Syracuse returned to the field on Saturday with 96.6 percent of its 2013 scoring.
But the Orange finished its 4-1 win with scores from four players that combined for two goals all of last year.
Head coach Ian McIntyre used the majority of his starters in the first half. But mistimed passes and wide shots kept the Orange to just two shots on goal in the first 45 minutes.
“I thought we started the game well, got the goal, then kind of took a step back,” McIntyre said. “In the second half, we made a couple good adjustments, guys really gave us energy. We had a bit more bite to our performance.”
Noah Rhynhart, Matt Koegel and Stefanos Stamoulacatos scored three goals in the span of 12 second-half minutes to push Syracuse to a 4-1 exhibition win against Hartwick on a rainy Saturday night at SU Soccer Stadium.
“Those guys really gave us a lift off the bench today,” McIntyre said.
With the score tied at one, sophomore Alex Halis bent a shot that was blocked right out to Rhynhart who completed an easy finish to put Syracuse up a goal with 19:40 to play. Just two minutes later Koegel scored from the right of the cage off a pass from Troy Carrington.
After Stamoulacatos made it 4-1 with seven minutes to play, he pounded his chest, yelling and nodding his head excitedly at the sidelines.
“It’s important that we play together and find our system and find how we have to move,” said freshman Julian Buescher, who scored a first-half goal. “I’m happy that we (had) a good result.”
The Orange returns to exhibition play on Friday at 7 p.m. at Akron. SU opens the regular season Aug. 29 when it hosts Niagara at 2 p.m. at SU Soccer Stadium.
Published on August 16, 2014 at 10:08 pm
Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3