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Syracuse’s Manel Busquets received the ball at the top of the box with the clock winding down at the end of regulation. Unguarded, Busquets was face-to-face with North Carolina’s goalkeeper. The horn sounded, and Busquets rolled the ball past the goalie and scored.

Celebration erupted on the field, but everyone in attendance started to look toward the right of the field. Busquets turned his head, too, and saw that the line judge’s flag was pointed directly at him — he was offside.

In Syracuse’s (1-6-4, 0-5-3 Atlantic Coast) first home spring matchup this season, it forced overtime against ACC leader North Carolina, 0-0 at the end of regulation. SU’s defense shutout the Tar Heels – the first shutout of goalie Russell Shealy’s Syracuse career. But after double overtime, the Orange and Tar Heels were unable to score on Saturday, ending the game in a 0-0 draw.

“We had some moments where we created some half chances, but we really didn’t work their goalkeeper enough,” head coach Ian McIntyre said.

While the Orange failed to score, McIntyre said that this game was Syracuse’s first “clean sheet” of the spring and the Orange were able to hold onto the ball for the majority of the game, starting from the opening whistle. But four minutes into the game, Deandre Kerr was given an offside call, the first of six that the team recorded in the afternoon.

Sixteen minutes later, the Orange were able to return into the final third of the field, and midfielder Hilli Goldhar dodged a few defenders and sent the ball on a string pass to the right side of the field. The ball made its way back around as Goldhar set back up on the left side of the box for Syracuse’s first scoring opportunity.

But just as he passed in front of him, the whistle blew, and the Orange were called offside again.

Because of the lack of aggressiveness from SU’s offense, Shealy started to yell “Up, up, up,” at his teammates toward the end of the first half, forgoing short passes to one to try and position the offense on North Carolina’s half.

“We controlled the game pretty well, and we kept the ball moving, and for the most part, we kept it in their half,” Shealy said. “We just need to string a couple more passes together in the box and really try to get scoring chances.”

In the second half, none of the Orange’s forwards were staying near the box waiting to receive the ball. McIntyre had made the decision to substitute out Kerr for forward Camden Holbrook, as Kerr was struggling to get a good first touch or head the ball on clears to kickstart Syracuse’s offense.

With 23 minutes left in the second half, the Orange started to make their way back into the Tar Heels’ defense after a solid defensive series on their end. But Holbrook was called for an offside, and another opportunity was stopped.

McIntyre said that another reason the Orange weren’t able to score was because of the lack of substitutions he made. Subbing Holbrook in was one of the only substitutions in the regulation period.

“We had a lot of tired bodies as the game went on and we rode some guys,” McIntyre said. “We need a little bit of the rub of the green and the bounce of the ball at some stage, and hopefully we will get one of those.”

After Busquets’ score was called back at the end of regulation, both teams started to play in desperation in the final two overtime periods. In the first, Syracuse breached North Carolina’s defense and got players inside of the box.

Busquets got one-on-one again with a defender sprinting down the right side of the field, but he lost control, and the ball rolled out of bounds. Olu Oyegunie made a tackle on the Orange’s own half, and Kerr sailed a deep pass toward Busquets, which was too far.

Syracuse got the ball back on its third offensive push in the period. Goldhar started to sprint toward the top-left corner of the box, a spot he had been going to often during the game. As he made his way deeper into North Carolina’s defense, the bench started to stand up, expecting a shot from Goldhar since there was no director right in front of him.

Unlike every other opportunity in the game, Goldhar wasn’t called offside. The ball hit the top of the crossbar and went out of bounds. The Orange weren’t able to find the back of the net, ending the end of double overtime 0-0.

Published on March 20, 2021 at 7:27 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu