Syracuse Men’s Soccer Defeats UNC in Thrilling Quarterfinal

By: Andrew Selover | @AndrewSelover

CitrusTV Men’s Soccer Beat Reporter

Sometimes all you need in soccer is one chance. That is what Syracuse needed tonight to knock off North Carolina 1-0 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal. For SU, it only tallied one shot on goal all game. That chance came in the 86th minute when Levonte Johnson found himself on a breakaway and slotted home the chance into the back of the net, giving the Orange the win. Although it was not a back-and-forth, high scoring affair, there is nothing better than playoff soccer.

“That was fun to be a part of,” said head coach Ian McIntyre following the game. “It was not a 20 shot, 4-3 game, but how about that atmosphere for Syracuse, New York? You are used to seeing that at Clemson. You are used to seeing that at Wake Forest. That was Syracuse, New York! I would argue that there is not going to be a better quarterfinal atmosphere.”

The goal-scorer Levonte Johnson added, “Postseason is always really hard. No matter how well or not so well the team did in the regular season, they are always on their A game in the postseason. It is always a difficult time to get a result in the postseason. With the one shot, we were just clinical, and thankfully we won the game with it.”

You can expect fans to come pouring right back through the gates at the SU Soccer Stadium on Wednesday night for an ACC Tournament semifinal between Syracuse and Virginia. It is a rematch of a September clash where UVA took down SU 1-0. The Orange went down to ten men just over 20 minutes in due to a Jeorgio Kocevski red card. The Cavaliers scored the game winner in the 85th minute. SU seeks revenge of its only conference loss of the season on Wednesday with kickoff set for 5 p.m.