As the final seconds ticked away on the scoreboard Sunday, the Syracuse men’s soccer team knew its season was coming to an end. For the seniors, their career at SU was drawing to a close.With seven seniors graduating and leaving the team after this season, the task of rebuilding after a 3-15 season falls on the shoulders of the squad’s younger players.’The good news is there’s a lot of guys, so there will be a lot of depth and a lot of competition for each spot,’ senior co-captain Pete Hill said. ‘There are some talented guys who didn’t have a chance to be on the field.’ Most of the familiar faces and many of the starters for the Orange will be gone next season, including the two senior captains, Hill and midfielder Hansen Woodruff, anchors on the team during the past four seasons. ‘We’re losing a lot of guys, so definitely it’s going to have a big impact,’ senior Kenny Caceros said.But Syracuse has several talented young players that will lead the Orange during the next few seasons, and a few of those players have already spent significant time on the field this year.Freshman goalkeeper Ryan Jones played in 17 of the 18 games for Syracuse this season. He made 74 saves and posted one shutout, a 3-0 victory against Rutgers on Oct. 2.On the offensive side of the team, freshman Mark Brode emerged as a mainstay in the Orange starting lineup. Brode played in all 18 games this season and finished with two goals, two assists for six points. He was also fairly accurate when he tried to score. Brode took 13 shots and put seven of them on goal – a .538 shot-on-goal percentage.’You saw it tonight and all through the season,’ Hill said after Sunday’s 2-0 loss to St. John’s in the season finale. ‘Mark Brode, Ryan Jones, Charles (Schoening), guys who played solid minutes as younger guys will definitely get together and lead this team for the next few years.’ Schoening, a freshman forward, did not record any goals or assists in the 2009 season, but he did play in 15 games for Syracuse and registered eight shots, two of them on goal. Fellow freshman forward Mawuena Agbossoumonde also played in 15 games.Players with slightly more experience will also remain with the team next season. Sophomore forward L.J. Papaleo played in 14 games for Syracuse this season, tallying one goal, two assists and four points. Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin and Nick Olivetti, both sophomores, played in 11 and nine games for the Orange, respectively. Before his last game as a senior, Hill took the time to give his outlook for the team next season.’The good news for next year is that a lot of young guys did get opportunities to get game experience, which always is helpful to building a player for next year, instead of having them develop slowly,’ Hill said in a telephone interview last Monday. ‘Obviously it’s a whole new level, a whole new mindset, and really you’ve got to call on your abilities when you’re in the game.’Youth was abundant on the 2009 Orange roster, which contained 18 freshmen, (including six redshirt freshmen) and four sophomores. Though only a handful of them contributed significant playing time, their workload is likely to increase next season and beyond.

Hill’s playing career at Syracuse may be done, but he can still look to the future for his soon-to-be alma mater.’As far as the players go for next year, all the freshmen and sophomores and juniors that may not have played all the time will still have experience to lean on as they go into the spring and build more confidence for next year,’ Hill said. ‘They’re going to be needed because they’re losing a pretty solid core of guys that have been here for the last four years.’

azmeola@syr.edu