Brett Jankouskas outlines the three-part process. The three-part process to scoring goals. It’s a problem that can’t and won’t be solved overnight. It’s going to take time. And until then, it will surely irritate the Syracuse men’s soccer team.

‘At first (this season) we weren’t really getting any shots,’ Jankouskas said. ‘Now we’re getting a good number of shots, and we just need to work on getting them on target.’

Saturday, the Orange succeeded with the first two parts of the process. But still, it failed at the third. And failing at the third yielded yet another result void of three points. For just the second time all season Saturday, the Orange outshot its opponent, but settled for a 0-0 double overtime tie against DePaul.

It was the third consecutive conference game in which a goal eluded the Orange (2-5-4, 0-1-2 Big East). After Saturday’s tie against DePaul (3-6-3, 0-2-1 Big East), Syracuse has still failed to score a single goal in Big East play. More than 300 minutes — or five full hours — and no goals to show for it. Nearly 40 total shots taken, none of which have beaten a goalkeeper. And although the Orange dominated the Blue Demons in front of 712 fans at the SU Soccer Stadium, it still only came away with one point.

The plus-seven shot differential, 22-15 in favor of SU, was its largest of 2010.

But still, Syracuse couldn’t make the ball cross the white line.

‘Absolutely, it’s frustrating,’ midfielder Nick Roydhouse said. ‘But when you start thinking of it that way, that’s when you start to lose it, and things kind of go off track. We just had to stay positive and keep on pushing for a goal.’

Part one of SU head coach Ian McIntyre’s offensive overhaul saw Syracuse dominated by its opponents. Through the first three games of the season, the Orange had a total of 16 shots. The offense looked anemic.

But then, slowly but surely, it has started to turn around. Against Cornell, the SU offense exploded for 20 shots and matched that feat six days later against Canisius. Saturday’s 22 were a season-high. The system seems to be taking hold.

‘This is back-to-back good performances,’ McIntyre said. ‘If we were sitting here with no points from this, we’d be very disappointed. Now we have to convert these one-point (games) into three points.’

The way to do that is by scoring, turning those 22 shots into a tally on the scoreboard. Until then, Syracuse won’t move up from last in the Big East in goals scored.

And for much of Saturday’s game, it appeared that Syracuse would break through. In the first half, forward Fredrik Forsman was slotted in behind the Blue Demons defense. All alone with the goalkeeper, Forsman’s left-footed shot soared high and wide of the goal.

‘It’s a little bit of a better feeling when you get outshot and then come out with a tie,’ midfielder Mark Brode said. ‘But we outshot them, and it’s rough.’

It was Brode who had the Orange’s best chance to score with under 6:30 to play in regulation. Streaking through the middle of the field, Brode received a perfect cross off the foot of Jankouskas. It hit him in stride just beyond the penalty spot, but his volley soared over the goal.

But this was a game in which the Orange couldn’t catch a break. Twice in the second overtime, it looked as if SU had won the game, only to have the officials stifle those efforts.

Jankouskas was taken down in the penalty area for what looked like a certain penalty kick, but the whistle didn’t blow. Minutes later he scored the game-winning goal after redirecting a Roydhouse shot, only to have it be called back for offsides.

‘Going into overtime, we said that one (point) was the minimum,’ Roydhouse said. ‘We were really pushing for the three points; it’s just unfortunate that we didn’t come away with it.’

Now that the offense is creating those chances, it must keep working to improve the quality. Most of SU’s 22 shots Saturday didn’t trouble the goalkeeper. And a shot that’s not on target isn’t really a shot at all, said Roydhouse.

More shots on target should lead to more goals. That’s the plan. Step three.

‘(If we had) a little bit more precision, a little bit of a killing edge in the penalty area, then we win that game,’ McIntyre said. ‘And we may win it by a couple.’

Mjcohe02@syr.edu

 

Published on October 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13