A cross from midfielder Julian Buescher met Ben Polk’s left foot as he jumped into the air near the top of the 18-yard box.

The ball arced high in the sky behind Albany goalie Danny Vitiello, who sprinted to the back left corner of the net and fell down in his futile attempt to bat it with his right arm.

“I knew the keeper was on his line so I just tried to direct it toward the far post,” Polk said. “I didn’t even see where it went.”

Midfielder Liam Callahan was the only player to celebrate. He kicked the ball sitting in the goal up around the back of the net and off the crossbar.

Polk squatted for 15 seconds, holding his nose after taking an elbow to the face. His teammates huddled around to see if he was OK.

Though the reaction on the field didn’t show it, Polk’s goal with just 12 minutes left lifted No. 22 Syracuse (8-2-1, 2-1-1 Atlantic Coast) over Albany (5-5-1, 0-1 America East), 2-1, at SU Soccer Stadium on Tuesday, extending the Orange’s winning streak to five games. Syracuse wasn’t at its best, head coach Ian McIntyre said, but goals from Polk and forward Chris Nanco were enough for the victory.

SU’s first half was marred by poor set-piece chances. Midfielder Oyvind Alseth sent a corner attempt past everyone and Buescher did the same on a free kick.

“Come on, let’s put a ball in,” McIntyre yelled to his team.

He yelled to his players to come forward and play tighter defense in their attacking third.

Thirteen minutes in, Nanco danced around the top left of the box as three defenders backed in in front of him. He placed a bouncing shot low in the bottom left corner of the net, but the goalie couldn’t dive in time.

Meanwhile, McIntyre was still unsatisfied with his team, screaming and pointing with two fingers to the grass in front of him while the forward celebrated.

When SU goalie Hendrik Hilpert slid in the box to grab a through ball, the wet grass carried him to the edge of the box. The referee ruled the ball crossed the line and Hilpert argued with the official before Alseth stepped between the two.

On the ensuing free kick, Albany defender Bernardo Mattos collected a pass and fired an open shot from the center of the box. Hilpert sprawled to his left for the diving save.

“It was my duty to keep that ball because if it was out it was my mistake and I had to take over responsibility for that,” Hilpert said.

With less than two minutes left in the half, though, Hilpert lined up for a corner, but Albany midfielder Carlos Clark’s header floated into the top right corner over a jumping SU midfielder Andreas Jenssen. Hilpert said it might have been one of those shots that he could do nothing about.

The frustrations continued in the second half for the Orange. Nanco missed a wide open net on a volley chance and shoved his face in his hands.

When Buescher lost the ball amid three defenders outside of the box, he and Callahan both flapped their arms at their sides and yelled to each other while jogging back on defense.

Eventually, Syracuse put the pieces together to convert on Polk’s late goal.

McIntyre said his team wasn’t in top form, coming off an “emotional” win at Duke on Oct. 2 and with a matchup against No. 2 North Carolina coming up on Saturday. But even in subpar form, the team was able to eke out the victory.

Said McIntyre: “We did enough to win.”

Published on October 6, 2015 at 11:03 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus