Alex Bono’s jersey was filthy by the end of Saturday night.

Between the slippery conditions and Notre Dame’s explosive offense, Bono spent a lot of time making diving saves and lunging for loose balls.

Bono was met with 21 shots, the most the Syracuse goalkeeper has faced all season. Despite surrendering four goals, Bono kept Syracuse in the game late in the second half before Notre Dame went on a scoring surge to defeat the Orange 4-2.

“Bono was fabulous,” SU defender Jordan Murrell said. “He keeps us firing. He made a few very good saves and kept us in it.”

Head coach Ian McIntyre knew Notre Dame was a dominant offensive team coming into the game. After a sluggish first half for UND, McIntyre’s nightmares became a reality when the Irish attempted 12 shots in the second half.

Bono was up for the challenge, though. Notre Dame’s Max Lachowecki fired a laser toward the net in the 75th minute. The score was 2-2 at the time and it looked as if the Irish would take a 3-2 advantage.

But Bono reacted instantaneously, lunging toward his right to punch the ball over the goal. Just a few minutes later, UND’s Patrick Hodan sent a finesse ball skirting through the box. Rather than sit back and wait for the shot, Bono pounced on the ball with authority right before it reached Kyle Richard’s foot.

Ted Cribley was disappointed his team allowed four second-half goals. The senior captain said he was at a loss for words after the game, yet he said the loss was not Bono’s fault.

“I think we had four defensive slips,” Cribley said. “They finished very well. We weren’t quite good enough in the second half.”

Cribley said Syracuse did exactly what it wanted to in the first half, but Notre Dame snatched the momentum. Rather than panicking and frantically trying to score, UND remained calm. The Fighting Irish patiently and methodically tacked on goal after goal, until eventually the deficit was insurmountable for SU.

“A lot of times teams will bomb the ball forward and hope that they’ll get a goal and get back in the game,” Cribley said. “They stuck with their game plan, so you take your hats off to them.”

That impeccable execution made the night a very active one for Bono, who made four saves in the second half.

“When you go to the Big East, the margin from the first to the fifth team in the conference is that slim,” Bono said. “When you bring Notre Dame in here and their RPI is 1 and they’re a top-10 team, you have to expect they’re going to be one of the best teams you’ve played all season.”

As Notre Dame scored goal after goal, Bono’s temperament didn’t waver. He remained composed, despite the bright lights and the pressure of playing in his first Big East tournament game.

“If you look back and you see your keeper and he’s down, everyone else gets down,” Bono said. “So you’ve got to try and stay composed and stay positive for the sake of the team, even though it’s very frustrating.”

McIntyre said Bono responded well, despite conceding the four goals. He said his team got slightly too confident and complacent after taking a 2-0 lead, and said the game unraveled a little bit after Notre Dame scored its third goal.

He hopes Syracuse can continue to host postseason games in the future, and that Saturday night’s game was yet another step in the pursuit of consistently generating high-intensity, exhilarating games at SU Soccer Stadium.

“That was a national tournament-caliber game,” McIntyre said. “When you’re taking on a team as talented as Notre Dame, perhaps we were a little bit naive. These are the exciting games. This is why we do what we do.”

Playing in his first postseason game as a freshman, Bono hopes there are many more primetime games to come in his three remaining years at Syracuse. He also hopes there’s more in store for the Orange this season, as the team has to wait until Nov. 12 to see if it will earn an NCAA bid.

“It was awesome,” Bono said. “To be a part of the history was awesome. It would have been better to win. At the end of the day we have to look to ourselves for that one.”

Published on November 6, 2012 at 2:38 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass