Syracuse Men's Soccer: Blue Hawks Down, 2-0

I apologize for the title, I had to. (Ed. Note: You have my vote)

Hartwick pressed hard early on, but the Orange forced them into full fledged defensive mode for the majority of the match. In the opening minute, the Hawks had a shot sail wide and another buildup stunted by the Orange defense, which would end up being most of the offense they mustered on the evening.

Shortly after the 10' mark, the fluid offense of the Orange came alive, with a nice Halis to Nanco one touch curled around to Ekblom for a quick strike that sailed high. Halis was skirting in and out of players, the ball glued to his boots, literally taking the ball into the box, turning, retreating, attacking again, then pulling out wide, to set up a Thomas bicycle attempt from just inside the 18.

Chong and Rhynhart were both used as subs in the first half as a bit of change of pace, both slotting into the midfield. Chong brings a bit of pace and the consistent ability to go on runs through the center of the pitch. He's always looking for a through ball and a few times on the night caught up with them including a ripper in the 50th minute that found the top back corner of the net and left the Hartwick keeper with no chance at it.

The second half, you could tell the team was pushing more, playing in their opponent's half for most of the time. Chong stayed on to start the second half, with Coach McIntyre playing the hot hand and had a cheeky chipped goal called back on a controversial offside call after a picturesque leading cross from Halis (apologies for the adjectives, I feel like Poloquin...).

Perea finished the scoring off with a hard shot that took a small deflection off a Hartwick defender, just enough to sneak over the diving Hartwick keeper. Overall on the day the Orange tallied 9 shots to Hartwick's lone opportunity.

The Orange improve to 2-0 with the win and take on Virginia Tech this Friday, down in Blacksburg. This will be the first ACC game of the year. Unfortunately this one won't be televised. The Hokies are coming off a 2-1 loss to Fordham who we were able to take down in our opening exhibition match up here in Syracuse.

Another note, Syracuse climbed in both the Soccer America Poll, going from #17 to #15 and the Coaches Pollmoving from #20 to #17.