Syracuse weathers persistent rain, saturated pitch in St. John’s thrashing
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After one of his team’s best performances of the season, Syracuse men’s soccer head coach Ian McIntyre chose not to harp on the soaked and slippery conditions of SU Soccer Stadium Wednesday night. Rather, he gave credit to the stadium’s groundsmen, complimenting them on keeping the pitch playable despite the daylong downpour that drenched it.
Even still, as McIntyre put it later, “It wasn’t a day for pretty soccer.”
From kickoff to the final whistle of Syracuse’s (4-2-0, 0-1-0 Atlantic Coast) 5-0 drubbing of St. John’s (2-3-0, 0-0-0 Big East), it poured. As the rain failed to relent, the pitch became increasingly waterlogged, and a puddle the size of a small meteor impact formed at the top of the penalty box Syracuse defended from in the first half and attacked within in the second.
By the midpoint of the first half, every plant, pivot or any step taken resulted in a splash. That, or a player went sliding. In the second, with the rain only coming down harder, players went down more, or when they did, slid further.
Midfielder Sachiel Ming, who scored his first goal of the 2026 season and added an assist Wednesday, wiped out after playing a ball through the legs of St. John’s midfielder Aron Wilhelmsen. St. John’s forward Luca Fargnoli overran a ball in midfield, sliding past it, before slipping as he attempted to spin and recover. Red Storm midfielder Kaief Tomlinson fell to a seated position trying to press Ming.
But as players slipped and slid, the ball slowed and, at times, outright stopped.
A Nathan Scott through ball, played ahead to Landon Darko, never made it, causing St. John’s defender Erik Kringstad to go down to his knees and skid across the top of the six-yard box. St. John’s keeper Nico Bezama attempted to roll a ball to his defender, Damian Halat, who had to double back and retrieve it. Ming succeeded in splitting the Red Storm’s defense, but the ball didn’t travel with him.
“The ball specifically was getting a little bit stuck,” McIntyre said. “It made it difficult for their defenders and our attackers in that second half.”
The result of the persistent rain and the saturated state of the pitch?
“Scruffy goals,” McIntyre said.
Three of the five goals SU scored in its biggest win since 2023 came on corners. The second two of those three, Syracuse’s fourth and fifth goals of the match, were the product of some pinballing around the net.
In the 72nd minute, Ming crossed a ball into a muddy box from the right corner. Buster Honeywood, Dakota Jonke and Bezama all fell to the pitch. Seven different players made contact with the ball. Jonke, who wound up in the back of the net himself, was credited with his first goal of the season.
In the 77th minute, Ming sent another cross into that same muddy box. Dominic Bell got the first touch, while Darko beat two St. John’s defenders for the second ball. It deflected off Bezama, the pitch, another Red Storm defender and into the goal. Bezama was left kneeling, his yellow kit dotted brown, in the mud.
Darko, meanwhile, sprinted to the left corner, dropping to his knees and sliding to the corner flag. Past him slid his Syracuse teammates. Some on their sides, some on their stomachs, some on their backs. Syracuse’s bench emptied, slid on the rain-slicked pitch to the left corner and mobbed Darko.
“We talked about there could be a couple cheap goals,” McIntyre said. “Where it wouldn’t look pretty, and at times it didn’t.”
Thirteen minutes later when the game ended, Syracuse’s players again slid across the pitch. This time celebrating the win, on their stomachs and on their backs, arms flung out at their sides.
