Syracuse’s offense continues to roll.

The Orange has scored four or more goals in three consecutive games after only doing so once last season.

After scoring 20 goals in 2011, Syracuse has recorded 15 in the past three games and has pushed its overall tally to 19.

Following a 6-0 pummeling of Colgate and a 4-0 win over NJIT, the Orange (5-1) continued its sizzling start to the season with a 5-0 win over St. Bonaventure on Sunday afternoon. While the Orange’s offense is scoring at a dizzying pace, the defense has locked down on nearly every opponent.

“To go on the road and get two shutouts is great,” head coach Ian McIntyre said in a phone interview. “That’s the foundation of our team. They showed a willingness to put their body on the line.”

McIntyre says that St. Bonaventure was aggressive early on and kept the Orange in check to start the game.

“It was closer than a 5-0 score line,” he said. “They came out and they frustrated us early on. We weathered that storm and then caught a couple of late goals.  I’m very proud of the boys over the whole tournament.”

Syracuse took a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute when Stefanos Stamoulacatos scored his first career goal off a pass from Louis Clark.

Lars Muller pushed the margin to two in the 37th minute off a cross from Ted Cribley. Muller added a second goal less than three minutes later, this time off a pass from Stamoulacatos.

Alex Bono posted his fourth shutout in six games for Syracuse, while Tony Asante scored his team-leading fifth goal. Ted Cribley pushed the lead to five with a goal in the 76th minute.

SU travels to Las Vegas to face the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Cal State Fullerton in the UNLV Nike Invitational, which starts Friday night.

Published on September 9, 2012 at 11:35 pm

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass