"Go! Get the winning goal!"

Story and photos by Jiayang Zhang 

Syracuse, N.Y - 
With less than ten minutes left, the score was still 1-1. 

The Syracuse University men’s soccer team was fighting for its tenth win of this season. It had already tied the 1984 SU men’s soccer team’s 9-1-0 start before facing Albany Tuesday tonight. It was on the road to the best start ever. But the Great Danes did not make it easy. 

Senior defender Jordan Murrell scored the first goal for the Orange. His blasted his signature left-footed corner kick in the 32nd minute and it arced into the net, giving Syracuse an early lead. 

The Great Danes only took four shots during the whole game, and only one was on goal. But they made that one count. The goal by Afonso Pinheiro in the 55th minute ended Syracuse and goalie Alex Bono's shutout streak at 537:34. 

With the score tied the Orange kept pushing and had several shots but they were blocked by Albany’s goalkeeper Tim Allen who had seven saves in the game. 

With not much time left Syracuse needs a game changer. Head Coach Ian McIntyre decided to put Sophomore midfielder Alex Halis on the field in the 81st minute.      

“Go!” McIntyre said to Halis. “Get the winning goal!”

27 soconds later, Halis did.

Syracuse won a corner kick. Freshman midfielder Julian Buescher took it and passed the ball to Halis in front of the box. Without hesitating, Halis kicked the ball directly towards the goal. It deflected off his teammate Stefanos Stamoulacatos, and went into the net. 

Fans in the bleachers stood up, clapping and cheering. The Orange players on the field ran to Halis,circled the hero in the middle and jogged to the front of the bench to celebrate with the rest of players.

There were more than eight minutes left but the Orange controlled the ball the rest of the way. In fact Allen had to make two more saves to keep the SU total from being higher.

“We didn’t really talk about it,” Halis said, explaining the game winning goal he scored. “Julian just called my name before he put the ball down and took the corner kick. I was just there to get the ball, and I looked at the net and shot it ”


“I still have the adrenalin, ” Halis said in a very good mood. “I still feel it. It was good to get the winning goal."

"I got the monkey off my back.” 

“We need him to be the game changer,” McIntyre said. “And he changed the game in the first touch.You saw the emotion on his face when he scored. Talented attacking players want to score goals, want to have assists. He has had a tough ride recently. Getting the game winning goal tonight was really important for him, and also for our team.”   

Asked whether he usually tells a player to score the wining goal when he sends him in, as he did to Halis, McIntyre joked.

“I should, shouldn’t I?” 

“I just felt that Alex would cause them some problems,” McIntyre said,, “I wanted him to stay a little bit higher of the pitch when he came out. Alex loves the game of soccer. He eats, breathes and sleeps it. So he wants to do everything in his power to help the team.”

With the 2-1 win over Albany, this team climbed to the top of the record book. 10-1-0 is the best start for the Orange since the program started in 1920.


Although coaches and players didn’t talk too much about the record, they still take it seriously.

“We should really think about what it is,” Buescher said. “You don’t really feel it, but you should keep it in mind that how big it is, and it’s really huge for our program.”

“Each game you work hard,” McIntyre said. “If we play our brand of soccer, we play Syracuse soccer, good things are going to happen.”