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Head coach Ian McIntyre learned that opponents knew how to bypass Syracuse’s press. They simply played right at it.

The Orange understood this much more over the past couple of games, where they lost two of their last three to No. 22 Cornell and then-unranked Virginia. So against No. 4 Wake Forest, they decided to play a much higher press. It was something that worked for the Orange in desperation time against the Big Red last Tuesday, leading to a penalty kick goal from Nathan Opoku with 17 seconds left in the match.

“I think that’s something we try and do every game,” Christian Curti said. “But obviously you get a little more motivated playing the No. 4 team in the country.”

Against the Demon Deacons (10-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast), No. 7 Syracuse’s (9-2-1, 4-1 ACC) high press worked the entirety of the game. The Orange consistently moved forwards Opoku and Levonte Johnson up in the face of Demon Deacons goalkeeper Trace Alphin. Along with the forwards, SU’s midfielders played a higher defensive line, with Jeorgio Kocevski and Amferny Sinclair opposing Wake Forest’s top attackers.

In the opening seconds of the match, Opoku blocked Wake Forest’s first pass of the night, positioning himself in the middle of the field. The Orange initially started to press up the right side of the pitch. Noah Singelmann and Johnson continuously tackled Demon Deacon players to create disruption and force turnovers.

As the Demon Deacons got another possession, Sinclair tackled Babacar Niang to jumpstart an SU attack. It led to Giona Leibold sending in a cross that got headed out by Alphin.

McIntyre was quick to praise Sinclair after the match as the defensive midfielder spent the game covering Wake Forest’s top two scorers — Roald Mitchell and Oscar Sears. He routinely faced Mitchell one-on-one in the midfield, limiting one of the ACC’s top scorers to six missed shots.

When Sinclair wasn’t guarding Mitchell, he moved around the pitch to make stops. At the start of the second half, Sinclair tackled Demon Deacon Omar Hernandez as Wake Forest started to progress down the right side of the pitch.

Sinclair would also slow the opposing attacks, like at the 27-minute mark when he used a slide tackle at the center of the pitch. While the Demon Deacons continued the attack, the Orange used Sinclair’s ability to stall time to reorganize their defensive formation.

“He’s gonna be all over the field. But tonight, he was just exceptional,” Kocevski said. “He was putting out fires everywhere. Even on the ball he was tremendous by connecting passes and keeping us moving.”

While Sinclair was limiting attacks in the midfield, Johnson and Opoku stopped Wake Forest from resetting defensively. In the second half, Johnson pressed Demon Deacon defender Garrison Tubbs to force the ball out at the top right of the 18. Minutes later, Opoku shoved Prince Amponsah on the press to give the ball back to the Orange.

With 40 minutes left in the second half, the Demon Deacons tried to reset by passing the ball back to their defenders. As the lob pass fell back to Amponsah and Forbes, Johnson got in between the two defenders to force an errant pass up front to the Wake Forest midfielders.

Johnson said that because of the wet surface, the Orange wanted to face the defense head-on. With this focus in mind, Johnson felt that Syracuse controlled the tempo throughout the match.

Once Opoku and Johnson were subbed out midway through the second half, Kocevski started to pressure the Demon Deacons’ backline. Kocevski consistently moved up to get close to Alphin. Along with Kocevski, substitution forward Julius Rauch played up in Alphin’s box. With 13 minutes left in the match, Rauch got called for a foul after he collided with Alphin. Three minutes later, he almost collided again with Wake Forest’s keeper.

Rauch was eventually subbed out by Johnson, who continued to execute Syracuse’s high press. Even with the Orange up by two goals, Johnson constantly tackled Wake Forest defenders. With less than three minutes remaining, the Seattle transfer dribbled forward in the Demon Deacons’ box when he got tackled by Jahlane Forbes and lost possession.

Instead of moving backwards to prepare for a clearance, Johnson rushed toward Forbes, winning the shoving match. Johnson passed the ball around with Curti and Kocevski before getting it back and taking a shot that was deflected, giving the Orange’s fourth corner of the night.

“Wake Forest is built from the back. And that’s how they get in rhythm,” McIntyre said. “But I thought we did a good job of trying to disrupt that.”

Published on October 7, 2022 at 11:38 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com