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After an up-and-down start to the year, Syracuse faced its first true test on Saturday — No. 8 Stanford.

The Cardinal are known for their offensive mastery, scoring 13 goals in six games, at one point leading them to a No. 1 ranking.

SU head coach Ian McIntyre knew Stanford would be relentless on set pieces, especially off corner kicks. Similar to SU’s last game — a 0-0 draw with New Haven when he mentioned the Orange needed some of the world’s best strikers to fix their scoring struggles — he could only draw parallels to the Premier League.

“(Stanford’s) a real tough team on restarts. They are the Arsenal of college soccer, and they use Arsenal’s restarts,” McIntyre said.

It was a lofty comparison. But McIntyre’s squad handled that pressure on Saturday.

Despite breaking down late and falling 3-2 to No. 8 Stanford (6-1-0, 1-1-0 Atlantic Coast), Syracuse (2-3-2, 0-1-0 Atlantic Coast) didn’t allow a single goal off 10 Cardinal corners. That defensive success allowed SU to remain in the game against one of the country’s top programs, a major step forward from its recent nonconference woes.

“I think on set pieces we were very good, we’re not really worried,” SU defender Chimere Omeze said postgame. “Stanford’s a really good team at set pieces, so we had a little challenge there, but we still managed to pull through.”

Syracuse’s defense has been one of its strongest areas all season, too. Though it dealt with previous offensive shortcomings, SU entered Saturday allowing just three goals in six games.

But Stanford was another beast. Though the Cardinal entered the game coming off a tough upset loss to unranked Louisville, they had much to hang their hat on. Seven Stanford players entered Saturday with at least two goal contributions on the season.

Syracuse, though, had allowed just seven shots across its previous three games versus Yale, Duquesne and New Haven. The Cardinal made sure to keep Syracuse on its toes, peppering SU with corner kicks and set pieces.

But the Orange were ready. In the first half, six corners turned into just two shots, only one of which was on target.

McIntyre said Syracuse’s strategy was to take the game to Stanford and not wait back. As the inferior team on paper, it had nothing to lose.

With that aggressiveness, balls were bound to deflect out for corners. McIntyre trusted his team to defend them, and it did just that.

“(Stanford wins) the ball, they get balls in behind,” McIntyre said. “You have a choice to sit deep. We decided not to.”

Stanford’s barrage began in the fifth minute. The Cardinal earned back-to-back corner kicks, but neither reached Tomas Hut in goal. The first glanced off Omeze’s back out of bounds, then Garrett Holman booted the second effort away.

SU’s brick wall of a backline gave its offense the chance to take the lead. It did just that via Kristjan Fortier’s howitzer in the 10th minute, handing the Orange their first lead in over two full games.

But the Cardinal wouldn’t go away, continuing to pester Syracuse. SU was up to the task. Once again in the 32nd minute, Stanford sent two consecutive corners, one from each side.

On the first attempt, Stanford’s Dylan Groeneveld headed the ball just to the left of the post. SU was fortunate, but it wasn’t out of the woods yet. Though with McIntyre barking out positional adjustments to his players, Syracuse nullified the attempt. This time, Omeze headed the ball away instantly

Despite Stanford knotting the game at one on a Zach Bohane penalty-kick goal, the Orange had survived six first-half corner attempts against one of the best teams in the country.

In the back 45 minutes, Stanford had just four more chances from the corner. But Syracuse was still prepared when the Cardinal did threaten. Ten minutes into the second, Tim Brdaric snuffed out two Stanford cross attempts into the box, deflecting them for corner kicks.

The first was booted away by Nathan Scott. On the second, Stanford was called offside, despite what appeared to be a goal before it was overturned in video replay.

A ninth corner came, then a 10th. Syracuse was equal to both.

But that’s when its luck finally ran out. The Cardinal scored two goals in five minutes, snatching a victory from the Orange in the game’s waning moments.

Though it came in defeat, Syracuse showed a level of expertise it had been lacking all season against potentially the toughest opponent on its schedule. SU’s relentless set piece defense gave McIntyre something to work off going forward, even though it was facing the collegiate equivalent of Arsenal.

“We’re cramped up physically, emotionally,” McIntyre said. “(I would) take a lot of positives from this performance.”

Published on September 13, 2025 at 11:45 pm
Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu | @ Noahnuss99