Syracuse Men's Soccer Ranked 15th in Latest Coaches Poll
Following Syracuse's 2-0 win over then #21 Penn State on Sunday, the Orange went from unranked to 15th in the latest coaches poll. The ACC had seven teams in total ranked, as noted below.
Ranked ACC Teams (Previous Rank)
1. Clemson 2-0-0 (1)
2. Pittsburg 2-0-0 (7)
5. Wake Forest 2-0-0 (15)
13. North Carolina 2-0-0 (24)
15. SYRACUSE 2-0-0 (NR)
17. Duke 2-0-0 (12)
22. Notre Dame 1-1-0 (4)
*United Soccer Coaches Poll 1- Games played through August 29th*
Movers all across the updated United Soccer Coaches Poll but nobody else stands out quite like #15. The Orange find their way into the top 25 and then some after an impressive showing against the defending Big Ten champs in Penn State. Syracuse also have a 2-0 win against Iona under their belt. Even more good news came for Coach Ian McIntyre’s squad when Christian Curti was named ACC Defensive player of the week. Curti and that defensive unit allowed just six total shots on goal through two games with their 29-10 shot differential against the Nittany Lions impressing even further.
The only three teams in the ACC to not start 2-0-0 were Notre Dame, Virginia and Virginia Tech. All three of those teams are in the Coastal division of the ACC. #1 Clemson was the only ACC team to not move in the polls after a tough 3-2 win over #13 Indiana and a 2-0 victory against USC Upstate.
Pitt were frightening this through their first two games. If a 2-1 win over #2 Georgetown in about as even of a match as you’ll see wasn’t enough their 3-0 thrashing of #6 West Virginia was. The game against the Mountaineers played close but the University of Pittsburg showed why they are a special squad with how clinical they were in the final third. Their backline led by netminder Joe Van Der Sar was stout enough to hold two top 10 teams to just one goal. It is for those reasons that the Panthers climbed from 7th to 2nd in the polls.
Wake Forest also jumped quite a few spots making the leap from 15th to 5th. The Deacon Demons secured their two wins over the University of Central Florida and Air Force. UCF did not give the Wake Forest much trouble but Air Force pressure them until the very end after making it 2-1 in the 49th minute. It is interesting to note that they drew 0-0 with previous #6 West Virginia in their final exhibition match of the pre-season.
The Tar Heels went up to 13th this week due their two-win week. They also played Air Force but were far more impressive in their game than Wake Forest was. They both produced 2-1 wins but North Carolina outshot Air Force 12-3 while drawing 17 fouls and taking seven more corners. Southern Florida found a bit more consistency going forward against the Tar Heels than Air Force did but could not find a way to beat Andrew Cordes.
Duke seemed to have the least eventful or challenging opening two games as they beat San Diego and Milwaukee at home. It was only a 1-0 win against San Diego but that seemed more as a result of the Blue Devils not being clinical enough around the net as opposed to any other reason. Milwaukee was a 4-0 win for John Kerr’s team. Shakur Mohammed and Nick Pariano led the way for the Blue Devils as Mohammed netted two goals while Pariano provided an assist and a goal. The strength of schedule, or lack thereof to start the season as well as the disappointing goal tally against San Diego caused Duke dropped a few spots.
Finally, Notre Dame. Aside from the Orange this team provided the biggest move of the week. The Fighting Irish fell all the way from 4th to 22nd. The fall came due to the 3-1 defeat against the Redhawks of Seattle University. This game was 0-0 at the half with Notre Dame holding an 8-2 shot advantage. A switch flipped for the Redhawks in the second half as Declan McGlynn, who scored two goals, and Seattle came out swinging with three second half goals. All of the scoring came in the second half with Notre Dame’s lone goal coming in the 81st minute. They did beat a quality Michigan State squad on the 29th to save them from a potential drop out of the rankings altogether. Notre Dame clearly felt a need to rebound and did so by scoring the first three goals of the game. Both first half goals had Bryce Boneau’s name on them with two assists. The Spartan’s did not go away quietly. They scored a 75th and 85th minute goal to make it 3-2 but just could not find their equalizer.
The Orange are now no longer under the radar. They made a massive jump into the spotlight and everyone on their schedule the rest of the way just circled them if they weren’t already. Vermont started receiving votes this week and a win for them against Syracuse could do a lot for their resume so look for the Catamount’s to be a far tougher game than the 5-2-win last year might suggest. UConn is a historic program who will never not give Syracuse a fight. On the other end of the road trip the Orange have a Notre Dame team that nearly dropped 20 spots and certainly does not want to let a chance to prove themselves slip away. The game between the Fighting Irish and the Orange, especially if Syracuse can beat both Vermont and UConn, will be a can’t miss match to say the very least.
Over the next week here are a couple games to keep an eye on:
September 1st: Michigan @ Duke
September 2nd: Pitt @ Marshall
Syracuse @ Vermont
September 3rd: Notre Dame @ Indiana
Full Top 25:
- Clemson
- Pittsburgh
- Stanford
- UCLA
- Wake Forest
- Kentucky
- Creighton
- Washington
- Maryland
- Oregon State
- Marshall
- Charlotte
- North Carolina
- Akron
- Syracuse
- Tulsa
- Duke
- West Virginia
- Georgetown
- Denver
- Indiana
- Notre Dame
- Lipscomb
- Loyola Marymount
- Missouri State
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