Syracuse Men's Soccer ACC Tournament Preview
The first round of the ACC tournament did not disappoint. The biggest surprise was certainly Louisville falling to Virginia Tech. The 5th seeded Cardinals played a solid game but could not distinguish themselves from the Hokies who were seeded 12th. Virginia Tech was 0-8 in conference this season but that did little to prevent them from turning in their best performance of the season. Louisville was coming off a disappointing 3-0 loss to Wake Forest that took away their bye and it certainly impacted them beyond that one result. The Tar Heels handled Boston College by only conceding a single shot on goal in the final minute of play while Pitt won 4-1 in 2 OT after a full takeover after 90 minutes, scoring 3 goals in overtime. The final game of the night was disappointing from Notre Dame who lost 3-1 against Clemson which included two own goals and a red card for the Irish.
The Orange have enjoyed their bye after securing the #2 overall seed while remaining the #4 team in the country. Syracuse had a up and down middle of their schedule when they suffered their first loss of the season to Virginia. They rebounded to win 3-0 over Virginia Tech before losing 2-1 in a Tuesday contest to Cornell. Since that second loss the Orange have beaten then #4 Wake Forest, #11 Louisville as well as two non-conference games against Loyola and Bucknell.
The Bucknell game was much closer than they would’ve liked while the final two games resulted in ties against teams you’d expect this Syracuse side to beat. They were the better squad against both NC State and Boston College yet only managed 1 goal in both matches. One of their biggest advantages this game is the fact that they had an extra few daya to recover, put those two results behind them and focus in on the tournament. While they were taken out of their competitive rhythm of having a weekday game followed by another on the weekend, this team needed a rest, something that the Tar Heels never received. They entered Wednesday after a non-conference win against William & Mary as well as two draws of their own against Boston College and #18 Virginia.
North Carolina was dominant in their game against Boston College. From the start of the game, they were in command and prevented the Eagles from achieving their pre-match objective of controlling possession. The attack this season has been led by Milo Garvanian but he took a backseat to Ernest Bawa who led the team in shots with 6. Those were enough for 4 more than any other Tar Heel. Bawa, despite being only 5’9”, rose up and headed home the winner. Their defense was stout in this one as well as they kept Boston College to 1 shot in the first half and only 1 shot on target in the entire game. North Carolina and Syracuse played in the first round of last year’s tournament which saw the Tar Heels advance after a 106th minute penalty scored by Garvanian.
If all goes as expected Syracuse should be able to fight their way into the Semi-Finals despite what will be a tough battle. There are three other games including Wake Forest vs Virginia Tech which started first. They endured a weather delay, but the early moments of this game were all Demon Deacons leading 8-2 in shots 40 minutes into the game. Pitt and Virginia have the 4:00 p.m. start time and this will be the most intriguing one for a neutral. Pitt has a serious chance to upset Virginia, especially following how they ended their game against NC State. Pitt lost 3-1 in the regular season to the Cavaliers but the momentum that 3 overtime goals gave them should lead to a quick start. The final game is #3 Duke taking on Clemson. Duke has yet to lose this season and I would be astonished if this were the game that they did. While Clemson won 3-1 against Notre Dame, they were hardly convincing. Notre Dame took more shots in the first half and put two in the wrong net for Clemson. The Irish saw Bryce Boneau pick up his 2nd yellow in the 54th minute, gave up goal in the 59th and still finished the remaining time by scoring one of their own in the 81st.
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