Syracuse men’s soccer earns at-large bid to NCAA Tournament
Syracuse men’s soccer received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where it'll host Hofstra on Thursday. Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer
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Syracuse men’s soccer earned an at-large bid to the 2025 NCAA Tournament Monday, its first time making the national playoffs since 2023. The Orange will host Hofstra at SU Soccer Stadium in the first round Thursday.
SU’s season has been a rollercoaster. It started the campaign 2-4-2, including a 0-0 draw with New Haven and a 1-0 loss to Duquesne, where Syracuse outshot the two squads 39-6. But after falling to then-No. 19 Duke on Sept. 19, the Orange skyrocketed, winning seven of their last 10 regular-season games, punctuated by ranked wins over then-No. 25 SMU and then-No. 22 North Carolina.
In the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, Syracuse solidified its NCAA Tournament spot. It vaulted to as high as 30th in the NCAA’s RPI after first and second-round wins over No. 12 seed Virginia Tech and No. 3 seed NC State, which had just one loss entering the game.
The Orange have also found recent success in the NCAA Tournament. They won their first-ever national championship in 2022 and downed Boston University in the first round the following year. However, SU failed to make the tournament last season after a mediocre 7-7-3 campaign.
Now, Syracuse needs to be firing on all cylinders to make a deep run in the tournament. Its scoring has been mostly spread out, with Carlos Zambrano’s five goals leading the team. SU’s defense is headed by first-year starters Garrett Holman and Tim Brdaric, while goalie Tomas Hut has been a force in net with an ACC-leading 75 saves.
