That Went Well – How Syracuse Men’s Soccer Swept the Two-Match Week
By Josh Richardson | @joshrichy_04
For just the second time this season and the first since the opening week, Syracuse Men’s Soccer strung back to back wins together. The Orange beat UAlbany 3-1 and Notre Dame 2-1 on their way to a perfect week. SU came into the season ranked 25th in the nation. After a strong start, it began to fall apart. Now, it seems that Syracuse just keeps putting one foot in front of the other and it’s leading to positive momentum for head coach Ian McIntyre and his crew. So…. What changed? How does SU go from an 0-2-1 stretch to flipping it around to beat an Irish team that came into the match just outside the top 25?
Everyone always says that “defense wins championships.” In sports like basketball, football, and baseball, that may be true. But when your margin for error is so small like it is in soccer, you can have the best defense in the nation, and one mistake can still cost you a win. That’s exactly what it’s been like for Syracuse this season. Of its four losses, three have been by one goal. Of its three draws, the Orange has held the lead in all of them. Whether it be from penalty or free kicks, misplaying a ball, or a miscommunication on alignment, SU has given up just enough goals to not be able to come back from. The problem is, that number that marks the point of no return tends to be 1 or 2. In the last two matches for Syracuse, the Orange have scored a combined 5 goals. It’s hard to lose when you put up two or three on a nightly basis. Continuing this offensive momentum moving forward, as well as holding onto the staggering defense that McIntyre has presented all season, could turn SU into a Cinderella team come to conference and national tournament time.
It was always going to be a learning curve for this 2024 team. SU came into the season with Nick Kaloukian as the lone returning starter from last year. Factor that in with 13 freshmen on the roster (the most of any graduating class on the team), no matter how well you mesh in July and August, chemistry has to build throughout game reps during the season. It doesn’t help that Kaloukian has hit a dry spell on the offensive end. The star junior hasn’t scored since his match against Charlotte at the end of August. The 8-match scoreless streak marks the longest in his collegiate career. If the Orange can get him going, along with the output SU has still had on the attacking front as of late, watch out ACC.
Now, Syracuse faces its biggest challenge this season…. Which in the long run looks like a pebble compared to the mountainous final two matches. SU travels down to Rhode Island to battle #21 Providence tomorrow night at 8. After the matchup against the Friars, the Orange get two non-ranked matches against Loyola and Virginia before ending the year with #24 Clemson and #1 Pittsburgh.
