Three Standouts: Syracuse 2 Louisville 2

Three star players for the Orange in its tie with the #7 Cardinals.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – #4 Syracuse welcomed in their first ranked opponent of the season on Friday night, leaving things level at 2-2 with #7 Louisville at the SU Soccer Stadium. The Cardinals stood at 4-0 coming into the match, having already beaten two ranked opponents in Tulsa and Kentucky, and they came out strong against the Orange. Louisville forward Gage Guerra found himself free in the box and fired a low shot home for a 1-0 lead just past the ten-minute mark. The national champions stormed back in the first half, as Lorenzo Boselli converted a penalty less than a minute later to tie the game before Mateo Leveque’s strike gave Syracuse the lead in the 33rd minute. This was thought to be enough to ensure a Syracuse victory, until Guerra’s second goal in the 88th minute. Dropping points late on Friday night leaves Syracuse’s record at 3-0-2.

Below are three standout players from the match:

Mateo Leveque

Syracuse midfielder Mateo Leveque scored his first ever Syracuse goal in style on Friday night. In the 33rd minute, the Frenchman received the ball at the top of the box, took a touch and finished through traffic with his left foot. As the shot nestled into the bottom right corner, Leveque sprinted back towards midfield to celebrate with his teammates. “I’m very happy for my first goal,” Leveque said postgame. “I’m frustrated about the result, but it is what it is.”

Leveque is a handful on either side of the ball. While he continued to cause Louisville issues with his creativity in the final third, the midfielder was also working hard to win balls back from the Cardinals as a central piece of Syracuse’s high press. “I thought he was awesome today,” head coach Ian McIntyre said of the junior. “The game was so open in midfield. I’m sure when we see the mileage that our midfield did - the guys really put in a shift.”

McIntyre and the rest of the Orange have high hopes for the transfer from UConn, and there’s no doubt Friday night’s goal will be the first of many for Leveque.

Josh Belluz

Even though Syracuse conceded their first goals at home this season, for a good part of 90 minutes their defense looked as sturdy as ever. Guerra’s goals were the first and second conceded in the 360 minutes of play at SU Soccer Stadium. The Orange slammed the door shut on Louisville after the Cardinals’ early first half goal, not conceding another shot for the next 45 minutes of game time. While being disappointed with the result, McIntyre said postgame that he was proud of the effort his team showed defensively. “We’re gonna have some tired bodies tomorrow. We know this Louisville team when you give them time on the ball are really difficult to disrupt, and in order to do that, you have to leave it all out there,” McIntyre told reporters. “From effort, approach, application, character, toughness, resilience – all those things, couldn’t ask any more from our group.”

At the heart of this Syracuse defense that “left it all out there” is the hulking hybrid player Josh Belluz. The 6’6 defender/midfielder wins nearly every ball in the air and is always ready to deliver a crunching tackle. He had a unique task tonight, man-marking Louisville’s Sander Roed, an All-ACC first team player last year who led the Cardinals with eight assists. He was largely silenced tonight by the Syracuse defense, his lone contribution coming in the form of an assist when Belluz physically couldn’t be on his back – Roed whipping a beautiful corner into the box in the 88th minute that ended up being the equalizer. Until the dying moments, Belluz and Syracuse did a good job of slowing down the Louisville offense – their eight shots were the least they’ve managed all year, and the first time the number sat in single digits.

Lorenzo Boselli

When Syracuse won a penalty in the 11th minute, there was no question who was going to step up and take it. Senior Lorenzo Boselli is the team’s leading scorer with five goals in the first four games, and there’s a reason McIntyre selected him as a Syracuse captain this year. “He stepped up in big moments last year,” McIntyre said. “He stepped up and had no problem tonight.”

Boselli is a creative player that’s able to play tough balls through to his teammates, especially transfer Nicholas Kaloukian, who Boselli has formed a fast partnership with up top. As a leader and face of this team, Boselli has taken time to speak to student media after every home game this season and delivered a strong message today after the gut punch of Louisville’s late equalizer. “We know these games are tough, and we have a target on our backs,” Boselli said. “Every game is gonna be like this, and we’re ready for it.”

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