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The Daily OrangeMSOC | With strong 2nd half, Orange survives against No. 22 USF
By Andy McCullough
Posted: 10/28/07, 11:14 PM EST Section: Sports
Dean Foti wasn't interested in talking to his team about South Florida's national ranking before the game Saturday night.
No, the Syracuse men's soccer coach had other concerns: righting the ship of a team reeling from a 2-6-1 record over the past nine games, including six losses to Big East opponents, the most recent one a 3-2 home defeat last Wednesday to Villanova that lingered with bitterness.
Ranked last in the Big East red division with three games left, Syracuse needed to win out to stay eligible for the Big East Tournament.
So USF's No. 22 ranking? That was just a number to Foti.
"They've all played top 25 teams before," Foti said of his team.
But they hadn't beaten one since October 2005, when the Orange knocked off No. 18 Cincinnati, 2-1. That changed Saturday.
The Orange (6-6-4, 3-6) gritted out a 1-0 victory over the Bulls at SU Soccer Stadium Saturday night in front of 801 fans, surviving a late push by South Florida (10-4-2, 5-4-1) to keep alive its postseason hopes.
For Syracuse, the focus was on righting the wrongs that had haunted it defensively in the recent losing streak. The marking was a conspicuous improvement from the Villanova game, when Wildcats forward Mike Seamon scored a hat trick in an eight-minute span in the second half.
It was a blue-collar game, SU junior midfielder Pete Rowley said, the kind the Orange had to play to win on a raw, choppy field softened by days of rain, then hardened by the biting cold.
"The field had a lot to do with it," Rowley said. "It was tough to keep up. It's probably the worst the field's ever been. It's been wet and rainy, and that affected them, too."
SU sophomore forward Hansen Woodruff provided the game's only score - his 10th goal of the season - in just the fifth minute of play: an unassisted, slashing jaunt down the left side of the field. Woodruff sliced through two defenders before roofing the ball over USF goalkeeper Jeffrey Attinella.
No, the Syracuse men's soccer coach had other concerns: righting the ship of a team reeling from a 2-6-1 record over the past nine games, including six losses to Big East opponents, the most recent one a 3-2 home defeat last Wednesday to Villanova that lingered with bitterness.
Ranked last in the Big East red division with three games left, Syracuse needed to win out to stay eligible for the Big East Tournament.
So USF's No. 22 ranking? That was just a number to Foti.
"They've all played top 25 teams before," Foti said of his team.
But they hadn't beaten one since October 2005, when the Orange knocked off No. 18 Cincinnati, 2-1. That changed Saturday.
The Orange (6-6-4, 3-6) gritted out a 1-0 victory over the Bulls at SU Soccer Stadium Saturday night in front of 801 fans, surviving a late push by South Florida (10-4-2, 5-4-1) to keep alive its postseason hopes.
For Syracuse, the focus was on righting the wrongs that had haunted it defensively in the recent losing streak. The marking was a conspicuous improvement from the Villanova game, when Wildcats forward Mike Seamon scored a hat trick in an eight-minute span in the second half.
It was a blue-collar game, SU junior midfielder Pete Rowley said, the kind the Orange had to play to win on a raw, choppy field softened by days of rain, then hardened by the biting cold.
"The field had a lot to do with it," Rowley said. "It was tough to keep up. It's probably the worst the field's ever been. It's been wet and rainy, and that affected them, too."
SU sophomore forward Hansen Woodruff provided the game's only score - his 10th goal of the season - in just the fifth minute of play: an unassisted, slashing jaunt down the left side of the field. Woodruff sliced through two defenders before roofing the ball over USF goalkeeper Jeffrey Attinella.
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