No. 18 Syracuse put 18 shots on the Binghamton men’s soccer team at the Bearcats Sports Complex on Tuesday night. Only one found the back of the net.
BU (2-6-0) may still be winless at home, but with the way the team played tonight, BU head coach Paul Marco wouldn’t describe his team’s attitude toward that statistic as “even close to miserable.” The Bearcats have fought each of their visitors to a narrow 1-0 defeat, and the nationally ranked Orange (7-1-0) were no outliers to the trend.
Sophomore keeper Robert Moewes – who just returned from a foot injury that prevented him from playing the last four games – recorded 11 saves through the contest. Some were more brilliant than others: With Syracuse boasting multiple odd-man rushes in the game, Moewes found himself face-to-face with Orange strikers on a few occasions. Each time, he threw out a hand or a leg to deflect the ball.
“I try my best,” Moewes said of his success.
The defense before Moewes shattered many of Syracuse’s other offensive opportunities. Despite freshman midfielder Julian Buescher’s and sophomore forward Emil Ekblom’s hammering BU’s line, the host team wailed back. BU broke plays right before the goal and sent the ball sailing to its three forwards waiting ahead, keeping the game scoreless into halftime.
“I think the team played well – we played better than in the last games,” Moewes said. “But still, it’s tough against a nationally ranked team.”
Marco said the team adapted its game plan to the circumstances, playing a unique 3-5-2 system. With freshman Christian Dam and senior Jamie Forbes – both of whom are towering guys who headed nearly everything out of their zone – holding the rear against the Orange’s two static strikers, sophomore midfielder Charlie Novoth especially was free to steal possessions and keep the game electric.
“I thought our two center backs did a terrific job against two nationally caliber strikers,” Marco said. “And the challenge for them was that the space was so big – two versus two on almost half a field. But I thought we were terrific on defense tonight.”
The only goal the defense couldn’t block or break came in the 64th minute. Syracuse’s senior back Jordan Murrell pressed down the field, hugging the left sideline. From there, he sent a cross to the middle, where Ekblom sent the ball past Moewes on the right side for his team-high fifth goal of the season.
The Bearcats used that goal as an incentive. In the next four minutes, sophomore forward Logan Roberts, senior forward Steve Celeste and junior forward Alex Varkatzas each forced a save from Syracuse’s junior keeper, Alex Bono. Each of BU’s five shots were on target, against a Syracuse team that owns a tie for the national lead in fewest goals allowed this season (1).
What was arguably the Bearcats’ best chance came in the first half. Senior forward Vlad Finn sent a ball into the middle off a corner kick, and Novoth got his head under it. With Bono caught in the midst of players clumped about the box, the ball looked sure to go in, but Orange sophomore back Louis Cross flushed it away right at the line.
“The corner kick play … that we got a great chance on in the first half, I still don’t know how they cleared it off the line,” Marco admitted.
But great opportunities and stellar defending wasn’t enough for the Bearcats: The aim was never to tie.
“I don’t think the guys felt it was good enough, still,” Marco said. “They thought they could have done more in the game. We put ourselves in a position to try to win the game, and tonight I thought we were doing that for most of the match.”
Still, it marks an improvement. The team has gone from grumbling opening halves and frantic seconds to a full 90-minute performance. And with at least two of Binghamton’s usual starters out with injuries, Marco said he hasn’t yet fielded his best team this season. Hopefully, however, those players will recuperate within the next one or two weeks, when conference play opens. As is, the Bearcats are well on their way to getting that first home win, eventually.
“I see us in training improving and I think today’s performance, we were better tonight than we were in our last performance,” Marco said. “So I think now it’s just a matter of time before everything starts to fall into place and we start banging in goals.”