Since August, the Syracuse men’s soccer team has taken the practice field with the elusive Big East Tournament on its mind. The Orange had not made the tournament for two straight years coming into the 2008 campaign, and the team felt it had the unit to do such this year.

On Thursday, the Orange took the practice field knowing the Big East drought will continue for one more season. After losing to Villanova, 1-0, Wednesday night on a penalty kick, the SU’s Big East dreams were vanquished when combined with other Big East teams’ wins.

With the tournament gone, the Orange will now have to play for pride in its season finale against Louisville 8 p.m. Saturday night at SU Soccer Stadium. Syracuse (7-6-3, 3-6-1 Big East) is in last in the Big East Red Division and is tied for 14th overall in the conference.

‘It’s really devastating. We all knew this was one of the best teams we’ve ever had and it’s just surprising we couldn’t get in and make things happen this year,’ junior forward Tom Perevegyencev said. ‘We want to prove to ourselves and everybody who’s following us that we can do it, we’re not the worst team in the Big East.’

Being the worst team in the Big East is something that would have never been associated with the SU squad heading into the season. The team returned seven starters from last year.

Instead, the season took a turn for the worse for Syracuse. Despite starting 5-1-2, the Orange stumbled down the stretch, losing five of its last eight games, including two games in overtime.

The biggest daggers in SU’s dreams, though, happened in its last two games. Last Saturday, the Orange lost to then-last-place Cincinnati, 1-0, and suddenly was looking from the outside in for the tournament. Having spent virtually every moment of the conference season slated to make the tournament, the Orange suddenly found itself window shopping.

When Villanova’s Joe Taylor beat goalkeeper Rob Cavicchia on a penalty kick Wednesday night, the Orange’s worst fear had come true: Syracuse would not play in the Big East Tournament.

‘We played pretty well throughout the season until the last five, six games where it seemed like we had just given up,’ Perevegyencev said. ‘I didn’t think it was going to come down to the last two or three games whether we would survive in the Big East because I was really confident about our team.’

Now it comes down to pride. Perevegyencev wholeheartedly wants to prove the team is not the worst squad in the Big East, despite its current standing. To do such, the team will have to be solid against Louisville, which has beaten the Orange the last two seasons. Perevegyencev said it will also be important to finish above .500, as a loss would drop the Orange to 7-7-3 overall.

Perevegyencev also would like to win one for the seniors playing in what appears to be their final game for the Orange. The senior starters, including Kyle Hall, Spencer Schomaker, Karol Wasielewski and Cavicchia, only saw one postseason game in their careers, a 4-2 Notre Dame victory on penalty kicks. Hall and Wasielewski weren’t even members of that 2005 squad.

So when the Orange takes the field for what appears to be its last 90 minutes of soccer this season, the goal that loomed large at the beginning of the season is gone. Still, the team has one last chance to end on a high note.

‘I thought this year was going to be that year where we make the Big East and the NCAA’s and put Syracuse soccer on the map,’ Perevegyencev said. ‘We’re going to come and focus and we’re going to work hard and you’re going to see like any other Big East game, it’s going to be really important to us. I hope we all come out focused on what’s awaiting us this weekend.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on October 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm