Syracuse Men’s Soccer Survives Close Game with Niagara

By: Andrew Selover | @AndrewSelover

CitrusTV Men’s Soccer Beat Reporter

For the third straight home match for Syracuse men soccer, the Orange led 1-0 and in the final ten minutes closed it out tonight against Niagara. No. 16 Syracuse certainly didn’t play its best soccer, but head coach Ian McIntyre was just happy to get the win in the midweek.

“We weren’t at our best today. Some of that is to do with Niagara being terrific, and some of that was us. It’s difficult to play an emotional big ACC game. Everyone here knows who our next opponent is, so these are games where we look back as a coaching staff and are delighted that we won a game, we kept a clean sheet and we moved on,” said McIntyre postgame.

The Orange remain undefeated at 5-1-1 on the season, but the test gets much more difficult when Syracuse travels to No. 1 Clemson on Friday. SU upset Clemson a year ago at the SU Soccer Stadium 2-0 before the Tigers went on to win the national championship. That upset gives the Orange a lot of hope for Friday’s match.

“I learned that it just doesn’t matter who you’re playing. As long as you give it your best, you always have a chance, and I think we have more than a chance this year. I think we’re playing really well. It was a great game last year at home, so I hope we can go repeat it again over there,” said Jeorgio Kocevski ahead of Friday’s clash in South Carolina.

Kickoff between No. 16 Syracuse and No. 1 Clemson is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Friday.