SU Men’s Soccer Draws 0-0 with No. 20 Louisville

By Nick Kuzma

CitrusTV Men’s Soccer Beat Reporter

When the second-half clock hit zero, the Syracuse Men’s Soccer team’s night was far from over. SU was heading into far too familiar territory – overtime.

The Orange played in their third-consecutive double overtime game.  To make matters worse, SU’s Luther Archimede was issued his second yellow card on the last kick of regulation and was ejected from the match. Therefore, Syracuse was going to have to play overtime with just 10 players.

“Obviously last kick of regulation, to lose a player means that it changes everything,” said Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre, “and so [with] that [I’m] very, very proud of how we managed overtime.”

Syracuse (1-1-3, 0-0-1 Atlantic Coast) maintained the 0-0 tie with No. 20 Louisvile (2-1-2, 0-0-1 Atlantic Coast) Louisville through both overtime period for its third draw in a row.

For the players, the loss of Archimede in overtime called for a different mindset. SU went from attacking hard for a win to defending the tie.

“It was quick, you know, it happened literally after 90 minutes, so it was naturally a quick change of what do we have to do now in that situation,” said SU Forward Massimo Ferrin. “Where of course three points would be ideal, but we gotta be smart and try our best to at least come out with a point.”

This change was apparent as the Orange outshot #20 Louisville by 10 in regulation while in the two overtime periods, SU was outshot 2-0.

It was a very physical match, resulting in a staggering 46 total fouls, ten yellow cards and one red card, when Archimede received his second yellow. However, Coach McIntyre did not think the game was “nasty” in anyway.

“Look if this is your first ACC game, they’re emotional, physical high tempo, [this was] two good teams, very competitive, every point you earn in this league is hard fought,” said McIntyre.

Syracuse outplayed Louisville for much of the match, so Coach McIntyre and the team were mostly positive after the game despite believing they deserved to win. The overall consensus was that Syracuse proved to themselves that they can play anyone.

“I said to the guys afterwards, like my initial emotion is one of tremendous pride. I thought we played –look,” McIntyre then interjected, “for a new group the take away at halftime was we’re pretty good and we can play at this level.”

Next up, Syracuse will host Cornell (1-1, 0-0 Ivy League). SU defeated the Big Red 2-0 last season off goals by Ryan Raposo and then-graduate student Len Zeugner. This match will be the finale of Syracuse’s five game homestand, dating back to Labor Day. Kickoff is set for 7 o’clock Tuesday at SU Soccer Stadium.

npkuzma@syr.edu | @nkuz71