All the week leading up to Syracuse’s match with Louisville on Friday, the Orange talked about wanting to get revenge for its most disappointing loss of the regular season.

But Syracuse, which had faced only three deficits all season, found itself down two goals in the second half, needing its biggest uphill climb of the season.

“Unfortunately we dug ourselves a hole tonight that we couldn’t quite dig ourselves out of,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “…That second goal was an important one for them.

“That second goal really kind of gave us a kick in the backside.”

Finding a handful of quality opportunities, No. 1 Syracuse (15-3-1, 5-2-1 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t find the back of the net when it needed to, and was eliminated in the semifinals of the ACC tournament after losing to No. 19 Louisville (10-6-3, 4-3-1) 2-1 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

Syracuse outshot the Cardinals 7-5, but despite the numerous chances that the Orange was afforded, it continuously came up short. Just seconds before the final buzzer sounded, a shot off the post was inches away from being an equalizer.

“We did create good chances in the first half, but couldn’t capitalize them,” McIntyre said. “We got back in there after Alex (Halis)’s goal and huffed and puffed until the end but just couldn’t get over the finish line.”

In the 23rd minute, Halis scooted the ball past a defender to the left of the goal and powered a shot that was blocked away by Cardinals goalkeeper Joachim Ball.

Later in the first half, a crossing pass to Korab Syla was set up perfectly for a goal. But again, Ball was in proper position, and SU’s junior midfielder walked away with his head in his hands.

Cardinals forward Will Vitalis scored on a deflection with just over three minutes to play in the first half, and it was a lead that Louisville wouldn’t relinquish.

“The game was disjointed, there wasn’t a real flow to it,” McIntyre said. “And that was credit to Louisville who had the one goal and was kind of just breaking up the game.”

The lead was stretched to 2-0 in the 65th minute, when Tim Kubel crossed a header to Daniel Keller who would have scored had it not been for Ricardo Velazco, who tipped it in as the ball was about to cross the line.

Syracuse hadn’t faced a two-goal deficit all season. It lost to Notre Dame 1-0 on Sept. 13. And it lost to the same Cardinals over a month later in overtime. Against Boston College, the Orange came back from a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1. But in an 18-game span, the Orange had never been out of a game quite like it was on Friday.

Even though Halis scored off a rebound on a kick from midfielder Liam Callahan with 13 minutes remaining, the damage had already been done.

A late offsides call with a minute to go sealed the game and the Orange’s ACC tournament fate. McIntyre said it’s hard to put this game in the context of a bigger picture because of how disappointing it was, but he did acknowledge that there is more important soccer to be played.

“You’ve got to be prepared to put all your chips on the table,” McIntyre said. “You’ve really got to invest and lay everything on the line. And so when you do that and don’t win, it’s tough.

“We’ll see how everything falls into place.”

Published on November 15, 2014 at 12:15 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3