Men’s Soccer Season Ends in Queens
By Nick Kuzma
JAMAICA, N.Y. — Before the end of the first half, St. John’s Skage Simonsen fielded the ball off his chest and settled it with his right foot. The Norwegian then directed the ball towards the net and it landed in the back-left corner to put the Red Storm up 2-0.
St. John’s (14-4-1, 6-2-1 Big East) went on to eliminate Syracuse (8-7-5, 2-4-2 Atlantic Coast) from the NCAA Tournament after a 2-1 final score in Queens.
The scoring opened up in the 19th minute when SJU’s Brandon Knapp scored the match’s first goal and Sanoussi Sangary posted his first assist of the season
Despite the two-goal deficit at halftime, the Orange continued to played hard. Senior Massimo Ferrin scored SU’s lone goal of the match, off the assists from Hilli Goldhar and Julio Fulcar.
This loss ends Syracuse’s 2019 season, meaning Ferrin, Brian Hawkins, Matt Orr, Mickey Watson, Severin Soerlie, Nyal Higgins and John-Austin Ricks have played their last minutes for Syracuse.
Ferrin and Soerlie will be greatly missed as the team’s second and third leading scorer. The Canadien-born forward finishes his senior season with 23 points while the Norwegian tallied 12.
The Orange had come into this season with many questions after the departure of players like four-year goalkeeper starter Henrik Hilpert, Kamal Miller, and Hugo Delhommelle,
On the surface, it looked like a rebuilding year with lots of young talent hoping to improve. Instead, the ‘Cuse mustered up eight wins with two against ranked opponents, plus conference and NCAA tournament wins.
Syracuse will return several key players for 2020 who are looking to build upon this years’ experience. Sondre Norheim, Ryan Raposo, Christian Miesch, and Simon Triantafillou will all be back in the Orange and Blue next season.
But, they will have big shoes to fill as SU has made at least the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament four of the last five seasons.
npkuzma@syr.edu |@nkuz71
