With his team riddled with injuries and demoralized by four straight Big East losses, the time was right for Syracuse men’s soccer head coach Dean Foti to get creative.

Gone was Syracuse’s traditional 4-4-3 formation. Instead, Foti organized his team into a 4-5-1 set, using just one striker. In an attempt to find the right combination for a backline that had struggled during the losing streak, Foti opted to keep Brien Chamney, who had played mostly midfield for the Orange, at left back. Foti shifted junior forward Kyle Hall, who had been one of SU’s primary offensive weapons, to the bench to be used as a substitute and inject life into the Orange offense.

The new-look Orange didn’t quite feel like the team that went unbeaten in its first seven games, but the lineup did enough to scratch out a much-needed 1-0 win over Cincinnati.

‘It’s a product of everything,’ Foti said of the lineup changes. ‘Every game you have to evaluate who’s healthy. Who’s playing well? Who are you playing next and how do you match up with that group? We thought this was the best way to match up with them.’

The formation change produced mixed results. SU was able to possess the ball well, but it struggled to turn that possession into chances.

The Orange’s best opportunity before forward Tom Perevegyencev’s decisive goal came not during the run of play, but off a free kick when Hansen Woodruff booted Luis Martinez’s long free kick off the crossbar in the 71st minute. For the game, SU only tallied five shots on goal.

‘I’d say there were breaks in the game,’ Hall said. ‘There are periods where we do keep it well and we have a good attack, and there’s times when we’re just chasing and we’re sporadic with our attacks. I think we still have to have some more cohesion when we do attack.’

Hall, who has been bothered by an ankle injury, was a notable exclusion from the starting lineup, though he did play much of the game after coming in midway through the first half. Although Hall admitted to being a little less than 100 percent, both he and Foti said the decision to bring Hall in off the bench had nothing to do with the injury, simply with trying to switch things up on offense.

The most successful of Foti’s changes Saturday was the addition of Chamney to the backline. After senior James Goodwin went down on Sept. 21 against Pittsburgh, the Orange defense staggered through the next slate of games. After allowing three goals through its first seven games, SU let up seven over its next four games, all losses.

Foti’s solution to the problem was Chamney, naturally a central defender, but he has played mostly midfield since transferring to SU this year.

‘It’s different; it’s not as tiring,’ said Chamney, who also spent time at left back last week at Rutgers. ‘I think I played well. There’s some things I need to work on, just communicating more with the guys.’

With Chamney, the defense seemed a bit more secure. The Orange allowed 13 shots, but few really tested SU goalkeeper Rob Cavicchia. The junior keeper only had to make one great save, shooting out his left foot to deflect a point-blank effort by Cincinnati forward Matt Telting early in the second half. The same back four played the entire match for SU.

‘We’ve been working all week on being more aggressive and stepping to the ball earlier and also with communication,’ SU senior defender Brad Peetoom said. ‘That was better tonight, and the chemistry is getting there. We’ve had a couple different left backs now, and Chamney was in there tonight and did a really good job.’

With no timetable yet for Goodwin’s return, Foti said he will likely stick with the new defensive unit for the time being. The coach sees chemistry as an issue the team will have to deal with the rest of the year regardless of what formation or defensive grouping he uses.

‘I think during that four-game stretch we were struggling to find (chemistry),’ Foti said. ‘And I’ll tell you what, if that goal doesn’t go in, we’re talking about us not finding it tonight.’

Published on October 14, 2007 at 12:00 pm