tfpiccot's Blog

It took Syracuse a long time to build any sort of advantage during Saturday's rainy exhibition match against Hartwick.

But once it finally did, the Orange couldn't be stopped.

Noah Rhynhart broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 71st minute, and SU added two more insurance goals late to post a 4-1 victory over the Hawks at the SU Soccer Stadium. 

"To get that first game out of the way was good," Orange head coach Ian McIntyre told Syracuse Athletics. "Our performance grew stronger as the game wore on, and some of our guys coming off the bench really gave us a lift."

The Orange took an early lead 34 minutes into the contest on a penalty-kick goal by Julian Buescher. However, Nick Hillis brought the Hawks even early in the second half.

The score remained tied until Rhynhart found an open shot off a rebound and buried it for the eventual game-winner. Mike Koegel and Stefanos Stamoulacatos punched home the other goals for SU.

Syracuse goalkeepers Alex Bono and Matt Stith combined for three saves.

The Orange is 8-1 in exhibition matches since 2011. It faces Akron this Friday at 7 p.m. in another friendly.

Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer was full of optimism during Saturday's football media day at Manley Field House, but he did have one piece of bad news to report.

Senior kicker Ross Krautman will miss the entire 2014 season because of a lingering hip injury, Shafer announced during his opening press conference.

The SU coaching staff was hopeful that surgery and rehabilitation would help alleviate the hip ailment that sidelined Krautman for the final 11 games of 2013. But after meeting with doctors and Shafer, the senior decided to sit out this season.

"We were really hopeful he was going to make it back," Shafer said. "He'll be missed. He really will. More as a person than anything as far as the way I look at it."

Krautman finishes with 49 career field goals, tying him for third in program history. His best season came in 2010, when he connected on all but one of his 19 attempts.

Shafer also thanked Krautman for his commitment to the program, calling him "one of my favorite kids on the team."

Teammate Sean Hickey was quick to point out that Krautman will still be a major part of the Orange this season, but it won't be the same.

"To see a friend and someone I've been here with a long time go is tough," Hickey said. "He's always a funny guy. It's just going to be sad not seeing him there as a player."

The most likely replacement for Krautman is junior Ryan Norton, who connected on 10 field goal attempts last season.

Syracuse clawed its way to a bowl game last season, the school's first in the ACC, but head coach Scott Shafer is expecting even more in 2014.

Shafer joined Florida State's Jimbo Fisher, Louisville's Bobby Petrino and four other ACC coaches as part of ESPN's mid-summer "car wash" on Monday. The annual event invites coaches from around the country to appear across multiple platforms at the network's Bristol, Conn., headquarters.

According to a press release by Syracuse Athletics, Shafer's schedule included appearances on ESPN and ESPNU, along with an ESPN.com chat.

Shafer talked to ESPN's Todd Grisham during an afternoon "SportsCenter" broadcast, and he spoke about his excitement for the upcoming season.

"We know we can make good improvements coming off of a good victory over Minnesota (in the Texas Bowl)," Shafer told Grisham. "Now let's take this to the next level, and let's take this thing to new heights."

The second-year head coach added that his primary goal is to reach eight victories, one more than the Orange's 2013 total.

But with Clemson, Notre Dame and defending national champion Florida State ready to oppose SU, Shafer knows it won't be easy.

"You want to get a little bit better each season, so for us a little bit better is No. 8," he said. "It'll be a hell of a task with our schedule... but that's what we signed up for."

The Orange opens the 2014 season in the Carrier Dome against Villanova on August 29 at 7:30 p.m.

For a pair of former Syracuse basketball stars, the dream of playing in the NBA became reality at Barclays Center during Thursday's 2014 NBA Draft.

The Phoenix Suns selected point guard Tyler Ennis with the 18th overall pick, and the Philadelphia 76ers took forward Jerami Grant 39th overall. Ennis' early selection marked the third-consecutive year in which an Orange player was taken in the first round.

Ennis, who averaged 12.9 points and 5.5 assists last season with the Orange, is also the third Syracuse player to be drafted after only one year of college (Carmelo Anthony- 2003, Donte Greene- 2008). On a night full of trades and shuffled picks, multiple reports claimed the Toronto Raptors pursued the rights to the Ontario native following his selection. However, nothing materialized.

Grant, meanwhile, will join former Orange teammate Michael Carter-Williams in Philadelphia, which won only 19 games last season. Grant's father, Harvey, and uncle, Horace, previously enjoyed productive careers in the NBA.

Former Orange forward C.J. Fair was not selected after he averaged 16.5 points per game during his senior season.