Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMSOC | Orange loses to No. 5 St. John's, 1-0
By Alex LaPiana
Posted: 10/6/05, 12:55 AM EST Section: Sports
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The bleachers reverberated as 479 fans pounded their feet. Syracuse goalkeeper Robert Cavicchia flapped his arms and motioned to the crowd for more noise while St. John's defender Steven Old lined up his penalty kick.
With about 16 minutes left in the game, Old scampered toward the ball and drilled his shot to the bottom right corner. Cavicchia, using every inch of his 6-foot frame, dove to his left to make an incredible save and preserve a tie.
Less than 10 minutes later, his heroics were an afterthought.
Syracuse continued its winless streak, losing a heart breaker to No. 5 St. John's, 1-0.
The Orange has now lost five of its last six, with the lone tie coming against Hartwick last Wednesday.
SU (4-5-2, 0-5-1 Big East) held the edge over the Red Storm in shots attempted and corner kicks for much of the game and had a huge advantage in possession time, but was unable to capitalize.
"When it comes down to it, it's all about who can makes the best of their chances," SU head coach Dean Foti said. "They stuck their chance, and we didn't stick ours. It's as simple as that."
The Orange had a few very good chances in the first half but was never able to find the back of the net.
The first came on a corner kick, just 22 minutes into the game. Midfielder Isaac Collings curled the ball into the mouth of the goal where senior defender Ezra Prendergast headed it just over the crossbar.
Syracuse had another chance on a corner with five minutes remaining in the first half.
Once again, Collings booted a dangerous ball in front of the goal, but Red Storm goaltender Jason Landers reached up and punched it out of the box.
Cavicchia made a number of solid saves during the first half, bottling up every single attack St. John's (6-1-3, 4-0-2 Big East) mounted.
During the second half, the Orange continued its domination, controlling the ball for much of the 45 minutes.
"We were all doing well moving off the ball, which helped us keep control of possession," sophomore defenseman Brad Peetoom said.
Then, with 35 minutes left to play, junior midfielder Rich Asante was leveled by a Red Storm player when he went up to contest a header. Asante was on the ground for a minute or so, but popped up and sprinted off the field.
As soon as he re-entered the game, Asante committed a hard foul on a St. John's midfielder.
"At that point we weren't playing as hard as we should've been," Asante said. "I knew I had to give the team a lift and that was the key."
