Syracuse wins its first ACC tournament game in its first appearance

Story by Thomas Zhou
Photos by Jiayang Zhang

Syracuse, N.Y-

Asked before the game which opponent between Duke and NC State did he prefer, Syracuse men’s soccer team midfielder Julian Buescher’s answer was Duke. It was not because Duke was easy to take on. It was because the German freshman knew “Syracuse vs Duke” is a heated topic.


It truly is. 2,553 people came to see the Orange take on the Blue Devils on Sunday afternoon, the largest crowd in the SU Soccer Stadium ever.

What the crowd witnessed was sophomore Alex Halis and senior co-captain Nick Perea’s goals helping Syracuse beat Duke, 2-0, in the first ACC tournament game for the Orange.. 

“I don’t think that hill has ever looked that bad after a game,” Orange goalie Alex Bono joked about the hill occupied by students cheering the team. 

Entering the game, the Orange was the No.1 team in the country while the Blue Devils had won only one of their six games on the road. However, it was Duke fired first.

Brody Huitema, Duke’s leading scorer, headed a cross but it hit the bar only 25 seconds after the opening whistle. It was so sudden that Bono hardly reacted. Huitema took a grazing shot two minutes later from outside the box. While on target this time, Bono saved it.

Syracuse fired back and converted two of its 10 shots in the first half.

In the 10th minute, Buescher set a cross from the right side to help Halis find the back of the net. Halis ran to the hill and celebrated the team’s first goal of post season with the crowd. While Halis had played in 17 of 18 games, it was only the second time he started.

“It was just sheer brilliance from my heart to pick a guy that was going to score ten minutes into the game,” head coach Ian McIntyre said. “Alex Halis has a great week in practice. He played well last week. He was rewarded. He rewarded us with that early goal.”

The crowd waited 22 minutes to cheer for the second goal.

Midfielder Liam Callahan redirected a left-side cross in the box from Oyvind Alseth. Perea beat Blue Devils goalie Wilson Fisher with a header. 

Not only did Perea contribute with that goal, he and other midfielders shut down Blue Devil Sean Davis, whose 10 assists were the most in the ACC. McIntyre praised Perea for stopping Davis’ forward passes. 

“He is our captain,” McIntyre said. “He played against one of the best players in the conference, Sean Davis. I think he is outstanding.”

The Orange had many chances to extend the lead in the second half, especially in transition. 

In the 55th minute, leading striker Emil Ekblom’s left-foot shot went wide of the near post. Twenty minutes later, Ekblom took a pass from Christ Nanco and shot in the box. Fisher saved it, one of his four saves in the period.  

A scoreless second half, however, was enough for the Orange to take the win.

Less than 20 seconds before the end of the games. Fans on the stands stood up and cheered till the ending whistle. Orange players hugged each other and thanked the fans after the game. 

“It was a terrific day for our program,” McIntyre said. “I am very proud of our guys.”


The Orange will travel to North Carolina to take on Louisville on Nov. 14. Louisville is one of the only two teams that beat the Orange this season, a 2-1 overtime game at Louisville on Oct 17. 

“I’d love to get back after them,” Bono said. “Some revenge.”

 

SU Volleyball Looking for Another Conference Win

By Jessica Eley

Syracuse, N.Y -

Orange blocking against a Duke attack

Still looking for a second ACC win, Syracuse University's volleyball team went up against No. 25 Duke on Sunday at the SU Women's Building. The Orange gave them a fight but
the Blue Devils swept, 25-16, 25-21, 25-19.

SU (8-17, 1-13 ACC) was led offensively by senior middle blocker, Lindsay McCabe, who had nine kills and a .278 hitting percentage.

SU was neck and neck with Duke (18-8, 10-3)in the beginning of the first set until point seven.  But several missed opportunities by the Orange eventually gave the Blue Devils an 18-11 lead.

After a serving error by Duke's Sasha Karelov, SU cut the lead to 19-16. But the Orange was unable to score during the rest of the set as the Blue Devils closed it out.

The scores in sets two and three were closer. SU Junior setter ,Gosia Wlasczcsuk, got McCabe going. Seven of her kills came during the last two sets.

McCabe said the team could have played better. The sets were filled with long rallies and the Orange was not able to capitalize.

"If we can sustain that fight longer during the rallies with different results..." McCabe said. "We have points in the game where we're doing a great job at fighting, but we're not sustaining that the entire set."

The Blue Devils outhit the Orange 54 to 35 with a .339 hitting percentage.

"They're smart hitters, they know how to hit around the block," McCabe said.

The Orange also lost its Friday match against Clemson, 3-1.

Despite the direction the season has gone, head coach Leonid Yelin said the team has not given up and is still looking for a way to win.

"We played against a good team and we didn't even play as good as we could have," Yelin said.

The Orange hosts Boston College next Sunday before playing Miami and Florida State on the road on Nov. 21 and 23.

Herkimer Undefeated No More, ND Takes Class C Section III Title Home

By Nicole Todd

SYRACUSE, N.Y -

The Magicians and the Jugglers. This sounds like a show at the circus, but instead it was high school football at the Syracuse University Carrier Dome.

Section III Class C Champions, Utica Notre Dame (c.) Nicole Todd

The top-seeded Herkimer Magicians and the six-seed Utica Notre Dame Jugglers  fought for the Section III Title and the Jugglers worked the magic.

The last game these two played, Herkimer won 28-24 on October 3.  But this time Notre Dame came out on top, winning 32-20 to take the Class C Championship Trophy back to Utica with them.  

"This is part of the deal winning and losing," Herkimer coach Alan Steele said after the game.

It was Herkimer's first loss of the season.  The game plan going in was to control the ball, but the Magicians came up short multiple times with fumbles, dropped passes and failed attempts at two-point conversions. Steele said in his post game interview this was a game uncharacteristic of the team.

"I thought we played offensively pretty well," he said. "It is what it is."

Fumbles 

(c.) Nicole Todd

The first quarter was a series of fumble exchanges until Notre Dame's Jack Heaton took off on a 73-yard touchdown run with eleven seconds left. It stayed at 6-0 when the two-point conversion attempt failed.

Herkimer's Brennan Thompson tied it in the second quarter on an 8-yard run and his 2-point conversion made the score 8-6 with Herkimer on top for the first and only time during the game.

Notre Dame retaliated with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jerome Bradham to Kevin Warmack to make it 12-8.

After a Herkimer punt, the Jugglers scored again with under 30 seconds left in the half, on a 47-yard pass play,  Warmack  to Joe Sullivan to make it 18-8.

 


Extending the Lead 

Herkimer did not score in the third quarter.  The Magicians picked off  a Warmack pass but failed to capitalize and  ND then extended the lead to 24-8 on a 47-yard run by Warmack.. 

In the 4th, Herkimer got within ten on a 7-yard TD run by Mitchell Scherer. But the two-point attempt failed, leaving the Magicians trailing 24-14  Notre Dame put the cap on it with a 74-yard touchdown and finally converted a two-point extra to make it 32-14 just under 5 minutes in the game.

(c.) Nicole Todd

Around this time, Notre Dame fans starting chanting "Hey, hey, good-bye" and waving to the Herkimer fans on the other side of the Dome.

Herkimer did get another touchdown on a 5-yard Scherer run, but it was too little, too late and the game ended with Notre Dame winning 32-20.

Defending Champs next for ND

“Our school is well deserved,” Notre Dame's first year coach Jake DerCola told Syracuse.com. “All I knew Notre Dame was for is football and it’s good to bring it back and it’s good for our kids, its all for them.”

The Herkimer Magicians went home empty-handed, but aren't changing anything for next season Coach Steele said.

As for the ND Jugglers, they will play in the quarterfinals on Saturday, November, 15
against the defending champions Chenango Forks.

Herkimer Coach Alan Steele

(c.) Nicole Todd

SU Gets Early Lead, Defeats Duke in ACC Quarterfinals

By Julia Morris
Photo by Jiayang Zhang

Syracuse, N.Y. -  Sophomore midfielder Alex Halis has not been a regular starter for the Syracuse Orange this season – but he made his start in the ACC quarterfinals against the Duke Blue Devils on Sunday afternoon count. Halis scored the first goal of the match in the 10^th minute of the game and the Orange (15-2-1)would add to that lead later on, winning by a final score of 2-0.

Halis’ goal was his second of the season.  Freshman midfielder Julian Buescher sent a pass to the center of the box where Halis then used his fancy footwork to maneuver past defenders and find the net. 

“All week in practice I was working on running to the front post,” Halis said.  “My first thought right there was run to the front post - I kind of got a lucky bounce it came to me and my first instinct was just go to the net and it went in.”

The score put the Orange ahead 1-0, causing the record crowd of 2, 533 at the SU Soccer stadium to erupt.  

One fan, Chris Cawley, was sporting blue and orange paint across his face in support of the team he has been following closely for several years.

“This is fantastic, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Cawley said.  “It’s unprecedented.”

Nick Perea added another goal for the Orange in the 33^rd minute of the game.

Midfielder Oyvind Alseth had the ball on the right side of the lower third and sent a deep cross to the left side of the field.  Midfielder Liam Callahan then volleyed the pass toward the goal and Perea headed it in for the finish.  The captain’s goal made it 2-0.

Duke  (9-9-1) had limited chances to cut into the Syracuse lead.  The Orange defense limited the Blue Devils to just four shots in the second half.  

“Those are the guys that won us the game today no doubt about it,” Syracuse goalkeeper Alex Bono said. “All game long blocking shots, putting their bodies on the line for us to preserve a shutout, that’s what this team is all about.”

One of the Blue Devils' opportunities came on a free kick from midfield with 33 minutes left in the game.  Duke's Nat Eggleston tried to get his head on the kick but Bono jumped right above the 6-foot-3 defender and grabbed the ball.  Bono had seven total saves for the day and recorded his twelfth shutout of the season.

Syracuse will face Louisville in the ACC semifinals on Friday. The Cardinals handed the Orange one of its two losses on the season back in October, winning 2-1 in an overtime game. 

“Louisville is a dangerous, dynamic team and that front four is a real handful,” Orange head coach Ian McIntyre said. “We’re looking forward to a good week of practice and heading down.”

The Orange will head down to Cary, N.C. for the match-up.  Game time is set for 8 p.m. 

Videos: 

Alex Bono on the Orange Defense

Alex Halis on Goal

Coach McIntyre on Game Atmosphere

Liverpool Three Hold Their Own Against Top Competition in New York State

By Danielle Kennedy

CANTON, N.Y. - When the sun peeked out during the boys Class A race at the State Championship meet Saturday, spectators had every reason to celebrate for the fifteen minutes of warmth that felt far too short-lived.  For three Liverpool runners though, their reason to celebrate will never expire, even though the race conditions were muddy, windy, and cold.

Junior Ben Petrella, and Seniors Dylan McCarthy and Connor Buck earned All-State honors, finishing top-20 in the boys Class A race.



(c) 2014 Danielle Kennedy

Bryce Millar of Fayetteville-Manlius earned his second-consecutive NYSPHSAA championship title, finishing the 5k race in 15:30.3.  Petrella finished in second with a time of 15.35.6, earning his third-consecutive All-State honor and placing higher than any other Liverpool runner has at the state championship.

Petrella finished strong after staying conservative in the first half of the race, a strategy he conceded could have caused him problems.

“My biggest risks were not going out fast enough, and waiting and trusting myself to reel them in at the end,” Petrella said.

Although he passed nearly a dozen runners in the second-half of the race, Petrella  could not close the five-second gap on Millar.  The toughest part, he said, was trying to run hard through the mud in the last 400 meters of the race.    

Following Suit

McCarthy made his first state championship appearance Saturday, placing tenth overall with a time of 16.01.4.  He said the best part of the day was passing runners who couldn't maintain a fast pace.

“It was really fun to watch people go out hard up front who weren’t supposed to be there, and then they died,” he said.  



(c) Danielle Kennedy 

After a disappointing performance at the Section 3  meet last weekend, Buck said this race brought some life back to him and his teammates.  His 17th place finish (16.12.2) earned him honors for the second-consecutive time.   

"I wanted top-ten [today], but the fact that I felt great today and seeing Dylan and Ben's performance, I'm happy," Buck said. 

With the pressure of team competition turned off , Buck said it helped him focus more on having fun.  

“I was definitely more relaxed today, especially in the first 800 [meters].  I didn’t let my nerves get the best of me, which is what usually happens. We knew we were going out individually and as individuals we wanted to do best for ourselves.”  

Mud Run  

By the time the Class A race started, nearly 600 runners from the five previous races had turned the already muddy course into a treacherous slip n' slide.  Runners lost their spikes, slipped, fell, and threw their arms up in the air as they skated through four-inch deep sections of mud.

 

But Liverpool head coach Tracey Vannatta said the mud didn't hinder the Warriors' strength.  Instead, it was even more of an opportunity to have fun.   

“I told them before the race, ‘if there’s something you’ve been doing that you don’t like, now is the time to try something different," she said.  “This race wasn’t really our focus.  If we had our whole team we certainly would’ve came ready to race hard in the mud,” she later added.



(c) Danielle Kennedy 

 

Remembering Teammates

As the three Warriors stripped off their warm-ups four minutes before the gun went off, Senior captains Dan Muldoon and Nick LeClair watched from a distance.  

Muldoon, who competed at states his past two seasons and earned All-State honors as a junior, said being there to support his teammates felt bittersweet.  These two will have three weeks until Nike Cross Country Regionals to race with their teammates again.

Sadly referencing his teammates, Petrella said, "they deserve to be here, even though they weren't in the race.  Well, they deserved to be in the race, but that's a story for another day."

Full Results Courtesy of Leone Timing