Syracuse Men's Soccer Falls to North Carolina in ACC Semifinals
After a thrilling second round win over Virginia in penalties, the Syracuse Orange returned to frigid, sleeting New York to welcome their second North Carolina based opponent in three games; this time the North Carolina Tarheels.
The Orange defeated North Carolina 1-0 earlier in the season, and hoped to make it a 2-0 sweep tonight.
North Carolina did everything they could to prevent that from the jump, gaining an early lead when forward Vician Martin broke the ice in minute 6 off of a defensive breakdown from the Orange.
Coach McIntyre said he remained confident despite facing an early deficit; “We responded well after the goal, I thought we were gonna score the next one”.
That didn’t prove to be the case, as 31 minutes later in the 37th minute the lead was extended to 2 by way of a breakaway goal from Martin’s fellow forward Daniel Kutsch. The game would head to halftime with the Tarheels holding a 2-0 lead.
The Orange came out strong in the 2nd half, and after few big pushes finally broke through off of a beautiful centering pass from Jeorgio Kocevski to Nicholas Kaloukian in minute 56, who headed it in to slice the UNC lead in half. This really seemed to ignite the crown at SU Soccer Stadium, who were ready to explode after a scoreless first two thirds of the game for their beloved Orange.
Unfortunately for the Syracuse fanatics, it was a red card only a few minutes later and not the sleet that would truly dampen the mood. Jeorgio Kocevski was ejected from the game in minute 58, leaving Syracuse with a one man disadvantage the rest of the way.
The final nail in the coffin was provided on a breakaway goal once again from Vician in minute 70, who recorded his 6th and 7th goals of the season on the night.
Syracuse fought hard down the stretch despite playing 10 on 11, but came up short, as North Carolina advanced to play in the ACC Tournament championship game vs the winner of Louisville at Clemson, a game Clemson currently leads 3-1 in the second half. This game will be played on Sunday at noon in WakeMed Soccer Park (home of North Carolina FC) in Cary North Carolina, and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Coach McIntyre spoke regarding the pivotal red card, “In fairness I gotta go back and have a look at it… it changes the game… Jeorgio’s working hard, he clips a guy, and as I said it’s difficult to be a referee…”.
On Monday, the seeding will be released for the national tournament, as Syracuse fans, players and coaches will all await who they may be assigned in round 1. McIntyre admitted tonight’s loss hurts, but said “This is the awesome time of the year” before highlighting how good of a season his team has had, and how excited they are to get into national tournament play.
The team will have a few days to wait before seeing their fate on Monday. The full field of 48 will be released at 1 p.m. Monday.