Syracuse found itself inside Binghamton’s penalty area yet again. But nearly every time until that point the Bearcats had escaped unscathed — blocking shots, poking balls away or watching the Orange launch shots beyond the goal.

This time, defender Miles Robinson backed down his defender and put a shot through a sea of legs in front of the goal. Binghamton goalie Robert Moewes made a diving save, then another thud sounded and the ball bulged in the back of the net.

Kamal Miller sprinted out of the scrum of players in the box with a smile stretching across his face.

Thirteen minutes later it happened again.

Binghamton was playing even with Syracuse on the scoreboard, but not on the field. Syracuse was taking all the time and space it wanted with the ball, but until 20 minutes left in the match, the score was knotted a one goal apiece. Finally, Orange (4-2-1, 0-1-1 Atlantic Coast) converted on two late chances to beat Binghamton (5-3), 3-1, at SU Soccer Stadium on Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 811.

Syracuse picked up its first win in three games and hasn’t lost to Binghamton since 2011.

“I think they gave us a lot of respect and they came up with a game plan,” head coach Ian McIntyre said. “When the score was 1-0, them, you’re probably saying its working … when we got balls in advanced areas we looked very dangerous.”

After a sloppy first few minutes the game settled into a routine. Syracuse would attack with give-and-gos through the middle and by stretching the ball out wide. Binghamton’s defense did its best to just knock the ball out of bounds or send it back to SU’s defenders for the cycle to start again.

The Bearcats weren’t attempting to attack.

But when midfielder Juuso Pasanen lost the ball while trying to settle it in the midfield, Binghamton took advantage. Bearcats forward raced Logan Roberts along the left sideline before crossing a chest-high pass that forward Pascal Trappe headed past SU goalie Austin Aviza.

Binghamton had one quality chance and made the Orange pay.

“That happens in soccer,” midfielder Julian Buescher said. “We were not frustrated at all. Keep playing. At some point the goal comes.”

Syracuse first goal eventually came with 14 minutes left in the half after Buescher drew a free kick to the left of the box.

His service into the penalty area connected with Robinson’s head and deflected into the goal. Miller grabbed the ball off the ground, jogged out to midfield and spiked it into the ground inside the circle for the restart.

The second half only accentuated SU’s on-field advantage over Binghamton. The Orange took 13 shots to the Bearcats two. SU earned seven corner kicks, while Binghamton had none.

When Buescher lined up for a free kick from about 30 yards away, Binghamton head coach Paul Marco yelled to the defensive wall forming in front of Buescher, “you’re giving him too much.”

His shot hooked just over the cross bar, but on the next free kick the warning rang true.

Miller scored his first career goal on the header. Forward Noah Rhynhart was the beneficiary SU’s third goal with seven minutes left.

The Bearcats had finally given Syracuse too much — too much possession, too much space and too many chances to alter the scoreboard to more accurately reflect the game.

“We needed to show the character and resilience at times,” McIntyre said. “… We don’t normally win these games by two.”

Published on September 22, 2015 at 10:47 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus