Kenny Caceros came away from the Mayor’s Cup Tournament last weekend with All-Tournament Team honors. It was a silver lining to a grim weekend, as the Syracuse men’s soccer team came away with two losses, ensuring that it has begun the 2009 campaign with its worst record in 10 years.

In 1999, when the team started 1-4, SU finished the season at 11-9. If it wants to finish its current campaign on top, something needs to change for the Orange.

‘We’re still confident as ever,’ said Caceros, a senior midfielder. ‘This weekend, we had some tough luck, but it hasn’t dampened our spirits at all. We’re actually looking forward to the weekend.’

The Orange (1-4) will need that positive energy as it squares off against Big East foes Seton Hall and Georgetown this weekend at the SU Soccer Stadium.

Syracuse lost both of its contests last weekend, one of which took two overtime periods to finish, by a score of 1-0. In both games, the opponent’s lone goal came off a deflected shot.

Head coach Dean Foti said those types of losses are rare.

‘We played well and lost a couple of games on some freak plays,’ Foti said. ‘Very rarely does a game get decided on a deflection goal, and it happened to us twice in three days. There’s a little element of unluckiness there that we were victims of.’

Bad luck or not, the Orange is in danger of having its season slip away before the meat of the schedule begins. Given the team’s historical problems in Big East play (Syracuse has not had a winning record in-conference since 1999), the Orange likely cannot afford to drop its conference opener this weekend.

Still, Foti said the team has not made any significant adjustments in practice this week, sticking to the ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ rule.

‘Soccer is a funny game,’ Foti said. ‘You can play well and dominate games and not win. You don’t change things if things are going well on the field. It’s not like we played horribly. We feel like we are moving in the right direction, and we’re not going to change anything because we feel like we’re playing well.’

Syracuse dominated the statistics in both games last weekend. The Orange out-shot Loyola (Md.), had the advantage in corner kicks and committed seven fewer fouls. Against Bucknell, the Mayor’s Cup champion, Syracuse also had more corner kicks than its opponent.

All of Syracuse’s statistical dominance will mean nothing if the team cannot improve this weekend on its one area of weakness: the win column. In 1999, the Orange faced three top 15 teams in its first five games and lost to each of them. The level of competition Syracuse has faced this season has not been as elite.

Foti said that despite the rough start to the season, the team has maintained its confidence heading into this weekend. Two wins to open Big East play would not only serve to right the ship, but also give Syracuse a much-needed boost and remove the sour taste of defeat from its mouth.

As far as Caceros is concerned, the worst is behind the team.

‘We feel like we got our hard luck out of the way,’ Caceros said. ‘The game could have gone either way, and we just got some unlucky bounces. Our game plan worked. We just need to put the ball in the net. We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing, and our luck is going to change.’

Four of Syracuse’s first five games took place away from the confines of SU Soccer Stadium. Caceros said that returning to play in front of the hometown crowd adds a level of excitement to the team.

Foti added that playing at home takes some of the external stress and discomfort off of the team.

‘The whole effect of playing home games is guys are comfortable with their surroundings and they can sleep in their own beds the night before,’ Foti said.

With two Big East opponents lined up for the weekend, Syracuse will need to break out of its funk and make a statement to get its season back on track. For his part, Foti said he believes the team can do just that.

‘Eventually the scores have to go your way if you’re playing well,’ Foti said. ‘The results eventually will come.’

azmeola@syr.edu

Published on September 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm