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Nathan Opoku had been trying to get a goal all night for Syracuse. He was close to scoring the Orange’s only goal of the night, but it ended up being an own goal against NC State. Opoku led the way for SU with five shots, but none of them crossed the goal line.

After Buster Sjoberg knocked the ball forward with his head, Opoku sprinted and weaved through NC State’s defense and fired a shot from the top of the 18. Wolfpack keeper Lucas Hatsios initially stumbled while catching the ball, but he regained his stance and ended the Orange’s last scoring opportunity of the night.

No. 4 Syracuse (12-2-2, 5-1-1 Atlantic Coast) controlled most of the scoring opportunities throughout its 1-1 draw against NC State (5-5-4, 1-4-2 ACC). The Orange rarely allowed consecutive attacks from the Wolfpack and finished with 13 corner kicks. And yet, Hastings made eight saves and the NC State backline consistently stopped any Syracuse player from scoring. Still, Syracuse’s tie with NC State meant it would finish at the top of the Atlantic Division.

“We were a little bit sloppy with our use of the ball,” head coach Ian McIntyre said. “But I think big picture… the way that results fell tonight to be able to secure our division was very special.”

As they had done 12 times this season, the Orange outshot their opponent, recording 15 more than the Wolfpack on Saturday night. Opoku started the offense for Syracuse, with a shot to the bottom right of the net, but it got saved by Hatsios.

Two minutes after Opoku’s attempt, SU had multiple chances on goal as Olu Oyegunle made a long pass to Christian Curti, who passed to his left toward Giona Leibold. Leibold then sent in a cross that was hauled by Noah Singelmann. But Hatsios deflected Singelmann’s ensuing shot, and Curti missed over the net on the rebound.

On a corner, Abdi Salim got a header shot right in front of Hatsios. But the keeper quickly stopped the shot, though he didn’t hold on to the ball, causing a scrum right in front of him. Curti got a touch and then a shot on the net, but it went high over the goal, keeping the match tied.

Throughout the final four minutes of the first half, the Orange sent a flurry of shots from the top of the box. At the 18, Colin Biros dribbled to his right and fired a hard shot that was kept out by Hatsios’ glove.

Two minutes later, Salim sent another hard shot from outside the box. Thirty seconds after that, Curt Calov took a shot outside the box, but it was deflected by Pablo Pedregosa. On the ensuing corner, Curti had his close-range shot blocked by a wall of NC State defenders.

SU goalkeeper Russell Shealy didn’t even face a shot until there were over 11 minutes left. Shealy never dealt with much pressure from NC State since wing defenders Abdi Salim and Oyegunle consistently stole possession before the Wolfpack could get shots off.

“With Buster (Sjoberg) kind of marshaling them, I thought they were terrific,” McIntyre said.

However, NC State came out of halftime with a few more possessions, which it capitalized on quickly. In the 50th minute, Henrique Santos charged down the center of Syracuse’s half before sending a pass to Noe Cabezas teammate. Cabezas fired a shot from the top of the box that got deflected by Salim and fell into the near post past Shealy.

The Orange responded two minutes later, taking advantage of a mistake from the Wolfpack. Shealy sent a long punt to Opoku, who immediately dumped down to Calov. Calov sent a low pass to Singelmann, who lined up for a cross as he usually does. But before Singelmann’s cross could get to Opoku, the ball hit NC State defender Kendall Edwards and bounced into the net.

Opoku continued to put pressure on the Wolfpack, knocking a tight shot that Hatsios deflected again. Aside from this pressure though, the Orange failed to generate any close-range shots for the 23 minutes. Most SU possessions during this time fizzled out in the midfield. McIntyre said that this stretch of play was “disjointed.”

With 17 minutes remaining in the match, the Orange started to find chances through corner kicks. In less than two minutes, they forced three, but couldn’t score on any of them. On SU’s 10th corner of the night, Biros had his chance tipped over the net by Hatsios. Biros’ second corner was headed away by Edwards.

Then, on the final corner of this sequence, Biros even had a chance to take a shot as the blocked kick came back to him. But on his subsequent chip shot, Pedregosa headed it away.

“Over the 90 minutes we may have deserved a little bit more out of the game,” McIntyre said. “…It was very important to have something tangible at the end of the game.”

Published on October 22, 2022 at 10:34 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com