CARY, NC - The trophy was out on the field before Amferny Sinclair had time to celebrate. The Syracuse midfielder sprinted gleefully to the sideline, soon to be met with a group of teammates, hoisting a bulky trophy into the Cary, North Carolina sky.

His penalty had been a good one — lifted high to the goalkeeper’s left, rising into the roof of the net. It capped off a captivating national championship game, his shot winning the contest for Syracuse on penalties. The Orange were locked relentless Indiana side over the course of 110 minutes and needed a grueling shootout to settle things. And after goalkeeper Russell Shealy saved Indiana’s eighth spot kick, Sinclair buried the winner to secure the Orange’s first ever National Championship with a 7-6 penalty win.

But here was a contest that could have truly gone either way, and one that was split at an even 2-2 after 110 minutes. Syracuse took the lead in the first half through Nathan Opoku, the senior forward curling a left footed shot into the top corner. Indiana responded, though, with Patrick McDonald smashing a volley home to knot the game at 1. Each side scored once more before 90 minutes expired, and after extra time, spot kicks brought a result.

Both teams scored four of the first five, with Indiana goalkeeper JT Harms and Shealy blocking a penalty each. Sinclair eventually played hero, smashing home the winning penalty.

“I just had a feeling that I was scoring the winning penalty,” Sinclair said. “I said ‘the guy in front of me is gonna miss, and I’m gonna score the winner’.”

All notions of a tight tournament final were quickly quashed here. Indiana — defined by its rigid back line — looked loose and vulnerable. Syracuse’s attacking tandem of Levonte Johnson and Nathan Opoku were a constant source of worry, all neat runs and tricky dribbles. Indiana’s Daniel Munie — so often a steady defensive presence — couldn’t keep up with Opoku’s feet. Nyck Sessock — a sturdy outside back — was often a step slow against the rapid Giona Leibold.

But the Hoosiers offered attacking threats of their own. Sam Sarver ran in behind the Syracuse high line with regularity and was perhaps unlucky not to draw a red card out of an Orange center back after a collision in open grass between the defensive line and goal. Ryan Wittnebrink was a peripheral presence for some of proceedings but occasionally popped up with a dangerous cross. The two sides combined for 17 shots in the first half, including seven on target.

Indiana enjoyed the first significant chance of the game, working the ball down the right before Herbert Endeley fired wide. More looks followed. Sam Sarver missed narrowly, while Wittenbrink had a curled shot denied by Russell Shealy.

But Syracuse got on the board first. Opoku evaded two defenders in the box, cut onto his left and whipped a shot into the top corner — leaving  Harms glued to the ground.

“That was a little bit of magic, to create that space and get the shot off,” Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre said.

The Indiana response was swift. Wittenbrink drilled a corner to the far post, which pinged around before landing sweetly on the right foot of McDonald, who struck a volley into the far corner.

Syracuse has made something of a habit of responding to opposing goals quickly this year. And it did so once again Monday night. Opoku was at the center of everything again, poking the ball into the penalty area, which Calov neatly tucked away with a crafty finish — giving Syracuse a 2-1 lead before the break.

“I was trying to draw defenders to me. Calov wasn’t my target, I just hit it back post,” Opoku said.

The Hoosiers lacked attacking bite to start the second half, but found life as the period wore on. Tommy Mihalic helped lead the rejuvenation, finding pockets of space between Syracuse defenders. He produced the first major chance, attempting to chip Shealy from near the half way line — only to find his effort equaled with a leaping save. Syracuse almost conceded an own goal shortly after, with Opoku slicing the ball on to his own bar, only to see it spin into Shealy’s arms. Sarver was dangerous once again, tormenting an already booked Abdi Salim.

The equalizer, when it came, felt inevitable. Endeley found space at the end of the box, awaiting a cut back from a darting teammate. The forward’s first touch carried him away from the goal, but with a swivel around his left foot, Endeley smashed a shot into the top corner from 20 yards out, flying past a diving Shealy. Indiana further pushed for a winner as time dwindled, but a series of clearances — as well as some timely interventions from Shealy — kept things level.

80' | Herb hammers it home!#IUMS 2, Syracuse 2 pic.twitter.com/1oXlKR3lbv

— Indiana Men's Soccer (@IndianaMSOC) December 13, 2022

Neither team offered much in the first period of extra time, but the second came alive. Both sides had scoring chances early, while the legs — that seemed to have disappeared during the first period of extra time — returned. Sarver was all pace again. Leibold offered an attacking thrust for the Orange. He almost scored twice, denied by Harms from close range before curling an effort beyond the right corner.

And in penalties, Syracuse outlasted Indiana. After seven rounds couldn’t separate the two teams, the Orange prevailed in the eighth. Shealy dived low to his left, stuffing Maouloune Goumballe’s spot kick with his mid riff. Sinclair stepped up next to nail the winner — and send his teammates into raptures.

McIntyre has been to a College Cup before, back in 2015, where his Syracuse team only made one penalty in a 4-1 loss to Clemson in the national semifinal. But this year, things were different. His side buried six of seven, while the goalkeeper produced two handy stops.

This win, this championship, was something in the periphery of most minds in August. The Orange weren’t ranked before the season, and the coaches in their own conference adjudged them to be outside the playoff picture. Perhaps, then, this has been a season of expectations defied, a campaign of vindication.

But for Sinclair, those assumptions and speculations didn’t matter — at least not as he careened away after burying his penalty.

He had a trophy to lift.

🏆 CHAMPIONS!!!! #MCollegeCup x @CuseMSOC pic.twitter.com/PKlC8xH9Fg

— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) December 13, 2022