When freshman Noah Singelmann scored his first goal with Syracuse on Tuesday night, he was puzzled. His game-winning overtime goal had given the Orange their second win of the season. But in Germany, Singelmann wasn’t used to the golden goal rule — first overtime goal wins — used in collegiate soccer.

“I was a little bit confused that it was over but it’s a great feeling,” Singelmann said.

SU head coach Ian McIntyre said that the Orange had to be better off of restarts from out of play after the Sept. 8 game against New Hampshire. They had conceded a last-second goal against the Wildcats, then Singelmann had his chance to score off a restart in the 98th minute. He turned his back to goal, corralled the ball into his feet before he turned and fired his left-footed shot off the far-left post and into the goal.

Syracuse’s three-game streak of ties was over. Finally, the Orange found a winning goal after trailing two separate times. What McIntyre described postgame as a “moment of quality” from Singelmann helped Syracuse (2-1-3, 0-0-1 Atlantic Coast) grab the winner, defeating Cornell (2-2), 3-2, on Tuesday night at SU Soccer Stadium. As McIntyre recounted the freshman’s score, goalkeeper Christian Miesch wrapped his arm around Singelmann and repeated his head coach’s remark.

“We came back and found a way to win the game,” McIntyre said. “To find a way to get a winner against a good team tonight and to get over the line. I think it was a very even game. It could have gone either way.”

Gavin Liddell | Staff Photographer

The Orange had already squandered one- and two-goal leads against Yale and New Hampshire, respectively. After SU took the defending ACC champions Louisville to extra time in a draw last Saturday, the Orange were left with a mixed bag of results and performances.

Syracuse and Cornell played a congested, sloppy first half that featured three goals scored off poor defending and miscues with the ball. The second half was wide-open and full of chances, but neither team could convert one.

Extra time was the breakthrough. SU finally finished off a game. It was outshot and probably fortunate not to concede at the end of regulation, but the Orange finally found their finishing prowess in extra time.

Before the Orange’s improved finishing earned them their first win in four matches, SU’s failure to play out of the back led to the opening goal within 120 seconds of the game’s start. Cornell attacking midfielder Harry Fuller whipped in a cross that missed its intended attacker, but fell to forward George Pedlow, whose left footed shot wrong-footed SU goalie Christian Miesch to give the Big Red a 1-0 lead.

“That’s one white, that’s one!” Cornell’s goalkeeper Ryan Shellow shouted.

Massimo Ferrin lofted in a free kick a minute later that missed all of the Syracuse attackers and Cornell defenders. It took a high bounce, and Shellow didn’t react quick enough as the ball hopped into the top corner to knot the game at one.

“We would prefer it if the other team got out of the way,” McIntyre quipped. “If you can put the ball in dangerous areas, you’ve got a chance. Hopefully some guys get a touch. That first goal was huge because we conceded so early.”

Cornell earned a free kick just inside midfield, but when the lofted ball came into the box into the 19th minute, Miesch was unable to corral it out of the air. He instead dropped it into the mix of players vying for the ball. The ball dropped to the feet of Cornell’s Ryan Bayne, whose ground shot reached the back of the net to restore Cornell’s 2-1 lead. Now on his knees after the goal, Miesch pounded both of his fists into the grass four times.

Once play restarted after a foul later in the half, SU’s Simon Triantafillou sent in a lofted ball to 5-foot-7 Ryan Raposo, who out-leaped a defender and headed the ball in forward Severin Soerlie’s direction. Soerlie needed just two touches, one to stop the ball and another to turn and fire it into the goal to level the game at two.

Amy Nakamura | Co-Digital Editor

In the second half, Syracuse’s defense was reeling. Scrambling. Scrounging up any defense it could to prevent Cornell from taking the lead. “In the second half, we had about 20 minutes we were drowning,” Miesch said.

The Big Red probed and tested the Orange on set pieces and from open play, culminating in a Pedlow bicycle kick attempt that generated “Oh!”s from the crowd but sailed wide of Miesch’s net. SU midfielder Brian Hawkins tried an overhead kick of his own minutes later at the other end of the pitch, but a Cornell defender cleared it.

When the ball sat up for Cornell’s Emeka Eneli in the center of the box after a corner kick, the Big Red should’ve scored the winning goal. But Eneli dragged the ball wide of the post with four minutes to go. Instead of celebrating a likely winner, Eneli put his hands on his face and turned to jog back for the goal kick.

The Big Red had their chances to win it in regulation, and another chance in extra time. But Singelmann’s finish off the throw-in gave SU the win. A win the Orange had spent the last four overtimes searching for.

“We hope it will be a big breakthrough,” Singelmann said. “On Saturday we have maybe the biggest game on our schedule in [No. 1] Wake Forest, and it’s good to go in with a win.”

Published on September 17, 2019 at 9:24 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo