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Nicky Adams inherited the women’s soccer program in February 2019 from head coach Phil Wheddon, who had been at Syracuse for a decade. She also inherited a struggling Orange team that finished the season 3-15 and 0-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

That season’s top point scorer, Kate Hostage, tore her ACL just a few days after Adams was hired as head coach. More than half of the team still plays for Syracuse. But the timing of her hire presented Adams with recruiting challenges.

“I did not get to Syracuse till the middle of March,” Adams said. “So that 2020 window to bring in a lot of freshmen was limited because most of them were already committed. So we have focused highly on some transfers, especially some grad transfers, that we could get to come in for a year and help us out.”

Syracuse (0-6, 0-6 Atlantic Coast) had five transfer players in its 2020 signing class: Carina Hendley, Olivia Erlbeck, Telly Vunipola, Natalie Weidenbach and Alina Miagkova. Hendley, Erlbeck and Weidenbach are all graduate transfers. Only the latter four players have seen the field this season. Vunipola, Miagkova and Weidenbach play in the wing-back position for the Orange, while Erlbeck plays midfield.

The coronavirus pandemic also impacted the 2020 signing class. When SU students were sent home in March, the team allowed Miagkova to return to Russia to be with her family. But with international travel restrictions, she was only able to return to Syracuse a few days before the Orange’s first game.

“We were under the impression that we weren’t going to have her at all,” Adams said. “So when I got the phone call three days before the Pitt game and she told me ‘Hey I can come,’ we made it work.”

Miagkova has played for the Russian national team and participated in the 2019 Russian Cup with Lokomotiv Moscow. She’s started three times this year for Syracuse and played in all six of its games, splitting time at left and right back.

Starting opposite of Miagkova on the wings is usually Vunipola. The junior transferred to Syracuse from Louisiana to push herself out of her comfort zone and play at a higher level in the ACC, she said. Adams changed Vunipola’s position from midfield to wingback, a position she hadn’t played since her freshman year.

“It’s been difficult, but a good challenge for sure,” Vunipola said. “After playing offensively for so long and having to build that offensive mindset, it’s definitely a switch that I have to make mentally.”

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The position switch has caused Vunipola to struggle at times. In a shortened season, Syracuse has only faced ACC opponents, who have targeted Syracuse’s wingbacks.

Louisville lined up first-team All-ACC midfielder Emina Ekic against Miagkova, and that switch led to two goals. Duke winger Mia Gyau later notched two assists after driving at Vunipola and beating her twice one-on-one. Weidenbach took over one of the starting spots from Miagkova, but the defense hasn’t improved and is still searching for its first shutout this year.

But Vunipola played a key role in Syracuse’s only goal this season. Off a Lysianne Proulx punt on Thursday, Vunipola drove through Boston College’s midfield and played a through ball to Hannah Pilley, whose pass across the goal was tapped in by Meghan Root. Vunipola played in midfield that game instead of her usual role in defense.

Erlbeck has started every game, except against BC. She decided to transfer from Duke for financial reasons and for the opportunity to attend the same university as her younger brother Blake Erlbeck, a freshman on the men’s lacrosse team.

But she also transferred for the chance to help Adams rebuild Syracuse’s program. Duke came to SU this year as the No. 5 team in the nation, while Syracuse was, and still is, winless.

Syracuse women’s soccer has five transfer players on its roster this season. Corey Henry| Senior Staff Photographer

“Being a part of creating something new and creating this new culture is one of the coolest experiences that I’ve been able to get because I’m able to leave this imprint on Syracuse women’s soccer before leaving,” Erlbeck said.

In her previous job at Rice, Adams said she only had a “handful of transfers.” Now, with the creation of a transfer portal, it’s easier to find transfer players and bring them into the program.

SU’s five transfers are the first group of players that Adams has truly recruited. Adams said she didn’t really have a say in the freshman class because of when she was hired, and she won’t have her first freshman class until 2021. In the meantime, Adams will continue to recruit transfer players to aid her rebuild.

“I think rebuilding a program, it’s not going to happen overnight,” Adams said. “I definitely have a certain way I want to play, so it’s about attracting those players to Syracuse, whether it’s through true freshmen or the transfer portal. But it’s going to take some time.”

Published on October 25, 2020 at 10:19 pm

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu