The Way Back: A Crucial Match this Friday for SU Men’s Soccer
By Josh Richardson |@joshrichy_04
It’s no secret that the Syracuse Men’s Soccer season hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. The Orange started off the year ranked 25th and jumped up to their highest ranking of 7th just a week later. Then, a 1-4-3 stretch left SU searching for answers and plummeting out of the top 25. Now, Syracuse has won 3 of its last four matches with just two left to play….. Against the two best teams on its schedule. SU travels down to Death Valley Friday night to face #16 Clemson, while the following weekend it welcomes 2nd-ranked Pitt to SU Soccer Stadium. Both matches are crucial for the Orange to have good positioning in the ACC tournament and could make or break the opportunity to grab a spot in the NCAA tournament. So, how can Syracuse pull off the upsets?
Preview
Clemson enters this matchup as the reigning national champion. Last year the Tigers drew the Orange 1-1 at home, while the season before that, SU beat Clemson twice: 2-1 in the regular season (while it was the top-ranked team in the nation), and 2-0 in the ACC Championship. This is a contest that has regularly decided success within the ACC against two historic programs. The best way for SU to pull off the upset is by defending early and often.
What Wins Championships…..?
It’s great to be aggressive. The best defense is a good offense. It’s what Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre has prided himself on. Getting out on the attack as quickly as possible and putting the opposing team on its heels. SU didn’t start the season that way, it was much more defensively centered, mainly from a personnel and chemistry standpoint. This is a young team that rosters more freshmen than any other graduating class. As the program played more and more together, the team became more offensive-centric. A great example of this was against Providence. The Orange had two shots on goal in the first 15 seconds of action. The one issue with this strategy is that if you turn the ball over, it leaves you extremely vulnerable defensively. This was seen on Saturday in the 3-0 loss to Virginia. The Cavaliers scored in the 10th and 16th minutes of action to go ahead 2-0 at the snap of a finger. Against the bigger and better ACC teams, that style of aggressiveness can come back to haunt you. To beat Clemson, Syracuse has to play its aggressive game… to an extent. Maybe that means lining up with four or five defensemen on the field compared to three. Maybe that means playing a conservative effort holistically. But turning those defensive opportunities into offensive chances is crucial if this team can get out and run.
Kickoff for Syracuse and Clemson is set for Friday at 8:00 from Historic Riggs Field. A win, and SU’s odds of making the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, drastically improve. A loss, and a young team plays out the rest of the year, but moves on to next season more mature and capable to handle the moment.
