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Marcello Vitale didn’t realize that he had Syracuse’s all-time goal scoring record until a few years after the end of his college career. 

The soccer program was only eight years old when Vitale scored his record 44 goals. When Mark DiMonte, who played at SU from 1984-87, was approaching Vitale’s mark with 42 goals, journalists asked Vitale about his record. But Vitale was pleasantly shocked by the question.

“The Daily Orange or one of the Syracuse papers called me up and said, ‘Hey, how does it feel that (DiMonte) almost beat your record,’” Vitale said. “I said, ‘What record?’ And he goes ‘You have the record with 44 goals.’ And I go, ‘Oh, OK.’” 

Vitale does remember the many goals that helped his team to four straight winning seasons and a Big East championship in 1982. His teammates and family remember his playing style, which made goals feel like an inevitability. He has remained in the Syracuse area for the past 50 years and coaches the girls varsity soccer team at Christian Brothers Academy.

The soccer player immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1974 with his mother and brother, Gio, to join his father and sister, who had been in central New York for two years. 

Growing up in Italy, Vitale and his brother played soccer like most children, but the area they lived in didn’t offer any junior leagues. They also faced difficulties finding a geographically even playing field, since their home of Satriano — a small town in Calabria — was five miles away from the beach and the mountains. Instead, the brothers competed against each other, juggling the ball 1,000 times on most days. 

The day after Vitale moved from Italy, he played with a junior league team, where he met Joe Papaleo — SU’s goalkeeper from 1979-82. Vitale quickly impressed him, eventually playing in a Rochester men’s league at 14. 

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Vitale’s talent allowed him to choose where he wanted to play collegiately and he decided to go to the same school as Papaleo. The pair met at a McDonald’s to figure out where they were going, initially set on Southern Connecticut State. But they eventually changed their minds and decided on Syracuse because it was closer to Vitale’s family. 

In 1979, Alden Shattuck’s first year as SU’s head coach, the team’s starting lineup was mostly freshmen. Vitale said the freshmen stuck to themselves because they were intimidated by the upperclassmen, who Vitale said might’ve had a little animosity because of the young starting lineup. 

Vitale’s cooking drew Dean Foti and his teammates to Vitale’s apartment constantly. Gio said he was a better cook than Vitale, but the brothers got their skills from their parents. 

“That (food) was (with) my mother’s sauce and my father’s cooking,” Gio said. 

Vitale’s scoring ability wasn’t as debatable as his cooking. His opponents couldn’t stop him from creating space for a shot. Vitale’s teammates picked up on how, when he reached the attacking half of the field, he would always make a horizontal cut to his left or right. 

“In practice, we all knew the one move, and we all knew he was going to do it,” Foti said. “But none of us could stop it.”

Foti said Vitale never needed much space either since he had a quick release in tight spaces. Fellow SU teammate Jimmy Gentile said Vitale’s quickness meant he never needed any “fancy moves” to score, yet, according to Shattuck, he didn’t even realize how fast he was.

In 1982, Vitale displayed his quickness as he approached the single-season goal scoring record. During a late-season matchup with Ithaca College, SU forward Steve Klaus sent a pass too far for Vitale, and it headed straight at the Bombers’ goalkeeper. But Vitale outran the keeper and scored on a wide-open net to extend the Syracuse lead to 2-0.

That was the 13th goal of the year for Vitale, one short of Wayne Tompkins’ 1975 record of 14. He tied the record with a PK in a 2-0 win over Cornell.

At that point, everyone knew defenders would get off balance when Vitale used his right foot. For then-Syracuse defender Ken Hayward, practices got embarrassing.

“He had a very explosive first step that (he used) to get around you,” Hayward said. “It was kind of inevitable.”

Hayward said Vitale also had the ability to stand out off the pitch, wearing the latest European clothing brands. Hayward described it as “euroswag,” which included Pantofola d’Oro cleats.

Before the Orange’s 1982 Big East Tournament win, Vitale told The Daily Orange he was going to wear a black, double vested jacket for a tournament banquet. Vitale doesn’t remember this either, but it checks out since his father was a tailor.

Similar to finding a fun suit to wear, Vitale always enjoyed big games. In 1981, Syracuse hosted No. 2 Long Island in front of 14,000 people in the Dome. Vitale remembers the whole lower section of the Dome being packed. Neither team scored in the first 80 minutes.

Vitale received a pass from a teammate at midfield, sprinting toward goal where he was met by the keeper in an aggressive stance. The right side of the net was open, and Vitale used his quick release to bury a shot into the corner, giving the Orange a 1-0 upset win.

“To be a scorer, you really have to be selfish,” Gio said. “You don’t see too many of them…his ability of clearing and opening space for himself…it’s tough to develop.”

Published on September 7, 2022 at 11:08 pm

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