Down three goals with 22 minutes remaining in the second half, Massachusetts finally got its first opportunity of the night.

Midfielder Cody Sitton had gotten the opening he’d been waiting for since the starting kick.

With no defenders near him on the far-left side of the box, Sitton rifled a shot toward the top of the cage. Goalkeeper Alex Bono, who hadn’t had a kick come his way all night, leapt up and tipped the ball as it fell harmlessly on the grass behind the net.

“The first half was tough, not much going on,” Bono said. “At halftime, you’ve got to reset yourself. … They’re going to try and make a run at you, so you’re always expecting shots and crosses, especially early in the second half.”

Bono captained a stellar defensive effort for Syracuse, which shut out its opponent for the fourth time this season. The Orange (6-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) defeated the Minutemen (0-8-1) 3-0 at SU Soccer Stadium Wednesday night.

The defense only allowed five total shots on Wednesday, two on-goal. Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre said he was pleased that his defense avoided a letdown after Friday’s 2-1 win at Duke.

“For a lot of programs, these midweek games can be difficult, sandwiched between two games,” McIntyre said. “I’m proud of the way the guys applied themselves tonight.”

UMass came into the game struggling to get the ball in the net. The Minutemen had tallied only three goals in eight games the entire season, and the Syracuse defense kept them off the board once again. Bono stressed that the team’s preparedness played a role in the win.

“We know everything about a team when they come in — from their stats, to what formation they play to what players play where,” Bono said. “But once that whistle blows, it doesn’t mean anything. They could have scored three goals all season and scored four tonight.”

Bono credited Brandon Albert for stepping in for the injured Skylar Thomas, saying he’s become a consistent regular starter.

The Orange had a scare midway through the first half when defender Jordan Murrell took a hit and spent several moments with his head facedown in the grass before being taken off the field.

His time on he bench was short-lived when he willed his way back for the last few minutes of the first half. Murrell said he didn’t want to let his team down by coming out, knowing he needed to aid the defensive effort. 

“As I say all the time, we pride ourselves on getting clean sheets, we hate conceding goals,” Murrell said. “From the strikers, all the way down to the goalkeeper, we pride the ball out of the back of the net.” 

McIntyre said that even though UMass has struggled to score goals, the Minuteman offense is still a threat. He was satisfied that his defenders were able to neutralize its aerial attack.

“UMass is a very honest, hardworking group,” McIntyre said. “I thought our goalkeeper, back four and the guys did a good job not just contesting that first ball, but I thought we did a good job of kind of rolling our sleeves up tonight and picking up those second balls.”

 

Published on September 26, 2013 at 1:31 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3