Syracuse 2 - Ohio State 1: Orange finish preseason with victory

The Syracuse Orange have finished out their preseason on a high note, taking down the Ohio State Buckeyes, 2-1 in their final tuneup of the season. This match again was able to be followed solely via Twitter, so the intricacies will have to wait.

Looks like Coach McIntyre altered the starting lineup a touch and gave the youngster John-Austin Ricks some run in midfield. He started off the game by almost picking a pass to put the forwards in on goal within the first minute. It doesn’t seem that the Orange let up from that point, as Chris Nanco, Johannes Pieles and Oyvind Alseth all put shots on target or rattled the woodwork, before Miles Robinson finished off a corner in the 28th minute to give Syracuse the lead 1-0.

It’s always good to see Kamal Miller and Robinson involved on set pieces, and Liam Callahan definitely knows how to whip them in from the corner. The Orange apparently controlled the ball the rest of the half, with Mo Adams putting one on target and Kenny Lassiter with some nice hold up play. They maintained hold of the run of play through the 68th minute when Ohio State equalized to level it at 1-1.

Syracuse went back on the offensive for the rest of the match, combining Nanco and Lassiter to force some issues with the back line of the Buckeyes. The partnership ended up combining with Jonathan Hagman in the 88th minute to give the Orange the lead, Nanco firing on target, forcing the save, with the ball dropping to Lassiter, laying it off for the Hagman go-ahead finish.

The victory caps off the preseason work for the Orange, who finished with two draws and a win on the warmup trail. Preseason is always good for getting people into game-shape and there’s some promise looking forward for this team. Friday, August 26 marks the season opener against UMass at 7pm up at the Syracuse Soccer Stadium.