Oyvind Alseth lined up for a free kick in the 101st minute of sudden-death overtime. Once again, Syracuse men’s soccer team had a prime opportunity to close out a game against Loyola Marymount. Once again, it was Alseth taking a kick from just outside the box, something he had done several times after LMU’s 17 total fouls. Once again, the ball found Chris Nanco inside the box but refused to go in, as his shot ricocheted off a defender for a corner kick.

Both teams were tired. The game was stopped a few times as it wore on, as players were cramping up playing in warm and humid conditions. One goal would make this extra-time struggle worth it.

Alseth curled the ball from the middle in, toward the near post and a scrum of players indistinguishable from each other. Goalie Colin Partee leaped toward the ball. Before he could get there, it was tapped by the head of freshman Johannes Pieles. As the Orange ran to the corner to celebrate, head coach Ian McIntyre turned to greet Lions head coach Paul Krumpe, a wry smile on his face.

“This was a real test for us today, and to come out the other side, we learned a lot about ourselves,” McIntyre said.

No. 6 Syracuse (2-0) was the better team for much of the match. But a few inconsistent moments of play prevented the Orange from locking down the game earlier and made overtime necessary in order so salvage a victory against Loyola Marymount (0-2) on Sunday night at SU Soccer stadium.

The game started off slowly for the Orange. McIntyre got into a habit of yelling out tips to his players — whether it was telling sophomore defender Miles Robinson to press up or telling freshman midfielder Mo Adams to take the ball into space.

“Mo, you’re hiding, find a space!” McIntrye yelled.

But then eventually turning away in disappointment after sloppy passes.

That changed in the 22nd minute. Sophomore midfielder Jonathan Hagman found space at the top of the penalty box and rifled in a shot. Partee deflected it, but it ended up going right toward Pieles who put it in for a 1-0 lead.

“I give a lot of credit to Jonathan … all in all I’m very happy with (my) scoring,” Pieles said through an interpreter, and SU goalie, Hendrik Hilpert.

While the offense started slowly, the defense looked in midseason form in the first half. The Lions tallied no shots in the first half, becoming frustrated by SU’s back line of Robinson, Kamal Miller and Louis Cross.

For the first three quarters of the game, Syracuse was the stronger, faster and more dominant team. But in the 68th minute the Lions Adrien Perez wound up and shot from 25 yards out. The ball flew past a diving Hilpert, and just like that the game was tied at one.

“We weren’t really getting tagged to our men, and we allowed him to turn, and he got a good shot off really,” Cross said.

The Lions took five total shots in the second half. It was the only five shots they had all game, and although he praised LMU’s tough play, McIntyre admitted that Hilpert didn’t need to do much during the game, finishing with two saves.

With the defense back to its stellar play, the offense accrued its chances. But chances weren’t going through for the Orange. Three crosses in the first three minutes of the second half were sent away. Six corner kicks bared fruitless returns. In the 87th minute, Chris Nanco had the ball alone in space, but kicked it right at Partee for an easy save.

The first overtime was no different. Syracuse blitzed and got four shots and three corner kicks off in the 10-minute frame. But still, nothing to show for it.

As Pieles’ shot went in, the Orange celebration looked like a sigh of relief as much as it did a declaration of victory. After an up-and-down game, Syracuse finally pulled out the win it knew it could have.

“I thought in overtime, it looked like there was only one team that had a chance to win the game,” McIntyre said.

Published on August 28, 2016 at 9:28 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer