Cross' Late Goal Leads Orange Past Wolfpack

October 23, 2015

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Junior Louis Cross (Lancashire, England) scored off a corner kick with less than six minutes remaining in regulation to give the No. 15/-- Syracuse men’s soccer team a 2-1 come-from-behind victory against North Carolina State on Friday, Oct. 23. Syracuse moved into third place in the ACC Atlantic Division standings with 10 points with one game remaining.

“Right now we’re a good team and there is a chance we wouldn’t make the ACC Tournament so we needed enough points,” said Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre. “It’s exciting. It was important to get that 10 points and (the win) keeps us ahead of some very good teams. It allows us to train properly for Boston College, another real big test. At least now, I think we’ve done enough to be playing in a couple of weeks in the ACC Tournament.”

After neither scored in the first half, both teams were more aggressive following intermission. Syracuse had two quality scoring chances when junior Chris Nanco (Bramton, Ontario) got a shot off on goal, and junior Ben Polk (Banbury, UK) had a shot go just wide. Meanwhile, the Orange’s defense successfully defended against three corner kicks in less than three minutes to keep the Wolfpack (8-4-3, 1-3-3) off the scoreboard.

Syracuse held a 9-1 advantage in shots, but it was North Carolina State that took a 1-0 lead in the 68th minute. Zach Knudson crossed the ball to the right side of the box. The ball deflected off a defender to Julius Duchscherer, who put his shot in the back of the net.

The Orange evened the score two minutes later. An NC State foul gave Syracuse a free kick, which sophomore Julian Buescher (Duelmen, Germany) served into the box. Goalkeeper Alex McCauley knocked the ball back to the top of the box. Nanco played the ball to Polk, who had his back to the net. Polk turned and put his shot off the left foot past a diving McCauley for his seventh goal of the season.

Syracuse recorded the go-ahead goal in the 85th minute. Redshirt junior Liam Callahan (Amherst, N.Y.) served the ball into the box on a corner kick. Cross was there to head the ball just inside the near post for what would be his second goal career game-winning goal. North Carolina State had one final chance to tie the score when it earned a corner kick in the 87th minute, but couldn’t get off a shot as the Orange reached double figures in wins for the fourth consecutive season.

The match was Syracuse’s final home game of the regular season. Seniors Juuso Pasanen (Kuopio, Finland), Noah Rhynhart (Albany, N.Y.) and Korab Syla (Yonkers, N.Y.) were honored in a pregame ceremony. The group has led the Orange to 50 victories, two trips to the NCAA Tournament and the program’s first number-one ranking.

Syracuse closes out the regular season on Friday, Oct. 30 at Boston College at 7 p.m.

AGATE

                                1st          2nd        Final
NC State              0              1              1
Syracuse              0              2              2

Scoring:
NC State              67:04     Julius Duchscherer
SU                          74:38     Ben Polk
SU                          84:52     Louis Cross (Liam Callahan)

Shots: Syracuse 12, NC State 4
Corner Kicks: Syracuse 11, NC State 4
Saves: Syracuse 0 (Hendrik Hilpert), NC State 2 (Alex McCauley)

Attendance: 1573

-- SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: NEW YORK’S COLLEGE TEAM --