Syracuse men’s soccer coach Dean Foti told his team at practice yesterday that its 3-1 loss to Villanova on Wednesday was a definitive turning point in the season – in a positive way.

After watching SU play lackadaisically all season, Foti was impressed that he saw everyone playing hard for the entire 90 minutes against the lowly Wildcats.

‘We had played well in terms of generating chances to score,’ Foti said. ‘The highlight of (Wednesday) night’s game was our effort. It was a step in the right direction even though we didn’t get the win.’

The Orangemen will try to make it 180 consecutive minutes played hard tomorrow at West Virginia at 7 p.m.

Because of Foti’s displeasure with recent defensive play, he will implement a new formation with four men in the backfield. The hope is that with another defender, SU won’t give up goals on counters, something it has identified as a problem in the last few games.

‘When you’re not getting the results,’ Foti said, ‘but you’re putting in the effort, you have to ask yourself what you can do to fine tune.’

‘Teams have been running wild through our midfield, so we’re going to start plugging the holes,’ SU defender Ryan Hall said. ‘We dropped another defender in the back and put another guy in at central midfield. We have to do something to stop the counters.’

Hall and midfielder Mike McCallion – who’s been starting in the absence of Eric Chapman – will switch off helping up front when the Orangemen attack.

‘The outside backs will be doing all the running,’ Hall said. ‘We’re going to keep jumping from defense to outside midfield.’

Syracuse’s backfield will have to execute the new setup without a healthy Kevin Boyle. He joins Chapman, his fellow defender, on the sideline after playing through a foot injury sustained in a loss last Saturday against Providence.

What was thought to be a mild bruise continued to cause increased pain, forward Jarett Park said, and Boyle had his foot in a cast at yesterday’s practice. It’s unknown whether he will play this weekend.

The Orangemen face the prospect of finishing winless in what’s supposed to be the easy part of their Big East schedule. Though West Virginia knows Syracuse has lost two straight games to inferior teams – Providence and Villanova – it isn’t ready to call SU vulnerable.

‘Obviously, you look at a team and their results,’ WVU assistant coach Mike Seabolt said. ‘But we’re going by the argument that the team that just lost is all the more hungry to win.’

The Mountaineers, too, have struggled. They come in at 1-6-1 in their last eight games after starting 2-0.

‘Our whole thing has been inconsistency,’ Seabolt said. ‘Especially up on offense we need someone to step forward. We have a number of guys who could get the job done, but we haven’t got the production there. That’s mainly where we’re struggling.’

West Virginia has tallied one goal or fewer in four of its last five games. The Mountaineers are also 11th in the Big East in scoring average at 1.22 goals per game.

The offense has been so inept that goaltender Chris McKinney is third on the team with three points. The coaches put him in briefly at forward after frustration set in against Florida Atlantic, a game West Virginia lost, 4-3.

Seabolt points to McKinney in goal as another one of those inconsistencies. Though McKinney ranks second in the Big East with five shutouts, his 1.96 goals-against average is among the league’s worst.

‘He’s a very athletic and very talented goalkeeper,’ Seabolt said. ‘But we need him to take care of his job on a more regular basis.’

Published on October 3, 2002 at 12:00 pm