The game’s decisive moment came so quickly and so soon that it could have gone unnoticed.

Less than six minutes in, Virginia’s Marcus Salandy-Defour spun a lob pass right onto Jordan Allen’s head. Allen, situated in the center of Syracuse’s box, placed the ball past a flat-footed Alex Bono and gave the Cavaliers all they would need for the night.

In front of 1,803 fans — the largest crowd in SU’s Soccer Stadium history — the Orange immediately put itself in a hole. The spirited aura surrounding the game was dampened and Syracuse restarted play on a somber note.

And it all happened in a flash.

The Orange (6-3-0, 1-3-0 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t shake an early deficit in its 2-0 loss to Virginia (4-3-1, 1-2-1) Saturday night. Once the Cavaliers netted a pair of first-half goals, the Orange’s scoring chances were scarce and the crowd was prematurely deflated.

“We just got off on the wrong foot,” junior midfielder Nick Perea said. “They pressured us and got those two early goals. That put us on our heels and it was tough to come back from that.”

For Allen, a freshman from Rochester, N.Y., it was quite the homecoming. After heading in the game’s first goal, the local product swiftly jogged toward the packed bleachers while beating his chest.

Thirty-five minutes later, Bono bobbled Allen’s free kick, and fellow freshman Riggs Lennon gave the Cavaliers the 2-0 advantage. Again, Allen turned to the crowd and this time clenched his fists while letting out a celebratory cry.

Listed on Virginia’s roster as a midfielder, the freshman Allen spent most of the first half in the attacking third, putting pressure on SU’s defense.

“He’s a talented player, a U-18 U.S. national team player,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “You know, he’s a fun player to watch.”

Once Allen put the Orange out of reach, he faded back into the midfield. The Cavaliers shifted into a defensive formation at the start of the second half in an effort to limit the Orange’s chances, and it worked.

Virginia’s defensive mindset, coupled with a possession-savvy attack, kept the Orange at bay, as Syracuse only mustered one shot in each half. Allen, the speedy Darius Madison and the crafty Eric Bird danced in circles around the SU defense and made the contest look even more lopsided than the final score indicates.

“I don’t think we had the right quality and didn’t play as well as we could have,” SU defender Chris Makowski said. “I thought we were better in parts of the second half but I think we needed that kind of pressure for the rest of the game.”

With 14 minutes left in the second half and SU’s comeback window quickly closing, a small group of fans made one last push.

A “Let’s go Orange” chant fell limp almost as soon as it started, and a sad silence overtook the crowd. Consumed by the thought of defeat, a cluster of fans on the hill in front of East Colvin Street lowered its volume as well.

What was left was 11 winded players giving their last bits of effort to a game that had gotten away from them. Their gasping breaths could be seen in the crisp air as they tried to give the Cavaliers any reason to remember the first of many meetings between the two teams.

And the closing push didn’t go unnoticed by all. When SU stretched on the far side of the field after the game, McIntyre walked to every one of his players and thanked them for giving it everything they had.

The Orange has now dropped three of its first four games in the ACC, but there is time to right the ship.

“It’s tough to scratch and claw and come out with low quality, but tonight we were second best,” McIntyre said. “Just talked to the guys and we just finished the front nine, and the progress report has been pretty good.

“You give a quality team like Virginia a couple of sloppy goals and it becomes an uphill battle. But our guys kept going and going and that’s why I’m proud of them.”

Published on September 29, 2013 at 12:05 am

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse