Syracuse men’s soccer was defeated by North Carolina State 2-1 after an aggressive match at SU Soccer Stadium on Friday night.
SU and NC State started off trying to claim dominance on the field from the beginning. After six minutes of play, NC State was on the board with a goal coming from Julius Duchsherer, after getting the rebound from Aide Taiwo’s shot.
With a lack of connection between center backs and the strikers, the Orange had trouble dropping back to defend as the Wolfpack attacked. Leaving the middle wide open, the Wolfpack needed one big opportunity to punish the Orange defense.
Duchsherer scored again for NC State in the 27th minute, this time with a one touch finish from fifteen yards beating Syracuse goalkeeper Hendrik Hilpert at his near post.
Coach Ian McIntyre said goals are what change the momentum of matches and believes the Orange were limited in the first half.
“It would’ve been nice to have gotten that early goal and then I think the game would’ve calmed down,” Coach McIntyre said.
McIntyre doesn’t discredit his team for the hard work they were putting in against what he calls, caliber teams. However, he said conceding soft goals can make it difficult to come out on top
“Their big players scored the goals tonight and our big players didn’t. When we take care of that part as well, I think we’ve got some pieces here,” McIntyre said.
Despite trailing 2-0 the Orange were still determined to create offensive chances and had three shots on goal.
Syracuse defender Kamal Miller had a few solid runs down the right, but couldn’t quite get past the defenders. Miller said while they started playing strong, it wasn’t how they thought it was going to be.
“I think we had a decent start. Not as good as we would’ve liked. The goal was kind of a bit of a wake-up call,” Miller said. “We never planned to go down, we always expect, no matter who we play, we always expect to go up.”
Coming out of the half, down two goals, the Orange showed a change of pace and had a shot on goal within the first minute of the second half.
“Right away we knew we had to come off firing and try to get that first goal,” Miller says.
While NC State goalkeeper Leon Krapf made the save to open the half, five minutes later momentum began to swing. Syracuse midfielder Hugo Delhommelle placed a free kick in the box, and teammate Jonathan Hagman’s shot struck a Wolfpack arm.
Miller stepped up to take the penalty kick, and with a one-step walkup he placed the ball in the bottom right corner.
Miller said after scoring that first goal, not only did the players have the momentum to push through, but it gave the crowd a bit of energy as well.
Following the Syracuse goal, the Wolfpack changed their formation that allowed Miller and Sondre Norheim more space to advance the ball forward.
By the 60th minute, the Orange had more shots in the second half than they registered in the first half. Both teams tied for shots on goal at 3-3 in the first half, while the Orange led the Wolfpack with 9-5 total shots on goal.
Attacking heavily in the first half and working with the other strikers in the second, Hagman took control of the attack trying to get the Orange to get a second goal.
He said going into the game things felt perfect but sometimes that feeling isn’t enough.
“It’s one of those days where nothing goes as you want it to be. Their goal keeper picked up most up them,” Hagman said. “I mean that’s not good enough, but I mean it’s a confidence thing right now I guess. And we keep on working and next time it’ll be there.”
As the clock winded down, knowing they needed another goal to stay in the run for the win, Syracuse midfielder Mo Adams took a shot on goal from about 25 yards out. While the Kropf was able to make the save, this showed the Orange’s confidence that they could win the game.
Rounding out the game with two corner kicks, Delhommelle tried to serve some balls up the middle to set up one of his players, but the shots were just too far right. Coach McIntyre wasn’t disappointed in his player’s performance and while winning does make the game better, there are changes that need to be made.
“We don’t want to say we’re a good, young, naïve team,” McIntrye said. “let’s start being a good team and I think it’s time for this group to, including the coaching staff, including me, to transition from a good, young, naïve team, to a good team and I think we can do that.”
The Orange travel to Boston College for another ACC match on October 13.
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