Syracuse Men's Soccer is Embracing the Target on its Back

The Orange is ranked #1 in the preseason poll following a National Championship season.

The Syracuse Men’s soccer team is in its first week of practices, and expectations are high following a national championship season.

On Thursday, head coach Ian McIntyre said his team is proud to be sitting at number one in preseason rankings, but acknowledged there are big differences between last years squad and this year’s 2023 iteration. McIntyre highlighted the fact that 15 players from that championship team are no longer with the program, describing the roster this year as having a lot of “depth” and “freshness”.

Graduate defenseman Noah Singelmann said the number one ranking is nice, but the approach doesn’t change. 

“It’s pretty exciting, but in the end nothing really changes right," Singlemann said. "Like number one, number 25, not ranked, it’s the same thing. It’s the same grind every time.”

Coach McIntyre also emphasized the importance of team building, especially with so many new additions this season. He specifically talked of the benefits of the 10-day trip to England that the team took this off-season, saying that the chance to take some new guys along on this trip was a “kickstart to the season”.

Singelmann also noted that the team is gelling well, and that he expects chemistry to be just fine come August 24 when the Orange host the Providence Friars in its season opener.

Senior midfielder Jeorgio Kocevski said that culture is the strength of this Syracuse team. 

“We talk about it a lot in our locker room, the strength of our team is the culture we have, and our culture is as good as ever if not better than it was last year…," Kocevski said. "We’re gelling already, y’know the locker room, people are coming in early just to hang out… That’s what we love to see, the culture is unreal again.”

The Orange open exhibition play S August 12th at 7 p.m. vs Canisius at SU Soccer Stadium.

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