HAMILTON, N.Y.— Colgate had its best scoring chance. Countering after a Syracuse corner, Jared Stroud received a pass at midfield that led him beyond the last line of a pushed-up Orange defense. But near SU’s 18-yard box, a sprinting Tajon Buchanan recovered from his forward position and stifled Stroud. A box-to-box effort following Buchanan’s corner warded off the breakaway about 20 minutes into the game Monday night.

“That was probably our only real mistake of the game,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “It’s nice if your last man is the quickest guy on your team.”

At Beyer-Small ’76 Field, No. 11 Syracuse (5-3-2, 0-2-1 Atlantic Coast) didn’t face much more pressure, allowing just one shot on goal to Colgate (3-6, 0-1 Patriot) in the Orange’s 2-0 win for SU’s first shutout of the season. Johannes Pieles and Hugo Delhommelle each scored for the Orange.

The clean sheet that seemed so certain for the first 87 minutes of the match came under fire with 2:20 remaining. As a ball squirted out of a group of players in Syracuse’s penalty area, Colgate’s Steven DeLeo found himself all alone near the six-yard box. He tried to slot a left-footed shot into the goal’s bottom-left corner, but SU goalkeeper Hendrik Hilpert threw his body in front of the ball and sent it wide for a corner.

“It’s the biggest challenge I think for a goalkeeper, if you do not have that much to do during the game,” Hilpert said. “Even though I didn’t get a lot of shots, I just got one shot today. Communicating helps a lot to stay focused.”

Syracuse went with a slightly altered defensive alignment on Monday. Justin Earle, a freshman, made his first collegiate start and just second appearance. He featured in the middle of SU’s back three, sandwiched by Kamal Miller on his left and Sondre Norheim on his right. Not tested defensively, Earle mostly acted as a fulcrum when the Orange played the ball from side-to-side. His biggest contribution may have come with his voice.

With 10 minutes remaining in the match, Earle shouted: “Come on guys, we never stop.” Syracuse kept the ball in front of its back line basically all game, and much of that was due to Earle’s communication. He and midfielder Mo Adams yelled opponents’ uniform numbers to teammates to ensure they marked up.

“I knew he was ready to come on and get the job done,” SU sophomore defender John-Austin Ricks said. “He’s one of those people who loves to communicate, loves to talk, loves to be a presence on the field. I’m happy for the guy that he did such a great job and he held us together.”

After 10 games last season, Syracuse had six shutouts. It took until the 10th game of this season for the Orange to get its first. Coming off three consecutive losses, it was the result SU wanted.

“The difference between being a good team and an elite team,” McIntyre said, “is keeping clean sheets and keeping that foundation from which to build.”

With this result, Hilpert moves into a tie for fourth on Syracuse’s all-time leaderboard with 18 career shutouts and a tie for fourth in wins in Syracuse goalkeeping history, with 27.

Following Hilpert’s lone save and two ensuing corners for Colgate, McIntyre shouted from the sideline: “Finish the game.” Two minutes later, the game was complete and for this first time this season, SU’s opponent had a zero beneath its name on the scoreboard.

“It was about time,” Hilpert said. “Having a win and a clean sheet today is the perfect restart.”

Published on September 25, 2017 at 10:18 pm

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3