called offsides on an initial goal
“I’m really sick of heartbreaking moments,” Syracuse head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams talking about her mentality entering the contest. “I’m ready for something to go on our side. What a response. Two goals in the five minutes like that could have totally brought us down. But that was an energizer that we can do it.”
The attack continued for the Orange, firing off five shots including two on goal in the first 10 minutes.
Pitt responded with their own attacking presence, outshooting the Orange 13-3.
It was junior goalie Maya Namoli keeping SU in front, making numerous saves including a diving block in the final seconds of the first half.
Pitt’s defense came up big, punching out a shot inches away from the box with 23 minutes remaining in the match.
Syracuse elected to challenge the play, though it was deemed unsuccessful.
Pitt continued the attack tying the game at 1-1 with freshman Desiree Reed scoring her first career goal finding the back of the net with 22 minutes remaining in the match.
Syracuse answered the game-winning strike in the final three minutes of the contest with Farrah Stephens-Martin taking a cross on the far side and finding the left corner of the net past Elli Johnson.
“We practice our free kicks a lot,” Incorvaia said. “We know everyone in the box is hungry and determined to get on it however they can.”
After suffering the month-long cold spell, Adams went to pushing out positivity which finally paid off.
“We kept it positive the last few weeks,” Adams said. “Showing them how many positive clips and all the wonderful things we were doing.”
Stephens-Martin said that the team was ready to put its losing streak against the Panthers to bed.
“At the end of the day, we were on our home turf,” Stephens-Martin said. “We had to get that result this week, that was a non-negotiable.”
With the win, SU improved to 4-5-2, notching their first ACC home victory since 2022.
Syracuse sets its sights to a road matchup against Virginia on Saturday. Kickoff against the Cavaliers is 7 p.m.