After missing five games in two and a half weeks because of a pulled hamstring, Syracuse defender Skylar Thomas needed just 15 minutes to make his presence felt in his return to game action.

The 6-foot-4 Thomas soared through the air and redirected a Jordan Murrell corner kick into the net to give the Orange an early lead.

“Skylar’s been an integral part of us for three years,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “He’s coming back from a couple of knocks, so it was good (to get him back).”

It was a near-perfect night for Syracuse (8-2-0, 2-3-0 Atlantic Coast), as the home team defeated North Carolina State (4-3-2, 1-3-1) 5-0 on Friday night. Thomas’ goal ignited an SU scoring blitz — including three goals from freshman forward Emil Ekblom — and the Orange cruised to victory in front of 667 at SU Soccer Stadium.

“He’s an important guy in the center back for us,” SU goalkeeper Alex Bono said. “Not only is he a big presence back there, but he talks a lot, he’s a good communicator.”

Thomas’ first touch came three minutes into the game, and he didn’t look back, silencing Wolfpack forwards Davi Ramos and Travis Wannemuehler. The junior Thomas, along with Murrell, Tyler Hilliard and Chris Makowski, conceded just three shots all night while allowing the SU attack to go to work.

And as he customarily does, the lengthy Thomas came forward on all of SU’s crosses. In the 15th minute, he capitalized. Thomas said he wasn’t sure how, but he knew the ball crossed the line.

“He’s 6-foot-4 and he used his knee,” McIntyre said. “If I can ever teach him how to head a ball, he’s going to be unstoppable.”

McIntyre said it was an important goal at an important time in the game. Thomas’ goal was his first since he scored at Massachusetts on Sept. 25, 2012.

Six minutes later, Thomas sent a booming lead pass to Ekblom, who beat the Wolfpack defense down the near sideline. Ekblom then centered a pass to freshman forward Chris Nanco who gave SU a 2-0 lead with a point-blank shot.

“We seemed to score a couple of early goals,” McIntyre said, “and then the onus is on them.”

And whenever he was tested defensively, Thomas did the job. With three minutes remaining in the first half, Wolfpack forward Danny DiPrima had a chance to receive a through ball, but Thomas beat him to it and cleared it up the field.

“The defense played well,” Thomas said. “We started off well, we were talking, keeping the ball out of the net, and we also limited the shots on net. We did well.”

Minutes into the second half, Wolfpack forward Davi Ramos had a step on the Orange defense, but once again, Thomas used his large frame to slide tackle the ball away. Moments later, Thomas stole the ball from Wolfpack forward Moss Jackson-Atogi.

In the 55th minute, the Wolfpack gained some pressure in the final third, but Thomas and Hilliard trapped Alex Martinez on the end line and forced him to take a bad shot. In the 64th minute, Thomas got on the defensive end of a corner kick, heading out a Wolfpack scoring chance.

With 20 minutes remaining, Thomas was given a hand from the SU faithful when he came off for Trevor Alexander. Thomas shook McIntyre’s hand, threw on a neon green warm-up pinnie and stretched on the near sideline, not sitting down for a good 10 minutes.

“I’m just grateful I could be back out there on the field with my team and help them get the win,” Thomas said. “I’m glad we got the win. Clean sheet and we move on.”

Published on October 5, 2013 at 12:39 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu