One Was Enough for Irish Versus SU Men's Soccer

Defender Tyler Hilliard was disappointed 

Story and Photos by Thomas Zhou

Syracuse, N.Y -

It was the largest audience  the SU Soccer Stadium has ever had and the crowd was at its loudest booing the referee and cheering Skylar Thomas, with just under 16 minutes left in the match. That's when the Orange captain was ejected from the game due to his second yellow card for a defensive foul.

Notre Dame, the national defending champion, took advantage of the free kick and Brandon Aubrey scored for the Irish with a header on an assist from Patrick Hodan, silencing the crowd. It was all the Irish would need. 

The only goal of the game ended the Orange's four game winning streak, and gave SU its first loss of the season, 1-0. The match was the first in the ACC for both teams.

Syracuse had its chances in the game. The closest had come four minutes before Thomas' ejection, in the 70th minute when Oyvind Alseth’s shot from outside the box hit the right post.

Playing a man down, the Orange intensified the attack after falling behind and outshot the Irish in the game 13 to 12, but only three shots were on the target.

Syracuse students on the hill cheering the team

 “It is definitely disappointing," Syracuse goalie Alex Bono said. "As a goal keeper, you take it personally for letting the goals in.” 

The goal was the first against Bono this season, ending his streak of 434:05 without allowing a goal and it was the second-longest by an SU keeper on record.

However, Bono's steady performance kept the team's hope to tie the game alive until the end. He made seven saves in the game and twice stopped potential shooters with sliding tackles outside the penalty area in the last 15 minutes.

 

“We did as well as a job we could,” Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre said.

Upset at the result as he was, he praised the players for showing character and gave credit for players coming off the bench.

\“We play SU soccer like we did tonight, good things will happen this season,” he said. 

The record attendance of 2,442 is the first time a crowd has exceeded 2,000 at the SU Soccer Stadium.

The Orange will host Cornell on 7 p.m. next Tuesday.