First NCAA tourney Win at home for Syracuse men's soccer

Story by Thomas Zhou

Photos by Jiayang Zhang

Syracuse, N.Y- Alex Bono did not want his mistake to ruin his team’s NCAA tourney.

So the Orange goalie said it felt like the world was lifted off his shoulders when forward Emil Ekblom scored the equalizer to tie the game at 1-1, and felt even happier when midfielder Oyvind Alseth scored the game-winner. 

The Syracuse men’s soccer team recovered from a 1-0 deficit to gain a 2-1 victory over Penn State in its first-ever home NCAA tournament game on Sunday afternoon. 

Recover from PK and win

Bono’s mistake came in the 60th minute when he tried to hold the ball and throw it to defender Tyler Hilliard. However, the ball slipped from his hand and Connor Maloney got to it. The Nittany Lions' forward then was taken down by Hilliard in the box and Penn State was awarded a penalty shot. Maloney put Nittany Lions on the board.

“It was a terrible mistake for me,” Bono said. “I am so glad that the guys could fight back and win this game... It hurts me so much that I could have ruined the seniors’ chance. I never want that to happen again because they deserve a lot better than that. It was a bad mistake for me and it’s not going to happen again. The guys got my back. They came back and we got the win. That’s what matters.”

Penn State had only three shots before the goal while Syracuse had 10. But the ten shots did not help the Orange to take the lead because Andrew Wolverton, the Nittany Lions goalie, saved all five that were on target. 

Bono spent 14 painful minutes watching Syracuse’s attack failing to change the score. Wolverton saved midfielder Nick Perea’s shot in the box in the 66th minute. Three minutes later, forward Alex Halis took a shot but it was again saved by Wolverton, who had eight saves in the game. Skylar Thomas’ header in the 72nd minute, while beating Wolverton, hit the post. 

Bono finally got relief in the 73rd minute. Ekblom captured a one-on-one from Alseth’s pass and found the back of the net. The goal was the Orange leading scorer’s first in the last five games. 

“We are a confident team,” Ekblom said. “We had a great season. We trust ourselves and our abilities. We know when we go one down, we can still come back and win the game. That is what we showed today..”

After the first goal, Orange intensified its attack and ten minutes later, it was Wolverton’s mistake that sealed the win for the Orange. Alseth’s cross from the right side ended up in Wolverton’s arms, but Wolverton let the ball cross the goal line.  

“After the (first) goal and the keeper (Wolverton ) kept saving some out of nowhere, there was a time when I say ‘Jeez it was just not our day,’” Bono said. “but there was never a doubt that once we got the equalizer, we are going to punch them another one. He kind of gave us one at the end there, but we won the game. We have more goals than the other team and that’s all what matters.”

Looking forward

Hosting the first home NCAA tournament game and winning it meant a lot for SU. 

"It was a big day for our program today,”Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyresaid after the match. “A big day just having a chance to host a post-season game. We have been talking last five years about working hard to have an opportunity to show our supporters what a post-season college soccer match is about. That was it today, even with all the students home (for Thanksgiving break), a number of them stayed around and it was a fun atmosphere. ...Not just winning, but having the chance to play a home game, and now I hope we can win some games and maybe we'll get a chance to come back here later in the season."

The Orange advances to the third round and will play against Georgetown. The Hoyas are  the same team that knocked the Orange out in penalty shoot-out two years ago, in the third round of NCAA tournament. 

“We just want to keep playing 'til December comes out,” said defender Jordan Murrell, who

missed the crucial penalty kick two years ago against Georgetown. “We want to play in the snow on the field. We are just going to keep training hard and playing hard too.”