Syracuse Men's Soccer is ACC Championship Final Bound
For the first time since 2015 Syracuse Men’s soccer is going to the ACC Championship final!
On a Wednesday night SU Soccer Stadium might have been heard all the way in Cary, NC when Colin Biros put home the game sealing penalty. It was impossible to contain the excitement that overcame everyone in that stadium who even invaded the pitch to celebrate with the team following what was an unbelievable game.
A rollercoaster of emotions started even before the 5:00 p.m. kickoff. The first bit of difficulty for the Orange was taking the field without Buster Sjoberg. He has been a staple in that backline this season and not having him involved as a starter or substitute was going to make keeping Leo Afonso and the Cavalier attack off the scoreboard difficult.
The first half as a whole was very back and forth. Over the course of the first 45 minutes both sides traded chances and control of possession. Virginia using their pace, aggression and ability to play on the counter which opposed a Syracuse team that tried to play a controlled game where they set up each and every chance. Virginia narrowly outshot the Orange 10-9 in the first half. The first few chances for Syracuse seemed to be finding Abdi Salim who rose up on a few occasions to try to put a header on frame but in the 27th minute Nathan Opoku drew a foul just inside the box and Jeorgio Kocevski scored his third penalty of the season to make it 1-0.
Virginia would have their equalizer in the 38th minute when Andreas Ueland scored from an attempted clear after a corner. Curt Calov would have one more chance for Syracuse before the break but sent it just over the bar.
Syracuse came out of the break and had the first corner that was earned by Levonte Johnson but, as a whole, the deliveries from corners and set pieces weren’t up to the caliber that they normally were. Some of that came down to the size that Ueland provided in the box.
After a few substitutions on both sides Virginia would take the lead. A 66th minute goal came from Leo Afonso who scored on a second chance following Russell Shealy’s save. Olu Oyegunle got isolated on the right side of the box, allowed Horton to get into the box with a lane to shoot which put Shealy on an island with Afonso there to clean things up. Postgame Colin Biros said that goal would serve as a wakeup call for them and their play drastically improved.
Just as Virginia did against Pitt in the previous round, once they got their lead, they get their men behind the ball and pack it in defensively to try to play for the win. The Syracuse players all acknowledged that they would have played it similarly had they been up 2-1 but that playstyle enabled the Orange to have the bulk of possession and chances the rest of the way. They would go on to outshoot the Cavaliers 8-3 in the second half.
Syracuse played beautifully on the attack in the final 25 minutes of play and found quite a few chances due to their crisp passing and coordinated build up play but were trying to be too precise on some chances. In all honesty a few players needed to just be more selfish to get the ball on frame and challenge Holden Brown. With a Colin Biros substitute in the 83rd minute for Oyegunle, the urgency kicked in and Lorenzo Boselli found the goal they needed just over a minute later. A few tic-tac passes to enter the final third set up Nathan Opoku and Boselli. Opoku got in the left corner and without a single moment of hesitation their combination play worked to perfection. Opoku found Boselli on the corner of the box, he gave it right back and made a quick move to the center of the box where Opoku led him and Boselli put it into the back of the net. Leibold and Johnson both had chances before the expiration of regulation, but this was destined for an extra 20 minutes.
Nathan Opoku would have two chances in the first overtime and Shealy made a routine save in the 100th minute but Virginia was playing for penalties. Once Syracuse equalized the Cavaliers were deflated and just tried to weather the momentum that the Orange had accumulated. Opoku and Leibold each had a look in the 2nd half of extra time but could not find a goal which led to penalties. This was first time this season, due to the new rule change concerning overtime during the regular season, that Syracuse had to go to either overtime or penalties. It was also the first time they had been in a penalty shootout since 2019 against North Carolina.
Syracuse went first and their first 5 shooters were Boselli, Kocevski, Opoku, Calov and Biros.
Virginia elected to go with Mangarov, Ueland, Horton and Ahlander for their first four as they never got to their 5th.
Boselli and Magarov both converted and Kocevski gave the Orange a 2-1 advantage. The moment Syracuse needed came when Ueland attempted a hesitation on his penalty but waited too long after getting a brief flinch from Shealy which allowed the keeper to recover and make a magnificent save diving to his right. Opoku and Calov handled their penalties with class for Syracuse while Horton and Ahlander, who arguably took the most impressive penalty, did their job as well.
It came down to Colin Biros. With a goal the Orange were through to the finals and he got Brown to dive right, went down the middle and sealed the victory.
Syracuse is now set to play Clemson who beat Wake Forest 2-0 in the 2nd Semifinal match. Clemson is the defending national champion who began the season ranked #1 and were the favorite to win the ACC. Syracuse handed the Tigers their first loss of the year in a 2-1 victory that spiraled a rough mid-season dip from Clemson. After getting some players healthy they regained their form at the right time and have gone on to beat Notre Dame, previously undefeated Duke and the 4th seeded Demon Deacons to make it the final.
The game will be played at 12:00 p.m. in Cary, N.C. at WakeMed Soccer Park and can be viewed on ESPNU.