Syracuse Men's Soccer: Orange Go Big on National Signing Day

This latest iteration of a Syracuse University Men's Soccer recruiting class was a solid as I've seen around the hill and was rated 7th overall, 2nd in the ACC. Each of the players brought in was for a distinct purpose and Coach McIntyre has gotten some solid kids to come up north and play (or stay here). If you're into star ratings, each of the recruits was a 4-Star from TopDrawerSoccer's ratings, save Morgan Hackworth, and each of the recruits was on CSN's Top 150 list save for Spencer Held.

Austin Aviza - GK

Austin's got some big shoes to fill. Thankfully he's mighty talented. The keeper from the New England Revolution academy will be battling with sophomore Pat Castle for the number one spot at the number one. He was ranked 106th by CSN for HS Seniors coming out this year and hails from Medway, Massachussetts.

Adnan Bakalovic - F

Local players coming to the local university, when they're of the talent level is always a good sign. You can't lose that recruiting battle. In the case of Adnan Bakalovic, we won that battle. The Syracuse product isn't a hold up forward, but rather bursty and can play up the wing or through the middle coming at defenders. Bakalovic may slot in to the rotation at forward with the returning Chris Nanco, Danny Apajee and Noah Rhyhart. He was ranked 137 by CSN.

Christopher Gomez - D

Chris Gomez is the gem of this class and should be able to fill in on the left side immediately, as there's a Jordan Murrell sized hole there at present. Hailing from Jamison, PA, Gomez is a product of the Philadelphia Union academy. He's a defender who will press forward on the attack and play a through ball or get up and down the line. Speaking with the Daily Orange, Gomez stated that attacking was his best attribute and that his defense is improving. He will likely slot right into the starting rotation with Louis Cross and one of Trevor Alexander or Brandon Albert. He showed as the #18 prospect in the nation according to CSN.

Morgan Hackworth - M

You may recognize Morgan Hackworth's last name. Yes, he is the son of John Hackworth formerly of the Philadelphia Union, currently the U-15 National Team skipper. He was also an academy teammate of Chris Gomez. He's a box-to-box type player with an engine. He's a solid addition to the program and could help in the midfield that just lost Perea and Stamoulacatos. He was the #140 prospect in the nation according to CSN.

I don't have an embedded link for Hackworth, but there's a video of a nice free kick taken by him, when he was a U16, here.

Spencer Held - F

The California native played for Real SoCal on the club side, a USDA affiliate. Held is tough to get info on, elusive to the interwebs, but a Syracuse commit, nonetheless and garnered a four star rating on TDS.

Miles Robinson - D

Miles Robinson, also elusive on the video end of things, comes to us from FC Bolts Celtic in the Boston area. The big defender should be looking to lock a spot down at CB in the near future and will be in the discussion this year depending on how Coach McIntyre looks to form his squad. He comes in as the #40 overall from CSN and should be a very solid addition to the Syracuse backline in need of some solidity and depth.