10-man Syracuse men’s soccer suffers 1st loss of season to New Hampshire
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To Ian McIntyre, there’s a stark contrast between performance and results. Performance is the aspect of a soccer game Syracuse’s 17-year head coach prides himself on. It highlights his team’s effort, execution and raw skill, and is always controllable.
Results, however, can be altered by sheer luck. A good performance doesn’t always translate to a good result, and that’s exactly what McIntyre felt he was dealt Sunday.
Syracuse (1-1-0, 0-0-0 Atlantic Coast) lost 3-2 to New Hampshire (1-1-0, 0-0-0 America East) in its 2026 home opener. It was an unwelcome result after the Orange upset No. 24 UConn Thursday.
SU spent the final 80 minutes down a player after freshman defender Gabriel Oksanen received a red card for violent behavior. McIntyre hadn’t spent much time in that situation, with Sunday marking his 27th game down a man since 2013. But in his eyes, his team delivered a positive performance worthy of recognition.
“I got a team full of warriors today, right?” McIntyre said postgame. “Think about (going down a man) in other sports. In basketball, when someone gets ejected, you don’t play a man down. If you were to play a football game and you play a man down, you can’t cover someone in those moments.
“From a performance (perspective) for our guys, they were fantastic. But from a result perspective, obviously devastated.”
Considering the Orange were at an early disadvantage, they fought like the warriors their head coach views them as. Syracuse matched the Wildcats with 12 shots and turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead midway through the second half.
A late collapse, during which New Hampshire scored twice in the final 10 minutes, allowed the Wildcats to reclaim the lead. But SU continued answering a looming question of who its go-to striker is and trusted Kyle Jansen in net following Tomas Hut’s departure.
The Orange began with a distinct edge. Playing a ranked UConn team had them bruised yet prepared for New Hampshire, which previously lost to Colgate. McIntyre said SU had a concrete game plan, but it was abandoned when Oksanen was removed.
The Orange pivoted from a 3-5-2 formation to a 4-4-1. They then slotted another defender back, switching to a 5-3-1 as the second half progressed. The shift put focus on Syracuse’s backline yet didn’t generate enough offense to dent New Hampshire’s defense.
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In the first half, Syracuse outshot New Hampshire 7-4, but SU had yet to take a corner kick. Transfer forward Jordan Grey said McIntyre gathered the team at halftime and told them their time would come. Out of the break, McIntyre’s words were realized.
“We made the change to actually start pressing on them instead of backing up,” Grey said. “Syracuse soccer is about pressing on them, so that’s what we did.”
Following UNH’s David Davila’s goal off a right-flank cross early in the second, the Orange pushed forward to equalize. SU saw a flurry of free kicks in the next 18 minutes, yet it wasn’t until Grey was pulled to the ground in the 18-yard box when Syracuse capitalized.
Kristjan Fortier trotted out for the penalty kick. The junior had scored twice in his collegiate career, but neither came on penalties. Yet Sunday, Fortier fazed New Hampshire goalie Aaron Choi, firing into the center of the net.
Less than two minutes later, the Orange took their first lead. Kameron Kist earned possession at the tip of the goalie box. He found Dario White nearby, who fed Grey inside.
Grey was placed one-on-one with Max Voigt, and his 6-foot-6 height was no match for the 5-foot-11 defender. Barely leaving the ground, Grey lofted a header over Choi’s reach, racing to the sideline in celebration of SU’s first lead.
“In the second half, we did a better job of actually showing a little bit of dignity and putting our best foot forward,” Grey said.
Like how Syracuse squashed New Hampshire’s momentum, the Wildcats began mounting their comeback. With 14:03 remaining, forward Cabot McLaren streaked the right sideline, crossing a shot outside the left crossbar.
Moments later, McLaren was awarded a second chance. He didn’t waste it.
Davila fed McLaren in the box, where he was clustered around four Syracuse defenders. Off one touch, UNH’s forward struck a shot between Garrett Holman and Kyle Jansen’s legs, landing in the back of the net to, again, equalize the game.
“When you’re a man down, you’ve just got to work hard to fill in gaps,” McIntyre said. “To get some pressure on the ball, we had to give up some matchups.”
Syracuse’s disadvantage finally paid the price, and New Hampshire didn’t take long to deliver the dagger.
Laurin Preuss received the ball at midfield two minutes after McLaren’s goal. He dribbled forward before launching a worldie from three meters beyond the 18-yard box past Jansen into the net’s lower-right corner.
McIntyre sported a grin as he turned to face the bench. In his eyes, there wasn’t much to be upset about. But with the Orange unable to score for the final eight minutes, they were handed their first loss of the season.
And although they put together a strong performance despite the circumstances, the final result ultimately wasn’t what McIntyre was looking for.
