Syracuse Men's Soccer Shocked by Temple
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – On Tuesday night, #10 Syracuse hosted Temple in the first-ever meeting between the two sides. The nationally ranked Orange came in as heavy favorites against the 1-5-3 Owls but were upset by the tune of 2-1. Syracuse was dominant in possession from the first whistle, but it was the away side that struck first. Temple’s Lleyton Imparato opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a goal that came completely against the run of play, and the Owls clung to a 1-0 lead for much of the rest of this game. The real fireworks began with less than five minutes to play, when Syracuse’s Gabriel Mikina nodded home a loose ball to tie the game in the 87th minute. Less than ninety seconds later, Temple’s Rocco Haeufglockner uncorked a screamer into the top left corner to steal the lead back and clinch a massive upset win.
Below are three takeaways from the match:
The Last Five Minutes Need a Rewind
In a game that primarily consisted of Syracuse possession and pressure on a Temple side that was content to sit back after their first half goal, things got more and more intense as the Orange continued to throw numbers forward. Syracuse tallied fifteen shots and fourteen corners throughout the game, keeping the Temple defense busy. When the Orange finally found their breakthrough off of a corner, their joy was short lived. After picking up the equalizing goal, Syracuse pushed forward for a potential winner and were caught off guard by an Owls counterattack. “Not being happy with a point, going for it,” head coach Ian McIntyre recounted the last minutes. “I like us being brave, but there was a naivete in that moment.”
There was a lot of energy in SU Soccer Stadium after the Orange equalizer, and it’s easy to see how players were caught up in the emotion to push for a win. Syracuse captain and graduate student Noah Singlemann lamented the snap decision to put everything forward postgame. “We need to be a little bit more mature, especially with our age, you can’t concede there,” Singlemann said. “It’s the 89th minute or whatever, obviously you want to win that game, but you can’t concede there.”
An Inexcusable Loss
Regardless of how ridiculous the end of the game was, there needs to be a big picture lens here. Syracuse came into Tuesday night touting a top 10 national ranking and a fifteen-game unbeaten streak at SU Soccer Stadium. Temple, after nine games, had finally just grabbed their first win of the season and dragged with them a road record of 0-3-2. In what on paper should have been a comfortable Orange win, the Owls stunned the defending national champions on their own turf. “This is miserable,” McIntyre said postgame. “I don’t want to minimize this, this should hurt.”
While it’s easy to chalk off Haeufglockner’s beautiful last-minute winner as a lucky strike, the bottom line here is that even a draw wouldn’t have been a good result for Syracuse. This is a team with the highest of aspirations only managing two shots on goal against a mid-to-low-tier AAC side. “In the final third, we need to be cleaner and get shots on target,” Singlemann said after the game. “If you don’t get shots on target, you can’t really score.”
When asked about last Friday’s road win against #13 North Carolina, Singlemann directed the attention back on Tuesday’s loss. “It’s a good win on the road, but if you don’t win mid-week games, those wins mean almost nothing,” the Syracuse captain said. “Got to make sure you win those midweeks, especially next week when Yale comes to town.”
Wickham’s Wall Finally Cracks
It appears that sophomore Jahiem Wickham has officially taken control of the starting spot at goalkeeper. Tuesday marked his third straight start over incumbent Jason Smith, who allowed five goals in his last appearance for Syracuse in their loss to Duke on September 29. Wickham has taken the starting opportunity in stride, making six saves in his first two starts while pitching two shutouts – his performances against Colgate and North Carolina strong enough to earn him ACC Player of the Week. “When Jahiem went in, we knew what we were going to get,” Singlemann said postgame. “He’s been terrific during our past two games; he was terrific today.”
Credit to Singlemann for backing his teammate – the truth is that Wickham was solid but not perfect on Tuesday night. The sophomore left his line and was beaten to the ball by Temple’s Lleyton Imparato in the first half. The Owls midfielder chipped the ball by Wickham, who got a touch but ultimately couldn’t keep the ball from trickling into the net. The second goal would’ve been tough for any top-flight goalkeeper to save, it would be unfair to place blame on Wickham for that concession. When asked about Wickham’s two-save performance tonight, McIntyre’s answer was short. “They didn’t create a ton,” the coach said. “We gave up two poor goals tonight.”
Looking Ahead:
The Orange will need to bounce back from Tuesday’s disappointing loss, but they have a tough task on Sunday when they host #21 Clemson. This contest is a highly touted rematch of last year’s ACC Championship game, where Syracuse won 2-0 to claim their second conference title in program history. The 8-3-1 Tigers are on a three-game win streak and will have a rest advantage – their last game was a 4-0 drubbing of Louisville on October 6th. Nevertheless, the Orange have won three straight games against Clemson and will look to make it four when the two sides kick off at 1pm on Sunday, October 15th.
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