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Jeorgio Kocevski found himself on the far wing with the ball once again. While his first cross proved unsuccessful, he eyed down a crowded box for a second chance. This time, his looping kick found the head of Francesco Pagano, whose ensuing header dribbled past Colgate goalkeeper Andrew Cooke for Syracuse’s first goal of the evening. Pagano immediately ran out of the box, excitedly jumping and pumping his fist.

Head coach Ian McIntyre said that Pagano, the freshman from Fayetteville-Manlius, wears his heart on his sleeve, and although he sometimes needs to contain himself, he’s an “exciting” and “dynamic” player to watch. Pagano said he demonstrated what McIntyre wanted from the team during Tuesday’s win.

In Syracuse’s (6-5-1, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) 3-0 win over Colgate (0-11, 0-4 Patriot League), the Orange successfully capped off two plays to stave off a Raider team searching for its first win.

“The goal was really a big moment for Cicci (Pagano) to score right before halftime because it took a little bit of air out of them, and it just kind of calmed us down for the second half,” McIntyre said.

The film review this week for midfielder Luke Biasi revealed a weakness in Colgate’s play down the flanks. He said the Orange can “exploit” that, allowing them to get crosses into the box to translate into scoring opportunities. Syracuse is one of the top-scoring teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and it averages 2.3 goals per game.

“We just have to keep a lot of pressure on them with us being more athletic than them,” Biasi said.

Nine minutes into the first half, McIntyre called on Hili Goldhar — who started over freshman Giona Leibold on the left wing — to stay up. SU had had a few unsuccessful crosses, leading to missed opportunities despite controlling possession for the majority of the first part of the game. The Orange finished with possession of the ball for 64% of the time. Minutes later, Goldhar fired a cross from the far flank into Deandre Kerr. Despite the quality look, Kerr couldn’t finish the play, allowing the ball to fall just outside the nearside crossbar.

McIntyre said prior to Tuesday’s match that, despite Colgate entering winless with just two goals scored, the Raiders always play close games. Syracuse has had trouble putting away the former Patriot League champions who made a run to the Sweet 16 in 2017 despite being 7-1-1 against the Raiders under McIntyre. The Orange haven’t beaten Colgate by more than one goal since that season.

“They’re still a good program. This is always a one-goal game, a tie, this is a tough game,” McIntyre said.

At the end of the first half on Tuesday, SU once again found themselves in a close match. Syracuse controlled possession for most of the first half, with Colgate only finding sparse opportunities at quality shots when the wings broke down. Midway through the first half, Buster Sjoberg let Colgate’s Max Edelstein slip past him.

Edelstein and Timmy Donovan worked through back-and-forth passing as they worked their way to Russell Shealy. However, Olu Oyegunie slid over from his position to halt a clean look at a shot on goal. Less than a minute later, Oyegunie once again blocked a Raider shot. This time, he hit Aidan Davock hard deep in the Syracuse box.

McIntyre has consistently harped on the importance of midweek games against local nonconference opponents. And with the exception of the tie against Cornell, Syracuse has won each midweek game. He said that local teams like Colgate always try to bring their best game to SU Soccer Stadium, making for difficult wins sandwiched between emotional losses, such as Friday’s against Pittsburgh.

Syracuse allowed two straight corner kicks with 26 minutes left in the second half. On the first kick, the ball rolled on the ground, making it easy for the Orange to kick it out of bounds. On the second, Shealy, who hasn’t started a game in net since Sept. 10, dove out of the goal to neutralize their threat.

“I don’t think it was an emotional hangover,” Pagano said. “We put a lot of stress on this game.”

Last week, McIntyre joked that in order to prevent late goals, he asked the NCAA to shorten games. They hadn’t gotten back to him, he said, but Syracuse continued to allow late goals.

Syracuse allowed a lethal corner kick on Friday night against Pittsburgh. The Orange had still been looking for their first conference win since Sept. 10 against Virginia. But the No. 16 team in the nation staved off a double-overtime effort off a header from Guilherme Feitosa, continuing a trend for SU of allowing late-stage goals that has hindered their chances at coming away with wins.

What seemed to be a Duke game destined for overtime turned into zero points. What started as a 1-0 tight victory against Cornell turned into a midweek tie. Biasi and McIntyre said they’ve felt like the better team in some of their losses. McIntyre also said that in a perfect world, SU has a couple more points under their belt in conference play.

But that late threat didn’t come Tuesday night against Colgate. Colgate’s Jacob Blackwin fired a one-timer that made Shealy dive to his left. But it wasn’t a threat on goal. Instead of allowing a late goal, making another mental mistake SU said they are trying to prevent, Syracuse padded its lead, continuing their unbeaten streak in midweek games.

Deandre Kerr dribbled up to the edge of the box with 31 minutes remaining in Tuesday night’s match. He fired a wobbly cross to Manel Busquets directly in front of the net. Busquets was able to knock it down, turn around and position himself for a one-timer, right-footed goal to place the Orange up 2-0. Two minutes later, Leibold mirrored Kerr’s play, this time finding Kerr inside the box for another shot on goal — Syracuse’s sixth on the night.

The Orange padded on the lead, adding one more goal with less than a minute in the game. Julius Rauch slid into a cross that found the back of the net for his first goal of the season. He’s one of the players that Pagano said gets in workouts at 6 a.m. before his classes.

The win kicked off a three-game stretch in seven days for the Orange. McIntyre said that this win mattered as much as the one against Virginia — SU’s only conference win to date. The goal is to play postseason soccer, and hopefully, he said, do enough to earn a bid for the NCAA tournament.

“With the season coming to an end and tournaments coming up, we need these wins,” Pagano said.

Published on October 5, 2021 at 9:37 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt