Syracuse Men's Soccer Takes Down NC State on Senior Night

The first half was a dearth of entertainment, as the Syracuse Orange took on the visiting North Carolina State Wolfpack at SU Soccer Stadium. Syracuse controlled play a bit, NC State hit on the counter and no one did much of anything, with the score after 45' being 0-0.

At the outset of the half, Syracuse came back at it, working primarily up the left flank, taking advantage of Liam Callahan making a few really solid runs and putting in some crosses. Unfortunately, Syracuse couldn't convert on this and NC State was able to capitalize, opening the scoring to make it 1-0 in the 69th minute.

After this happened, something changed. The Orange started racking up the corners and also a few set pieces. The one twos had a bit more movement Their opener came off one of those set pieces. Julian Buescher put in a ball to the center of the 18 yard box. It hit Chris Nanco, who settled, dropped it to Ben Polk and he put a nice left footed strike back past the keeper through traffic. A quality strike that put the Orange back level with around 16 to play.

Syracuse kept the pressure on, hitting down each flank. The forced a corner with around five minutes left in regulation. The ball served in from Liam Callahan ended up dropping right to the center of the six and meeting the head of Louis Cross. The centerback took a solid contact and slotted it right inside the far post, wrong footing the keeper. The goal was his second of the season, putting the Orange ahead for the night and moving them to 10-4-2 on the season.

• Polk is on a great run of form, scoring 7 and assisting on 1 in his last 9 matches.
• Senior Night for the Orange honored Juuso Pasanen, Noah Rhynhart and Korab Syla. They have been mainstays in Syracuse lineups for a while now and it's been a great run for these guys.

For 89 minutes, the #16 Syracuse Orange ran tight with the #4 Clemson Tigers. On the last minute of regulation, the tires came off and Clemson turned a midfield giveaway into a game winning goal. Overall one of the best games this young team has played, it went well enough that they moved up a spot in the polls after the loss. Very solid showing for a team that needed some resume help to slot into solid seeding in the ACC tournament and improve the resume for the NCAA Tournament.