Our (hopefully) comprehensive Syracuse men’s soccer 2019 season preview

When the 2018 season closed on the Syracuse Orange, in the snow, at Colgate, at the hands of an Akron team that they had beat earlier in the season, it seemed one of those moments that just leads to an entire offseason of waiting for the season to start again. At this point, it’s gameday, dawning on the next iteration of Syracuse men’s soccer kicking off. The Orange have some key losses and some new faces for the next season, but should remain competitive in an ultimately stacked ACC.

Returning Players

The Orange bring back a good bit of attacking talent through the front three. Ryan Raposo is the name that a lot of outlets are putting at the top of the list. The standout sophomore left wing from Hamilton, Ontario (continuing the proud Syracuse tradition as Canada’s College Team), is returning as an All-Freshman ACC selection as well as a TopDrawerSoccer.com Freshman Best XI. He’ll be the initial point of concern for opposing defenders, netting four goals and seven assists last season, but he won’t be alone.

Also returning to the attack are seniors Massimo Ferrin and Serverin Soerlie and sophomore Hilli Goldhar. Ferrin tied for the second most goals on the team (5) to the now departed Tajon Buchanan (8). Soirle also returns up top, with three goals and an assist on the campaign. Goldhar, who plays the other wing went for two goals and five assists last year. While the Orange lost Buchanan, there’s still promise in the attack.

In the midfield, longtime stalwarts Hugo Delhommelle and Johnathan Hagman have graduated. Returning are Simon Triantafillou who took over the left wingback role at various points on the year, Julio Fulcar who got a good bit of time in the center of midfield and John-Austin Ricks, the jack off all trades. Last season Ricks played right wing, wing back and right center back at various points. All three should provide solid minutes on the year.

Transfers

Coach McIntyre is looking to bolster a solid squad with a number of players coming in on the season, either from other schools or abroad. There were four incoming grad transfers, all likely to get a solid run with the squad —

• Mickey Watson is an All-Patriot League grad transfer centerback from Loyola Marymount.
• Nyal Higgins, an All-Horizon League grad transfer centerback from the Oakland Golden Grizzlies
• Matt Orr, a senior transfer from the San Francisco Dons as a left sided defender or wingback. Hong Kong National Team member.
• Brian Hawkins, a three year midfield starter and grad transfer from Rutgers.

Also enrolling was Christian Meisch, a sophomore goalkeeper transferring from Stony Brook after and All-America East campaign. He was also named the conference rookie of the year for 2018. Meisch is from Ried-Brig, Switzerland and played with FC Sion’s youth teams prior to Stony Brook. He’ll provide an immediate competition for the incumbent keepers Jake Leahy and Sam Gomez.

The Freshmen

The new crop on the year is relatively promising. Representatives from a few different national teams, and a few different positions of note round out the class for the year. The seven incoming freshmen are as follows —

• Luther Archimede - Forward - Guadalupean national teamer, and former Ligue 2 side FC Sochaux academy player. He comes in as a freshman and may make an immediate impact with his European experience.
• Quinn Becker - Defender - Christian Brothers Academy / Black Watch FC product, which is becoming a bit of a local pipeline. Becker was a first team Section II centerback as a senior for CBA.
• Logan McGraw - Midfielder - Brooklyn, NY / BW Gottschee development academy side. A central midfielder, McGraw should be able to add to the quality in the midfield and comes with some high praise from Coach.
• Merjan Ozisik - Midfielder - Niskayuna High School / Black Watch FC product. Ozisik was the Section II Class AA player of the year in 2018. The attacking midfielder should add some technical ability to the midfield.
• Andres Quevedo - Goalkeeper - FC Dallas academy prospect. A solid shotstopper, per Coach McIntyre, Quevedo will likely be benefitting from development and a redshirt year.
• Amferny Sinclair - Midfielder - U-17 Costa Rican National Team captain. He can play as a holder and as a box to box midfielder and should provide an instant punch to the midfield in either the six or eight role.
• Noah Singelmann - Defender/Midfield - German academy product of Karlsruher SC. Listed as a defender on the roster, but can also push forward into the midfield. Singelmann’s versatility could get him some field time this year.

If you’d like to augment these words on the page with some season preview sounds in your ears, we did also preview the Orange on Episode 28 of the No Stoppage Podcast. This episode also include the preview for the women’s squad, as well as our bonus pod with SU women’s coach Nicky Adams which has some great insights on her transition to Syracuse and the upcoming season for the women’s team. Kevin Wall also caught up with Sydney Brackett and Kailee Coonan, two players on the squad for an episode of Faster, Stronger, Orange to get your audio women’s team preview fix.

I’m not going to lie, if I tried to come up with a sure fire starting XI right now, I would have some trouble. Likely they squad will come out in some form of 3-4-2-1 / 3-4-3, but the personnel seems to be quite variable. I’ll take a random stab here and them after tonight’s match, comment on how wrong I was...

The 2019 season kicks off tonight at 4:00pm, with Syracuse travelling to Washington D.C. to take on the Georgetown Hoyas. While I can’t consciously promote you watching something called “Hoyavision,” it is the only way currently to watch the match. They Syracuse home opener will be September 2nd, at 7pm against Binghamton University up at Syracuse Soccer Stadium.