A Princeton through ball found Jeremy Colvin on a breakaway one-on-one with Hendrik Hilpert. Syracuse’s junior goalkeeper took a few steps forward and awaited the shot. Colvin fired and Hilpert, falling to the ground, saved the ball between his legs. He shot up and pushed transition.

A few Syracuse passes later, the ball found a cutting Tajon Buchanan, who ripped a shot off the post. The ball trickled over the goal line and Syracuse maintained possession. A pass found John-Austin Ricks about 30 yards out Friday afternoon in SU’s 1-1 tie with Princeton. 

“It was a risk to take the shot from this distance at this time,” Hugo Delhommelle, the junior midfielder who corralled the Buchanan miss, said. “But if we don’t take the risk we don’t score.”

The sophomore defender chipped a shot over all of the players pushing one another around the penalty area. Princeton’s goalie, Jacob Schachner, stepped back and dove backward. The ball fit perfectly over the hand of Schachner and under the crossbar to even the score in the 84th minute. 

Down a goal and shortly after a Kamal Miller red card, No. 8 Syracuse (2-0-1) tied the game and salvaged its home opener against Princeton (0-0-1) at SU Soccer Stadium. After two overtime periods went scoreless, the game ended 1-1. Miller’s red card sparked SU, whose offense completed its passes and locked down defensively to limit Princeton opportunities, something rarely seen in the first 70 minutes.

Paul Schlesinger | Asst. Photo Editor

“As soon as we went down a player I knew we needed to get back in the attack,” Ricks said. “I wanted to help in any way I could. Near the end of the game, I saw myself getting up into the attack.”

The first half was marred with inconsistent passing and miscommunication between the Orange, which brings in 15 new faces compared to 12 returners. Using a 3-5-2 formation, or three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards, against another 3-5-2 creates a combative environment, SU head coach Ian McIntyre said.

That led to missed passes that trickled out of bounds. Other times, Syracuse tried to find open holes and force passes that Princeton intercepted. The Orange lost its discipline and grew frustrated, McIntyre added, which dug themselves into a hole.

That’s when the Tigers pushed, using through balls to create breakaways. Three times Miller, the junior and leader of the defense, was forced to slide and break up the through balls that otherwise would have led to one-on-one opportunities against Hilpert. But SU could only stop the through balls so many times.

Princeton’s goal that broke the scoreless tie started just outside the penalty area. A backward heel-kick through ball created an open shot for Daniel Bowkett, but Hilpert deflected it. The ball trickled to his right to an unmarked Frankie DeRosa, who tapped the goal in with ease.

Not five minutes later, Princeton’s corner kick ended in a collision between Miller and a Tigers player. The referee stopped the clock and blew his whistle as Miller walked by the referee. A red card was taken out of his back pocket and given to Miller for abusive language.

“Traditionally you sit and let the other team have it,” McIntyre said. “I’ll be honest with you, today we went the opposite of that and we went brave and we went for the game. That was when we were the best.”

Paul Schlesinger | Asst. Photo Editor

Syracuse clicked after the red card was distributed to Miller. Passes were more crisp and the offense pushed back despite being a man-down. Buchanan used his skill moves to carve up the defense and shoot a game-high three shots. SU’s offense pushed and had four corner kicks after the ejection.

Opportunities for the Tigers were limited, blocked away by SU’s defense, which gave up just two shots after Ricks’ goal. Even without their lead back Miller, the defense and Hilpert shut down the opposition.

SU let off seven more shots after tying the game including a one-timer by Ricks that landed just wide of the net. The riskiness of attacking man-down creates open space in the backfield. One missed pass could have lead to an easy goal for Princeton. But keeping the Tigers on its toes and not allowing them control was well worth the risk, Ricks said.

At this point we have nothing to lose,” Delhommelle added. “We have to give everything If we lose 3-0, we lose 3-0 without regrets. So we just went for it.

“And it paid (off).”

Published on September 1, 2017 at 7:30 pm

Contact Charlie: csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco