After leading University of South Florida 2-0 at halftime, the Syracuse University men’s soccer gave up two late goals and eventually lost in overtime to the Bulls, 3-2, Saturday night at the SU Soccer Stadium. USF junior Dom Dwyer scored the game-winner four minutes into extra time.
“Unfortunately right at the end we made a mistake,” SU coach Ian McIntrye [6] said.
Forty-five minutes into the game, it looked as though Syracuse (2-9-1, 0-4-1) was going to pull out the biggest upset of their season against No. 11 USF [7](9-2-2, 4-0-1). Junior Louis Clark [8] scored two goals in the 18th and 27th minute off a corner kick by senior captain Nick Roydhouse [9] and a pass from junior Ted Cribley [10], respectively.
“Today we got the start we wanted,” Roydhouse said. “We got the early lead. We were up by two.”
Not only was the offense clicking, but the defense was shutting down a very potent USF offense. Dwyer [11], the best statistical player on the Bulls squad as well as an early candidate for Big East player of the year, was completely shut down during the second half.
“In the first half he had nothing, he didn’t have a sniff,” senior goalkeeper Phil Boerger [12] said. “I think it was because we had jumped out on top of him right away.”
The entire back line, especially freshman Ryan Tessler [13], smothered the Bulls offense, holding them to only four shots in the first half. However, as the rain started to come down more and more after halftime, Syracuse [14]began to take their foot off the pedal and let USF start coming back.
“We thought they would go into a shell,” Boerger said. “But they came out guns blazing.”
USF began rattling shots off and possessing the ball more than Syracuse early on in the second half. While Boerger and the SU defense held strong against the Bulls for the majority of the half, the field began to deteriorate the luck of the Orange would soon run out.
“Our whole game plan changed,” Louis Clark said. “Instead of trying to play we just tried to defend.”
However, the defense broke down at the end of the game after holding up against USF. In the 78th minute, the Bulls caught a break when junior Nick Bibbs fouled Dwyer in the box. Dwyer and the Bulls were awarded a penalty kick, leading to a goal and cutting the SU lead to 2-1. Then, with less than two minutes left in regulation, freshman Roberto Alterio [15] collected a failed clear by the Orange and put the ball past the net to tie the game at 2-2.
“Anyone in sports will tell you in that there are momentum shifts,” McIntyre said. “And when a team ties it up so late in the game it’s going to shift the momentum. “
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