Men’s Soccer Takes Down Ohio State for Third Straight Win

By Luke McGrath

CitrusTV Men’s Soccer Reporter

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse  (6-4-1, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) kept on rolling Monday night defeating Ohio State (1-9-2, 0-3-1 Big Ten) 3-0 for its third straight win.

“The best way to respect any team, it doesn’t matter what their record is, is to give them your best performance and for most of the game tonight we did that and that as a coach is all you can ask for,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said.

Junior Massimo Ferrin, a transfer from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), controlled the game, racking up two goals and an assist on the night increasing his point total on the season from three to eight.

Ferrin’s first goal of the night came in the 29th minute when Ryan Raposo launched a beautiful cross to the far post and Ferrin simply had to one touch the ball in.

That combo struck again in the seven minutes later, but this time the roles were reversed. Ferrin played a ball to Raposo, who looked like he was about to start dribbling, before he shot across net, from left to right, just over the reach of the OSU goaltender.

In the 84th minute Ferrin put the game away for good. The Ontario native scored on the same type of shot Raposo scored on earlier. He received the ball on the left side of the box and buried it far side to seal the victory for the Orange.

“You see it in the pros all the time. Being able to put that ball up far post it’s a very difficult shot to save, a lot of keepers will say if you put it in the right spot it’s almost impossible to stop, there’s nothing they can do,” Ferrin said. “We defiantly work on it and it’s nice that when in a game it comes off it shows your work paying off.”

Ferrin’s fellow Ontario native Nathaniel St. Louis received his first college minutes tonight and got the assist on the play.

After the game, senior captain Kamal Miller said he knew SU could beat the one-win Buckeyes talent wise as long as the Orange matched their physicality.

“The mentality was to match their intensity and their physicality, once we knew we were up for that we knew that no matter what our quality would come out,” Miller said.

That effort certainly showed up on the score sheet, SU outshot OSU 12-6, won the corner kick battle 7-3 and senior goaltender Hendrik Hilpert only needed to make one save.

After a grueling stretch of four games in 11 days, McIntyre said the team will get Tuesday off before beginning to prepare for Louisville Wednesday.

“Just get some sleep, get some hydration, some good food a recover and get ready,” Ferrin said.

SU’s return to ACC play will be on the road when they travel for a Friday night matchup with the Cardinals (6-2-2, 3-1-1), kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

@L_McGrath14 | Lumcgrat@syr.edu