For most of Syracuse’s game against American, all Phil Boerger had to do was sit back in the goal and watch his defense stifle the Eagles’ scorers. It was perhaps the cleanest and sharpest defensive performance the Orange has put together in its four games this season.

Except for one miscommunication, which had the potential to spell disaster, the Orange stripped American’s offense of all its scoring chances.

‘I thought from Phil Boerger through our back four, I thought we defended well,’ SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. ‘I don’t think they created a ton of quality open chances. I think there was a couple of half chances. It was kind of a mistake for the goal.’

Fortunately for the Orange, one mistake didn’t cost it the game.

Syracuse’s strong defensive performance in its 2-1 overtime win limited American’s open looks, leading to just eight total shots from the Eagles’ attackers. Using a four-man backline to smother the Eagles’ three strong scorers up front, SU kept control for the entire first half. The ball hardly ever reached American’s offensive zone, and when it did, a Syracuse defender quickly got to the ball to knock it away.

The Orange was simply faster, and more athletic than the Eagles in the first half. In the 17th minute, an American player was running up the right side of the field with a rare open look at the goal. But freshman Skylar Thomas blocked him just inside the box to kick the ball away. Thomas spun around him and cleared the ball.

‘I think we kept the ball a little better than we have in past games,’ said Boerger, who only had to make six saves in the entire game. ‘In the first half, we did real well with that. But in the second half, we were kind of just kicking and running a little bit. I think, obviously if we have the ball, they’re not a threat.’

The second half wasn’t quite as solid as the first. The Orange offense looked fatigued, leading to sloppier passes and poorer control of the ball. For Thomas, it also meant having a brief mental lapse that led to Syracuse giving up what was a crippling game-tying goal at the time.

As the ball rolled toward Boerger in the SU net in the 83rd minute, the goalkeeper called for the ball to come through to him, with the intent of clearing it. But Thomas went after the ball anyway. He tried to kick it away from Eagles’ defender Jack Scott, but his attempt to steal the ball from Scott backfired. Thomas kicked it right to Scott — who now had an open goal in front of him — and he tied things up late in the second half.

‘I just had a little mental lapse in the last five minutes, but luckily (Nick Roydhouse) made up for it,’ Thomas said. ‘When the ball came through, I thought I could kick it. As I was about to kick it, my keeper fell. He called for the ball.’

While SU didn’t necessarily help itself by taking its foot off the accelerator in the second half and making a critical mistake, McIntyre said the Eagles ‘wrestled the play away’ from his team.

Fortunately for Thomas and SU, Nick Roydhouse’s free kick in overtime erased any chance American had of ruining the Orange’s chance to get win No. 2.

Syracuse now has two wins in its first four games, which is as many wins as it had in all of last season.

That miscommunication aside, Syracuse’s young defense kept American from creating scoring opportunities. While there are still some things McIntyre said the entire team needs to improve upon, a game like this certainly raises the confidence level of his defense.

For a team that’s looking to make winning a habit, that’s going to be an important factor in deciding how successful this team can be.

‘We’re a new group. We’re a young group finding ways to win games,’ McIntyre said. ‘I think if you were the neutral today, I think you’d say we did enough to win the game. We’ll keep working on some things.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on September 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman