Syracuse Men's Soccer Dominates Play, Tops Albany 1-0

The Orange remained undefeated on the season.

SYRACUSE, N.Y.  – On a hot and muggy night in Syracuse that felt more like the middle of July than early September, the Orange shut out in-state visitors University of Albany and earned a 1-0 win. While nationally ranked top dog Syracuse was heavily favored heading into the match, Albany came out strong and went toe-to-toe with the Orange for the first 45 minutes. It was at the start of the second half where Syracuse slammed the doggy-door shut on the Great Danes, with defender Gabriel Mikina opening the scoring in the 50th minute. Mikina’s header proved to be the winner, as Syracuse’s defense clamped down and never gave Albany a real chance to find an equalizer. The Orange are now 3-0-1 on the year, with three shutout victories in as many home games.

Below are three takeaways from the match:

A Frustrating Game Ends in a Good Result

Sitting at the top of the national rankings comes with an expectation to blow lesser opponents out of the water. Even though they dominated possession on Monday night, Syracuse only managed to put one goal past the Albany keeper. “When you don’t get that second goal, it creates that little bit of anxiety,” head coach Ian McIntyre said postgame. “If we’re not quite clicking, it becomes a really long evening, like it did.”

Part of the reason it ended up being a tough 90 minutes for the Orange was that the Great Danes set out to make it that way. “It’s very difficult to break down a team that sits behind the ball with nine players, and that’s in no way a slight,” McIntyre said. “The game plan, they looked to frustrate us, and they did for large parts of the game.”

Syracuse’s Defense is Rock Solid

The issue with sitting in a low block against a team like Syracuse is that you simply won’t create anything on the offensive end. The Orange’s defensive unit is among the best in the nation, and their strength and depth were on display against Albany. “We kept another clean sheet, which I think is the most important thing,” Mikina said. “We haven’t conceded too many goals, too many shots, and in tough conditions we got the job done.”

Mikina is being modest here – the Orange’s defense has only conceded one goal in their four regular season games and haven’t conceded at home. In those four games, Syracuse’s keepers have only faced eight shots on target, a ridiculously low number. According to coach McIntyre, with a defensive unit this strong, the formula is simple. “We’ve got the quality [offensively] – if we keep clean sheets, we’ll win soccer matches.”

This Team is Making Sure to Use Their Head

A wild stat that I had to fact check before putting it in this article - out of the seven goals that Syracuse have scored in this young 2023 campaign, five have been headers. This is a percentage that surely can’t hold up, but it’s been fun to watch Syracuse players tower over defenders to put crosses into the back of the net. Mikina doesn’t this statistic is a fluke, saying that “we work on urgency to get to the ball, to put our heads on the ball.”

Mikina was the unlikely hero tonight, the defender scoring his second goal of the season. He only had five tallies in 17 games with Niagra University last year and was asked postgame if he expected to see his name on the scoresheet so often this year. “I mean you never expect it, but when you get the opportunities, I’m glad I could take them and help the team win.”

Looking Ahead:

Top-ranked Syracuse will face their toughest test of the young season this Friday night, when #12 ranked Louisville visits the SU Soccer Stadium. The Cardinals have started their year off hot, winning all three of their opening games without conceding a single goal. Louisville will make the quick road trip to play the University of Kentucky on Tuesday night before heading up to New York, where the Orange will look to build on their eighteen-game unbeaten streak. That game is slated to kick off at 8pm on Friday, September 8th.

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