Staff Report: Men’s soccer concludes first season under McIntyre with loss to Cincinnati
The Syracuse men’s soccer team’s season ended Saturday with a 4-0 loss at Cincinnati. In a game that could have given the Orange a spot in the postseason, the loss eliminates SU from contention.
Cincinnati came out strong, scoring in the first three minutes of the game. Syracuse has had a problem letting in early goals this season, and against the Bearcats that was no exception. Three more goals followed throughout the match.
With only two wins this season, Syracuse has one fewer than it did last season. In his first season as head coach, Ian McIntyre was working with a number of new players. The team had a big win against then-No. 24 Colgate, but against lesser teams, SU was unable to get a result. As was the case in the game at Cincinnati, finishing was a problem for the Orange this year. The team was able to create more chances as the season continued but frequently had trouble converting those chances.
Although the defense was the most consistent part of the team this season, the unit was unable to stop the Bearcats offense Saturday.
The team is graduating five seniors, including starters Jeremy Vuolo, Geoff Lytle and Justin Arena.
Ice hockey
Syracuse dropped a pair of games to No. 10 Ohio State this weekend. The Orange was blown out in both games, losing 5-1 on Friday and 6-2 Saturday.
SU (4-4-1) fell behind 2-0 just 4:32 into the first period Friday. Senior Julie Rising cut the lead to one early in the second period, but the Buckeyes (6-2-0, 2-2-0 WCHA) would respond quickly. Four minutes after the SU goal, OSU scored to extend its lead to two goals again. The Buckeyes struck again 13 seconds later on a power-play opportunity. OSU scored its fifth and final goal 35 seconds into the third period and neither team would score again.
Freshman Kallie Billadeau started in goal for the Orange and made 11 saves before she was replaced by freshman Jenesica Drinkwater after OSU scored for the third time. Drinkwater finished the game with 18 saves.
The struggles continued for SU the next day, despite taking a 2-1 lead in the early going.
Freshmen Akane Hosoyamada and Cara Johnson each scored their first career goals on power plays.
But OSU knotted the score at two by the end of the first period. SU never scored again, despite holding a 46-28 shot advantage for the game. OSU added two goals each in the final two periods for a comfortable win. Drinkwater recorded 22 saves in the loss.
SU will look to rebound when it comes home to face Clarkson (3-6-1, 2-0-0 ECAC) Nov. 5. The Orange play the Golden Knights again one week later in Potsdam, N.Y.
