Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Olivia Adamson’s summer routine requires elite shooting accuracy.

Following a warm up session with her father, Tom, she helps train her younger sister Gigi, who’s committed to Clemson as a goalie in the class of 2028. If Gigi asks for a shot to a corner, Adamson repeatedly pins the corner until her sister gets what she wants from the drill. The two go back and forth each morning until the blistering Florida heat tires them out.

“Every opportunity she gets where she’s looking at the goal, she’s done it hundreds if not thousands of times before,” Tom said of Adamson.

Through continuous shooting reps in the summer, Adamson’s elite finishing ability propelled her to become a top threat for Syracuse in 2024. Throughout her Division I career, Adamson’s point total has increased every season as she jumped from a key role player to a star. After SU lost its top two goal scorers — Meaghan Tyrrell and Megan Carney — from 2023, Adamson led the Orange in points (65) in the regular season and is primed to help them surge through the postseason.

“I think from my first semester freshman year to now I’ve completely grown into a different player,” Adamson said.

With Tyrrell and Carney gone, there was a clear role for Adamson to step into. She said her goal was to fill out one of those top spots, but she wanted to stay with her routine and continue to grow. Her Syracuse career started in a similar fashion.

Cole Ross | Digital Design Editor

When star attack Emma Ward was injured in the 2022 preseason, an opening was created for Adamson to make an instant impact. She took the opportunity and ran with it, scoring less than a minute into her career. Twenty-one games later, she earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman Team honors and tied for third on the team in goals.

As a sophomore in 2023, her role slightly shifted. Draw control specialist Kate Mashewske suffered a season-ending lower-body injury seven games into the season and the Orange needed someone to step up. SU head coach Kayla Treanor bounced around a few options but Adamson stuck.

Despite never taking a draw in college, Adamson excelled. She won 107 draws and helped Syracuse reach the Final Four. Simultaneously, she developed as a key cog on the attack, posting career highs in assists (21) and points (51).

“She’s always been a great player from the day she stepped on campus,” Carney said of Adamson. “It was just getting comfortable and finding her role.”

In the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, Adamson posted one of the best games of her career. A game-high six points and nine draw control wins helped Syracuse defeat James Madison to reach its first Final Four under Treanor. Though SU’s season ended with a Final Four loss to Boston College.

Heading home for the summer meant Adamson had to reconnect with her routine. Working with Gigi put Adamson’s skills to the test every morning. Gigi often requests Adamson to repeatedly place a flurry of shots in specific areas. And while Gigi’s trying to improve, Adamson hones in on her accuracy and practices different shots.

Tom said about midway through Adamson’s high school career, he realized the role she might play in college as a finisher. To aid this, they delved into having the hands to take in anything that comes her way and the vision to finish plays. Just like the roles she had to adjust to in the past, Adamson stuck to the same basics she’s practiced through much of her career.

“She always thinks of herself as being able to play an important role,” Tom said. “And so she never really said ‘Look, I have this opportunity.’ She just was looking forward to the year and doing what needed to be done.”

In the first quarter of SU’s season opener against No. 1 Northwestern, she was silenced. Though she quickly broke through, scoring a game-high six goals.

From there, Adamson notched at least three points in all but two games in the regular season, helping Syracuse to its first-ever ACC regular-season title. While leading the team in scoring for most of the season, she also alleviated pressure from Mashewske on the draw, who struggled at times coming off an injury.

In SU’s nonconference bout with UAlbany, the Great Danes won the draw battle 13-6 in the first half, prompting the Orange to rely on Adamson in the circle in the second half. The attack helped SU win 10 of the game’s last 15 draws en route to a 20-11 win.

Olivia Adamson prepares a shot attempt in Syracuse’s game versus UAlbany on March 19. Adamson led Syracuse in points through its regular season slate with 65. Calysta Lee | Contributing Photographer

While Adamson’s versatility helps SU, her inside finishing ability elevates her as a scoring threat. Ward describes Adamson’s finishing game as “phenomenal” and credits her for quickly getting into the offense’s flow and taking on a larger role in 2024.

In SU’s regular-season finale versus Boston College, Adamson netted a team-high three goals, all resulting from her inside scoring prowess. On the first, she took a tight window pass from Ward and flipped it underhand to beat BC’s Shea Dolce high. Later in the game, she scored two more after receiving passes and utilizing her quick release to beat Dolce.

Against Louisville Wednesday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, she was limited on the scoresheet but her presence forced the Cardinals to send more attention her way, making room for a season-high nine different players to score. When she did find the back of the net, it was a sharp shot to the upper-right corner.

“Her role has changed where now she’s one of our very top threats and defenses are scouting her and coming up with game plans to stop her where in the past she’s been successful because they’re trying to stop somebody else,” Treanor said.

Under Treanor, along with assistant coaches Kenzie Kent from 2022-23 and Abigail Rehfuss in 2024, Adamson has vastly improved her knowledge of the game and learned different techniques.

Adamson said when she started working with Treanor, she was blown away by how her coach helped her technically improve and fine-tune her raw skills. Though she wasn’t recruited by Treanor — who was an assistant at Boston College from 2017-21 — Adamson said it was a lifelong dream to play under Treanor, who she admired as a player during her childhood.

When Adamson learned Treanor became Syracuse’s new head coach ahead of her freshman season, Tom said she was ecstatic. As a driving force behind Treanor’s coaching success at SU, the player Adamson once idolized now adores her.

“She’s one of the best finishers I’ve ever coached. I love coaching her, I always have and she’s elite,” Treanor said.

Published on April 25, 2024 at 12:24 am

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky