Never before had Jordan Murrell recorded an assist and never before had Jordan Vale scored a goal.

Both changed Tuesday.

Murrell sent the ball into the box on a corner kick and freshman Vale swooped in and headed it into the goal. The goal propelled Syracuse to a 1-0 win over Binghamton, giving the team its second straight victory to open the season.

The win marks the first time since 2006 that SU is 2-0 to start the season.

“We’re very happy to secure a win on the road against a good opponent,” head coach Ian McIntyre said. “It’s a very tough place to play. We knew that going in.”

Syracuse (2-0) controlled the tempo against Binghamton (0-2) much like it did against Albany in the season-opener. The Orange outshot the Bearcats 15-11 and took nine corner kicks compared to two for the home team.

McIntyre said that Syracuse’s play was strong at the beginning of the game but dipped off a bit toward the end of the first half. In the second half, things started to change for the better for McIntyre’s squad.

“Second half I think they came out a bit stronger, but we started to grow and really started to see the difference,” he said. “I thought we worked very hard to frustrate them and limit their chances.”

Vale capitalized on his opportunity in the 59th minute. Murrell sent SU’s seventh corner kick of the match into the middle and Vale connected, knocking the ball into the right side of the net.

Jake Keegan, Binghamton’s all-time leader in career points, took three shots Tuesday night and nearly scored in the 30th minute, but he was not able to place the ball past goalie Alex Bono.

The game was closely contested and evenly played, but the Jordan-to-Jordan corner kick pushed SU over the top.

“We enjoyed it on the bus ride home, but now we realize we’ve got to go back to work, and we have another big game on Friday,” McIntyre said.

Published on August 29, 2012 at 1:18 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass