Emil Ekblom shook his head repeatedly as he paced back toward midfield. The sophomore led Syracuse with five shots against Niagara on Friday, including a point-blank attempt that was turned aside. 

But Syracuse’s leading goal scorer from last season couldn’t put one away. 

On Sunday night at the SU Soccer Stadium against St. Mary’s (0-2), Ekblom put that frustration behind him, scoring Syracuse’s (2-0) first goal in a 3-0 victory. The sophomore found a rhythm, recording four shots, two of which were on goal to lead the Orange.

“Emil’s a goal scorer, and if he has enough chances in front, it doesn’t normally take him too much to score goals,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “This is what he does.” 

As a freshman last season, Ekblom led the Orange with 23 points (10 goals, 3 assists), prompting McIntyre to occasionally refer to him as one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s best strikers. 

On Sunday, Ekblom put the Orange on the scoreboard less than ten minutes into the match. Buescher, who Ekblom connected with several times throughout the match, lined up for a free kick just outside the top right of the box. 

“You always want to score goals, so I’m always mad when I don’t score,” Ekblom said. “But the more important thing is that we win and get three points.” 

With three players standing to his left, Buescher slid a through ball to Ekblom, who snuck behind the central defender on the right side. Ekblom directed a shot to the right of St. Mary’s keeper Andre Rawls. 

“We’ve been doing a lot of those in practice and we had an opportunity to get a quick start,” Ekblom said. “They were sleeping. And Julian is a very clever player. He sees the space and the game a different way.” 

After the game, Buescher said it wasn’t a predetermined pass, and that he simply read the defense.

The Buescher-Ekblom combination also had a few combination plays that resulted in scoring chances. At the 22 minute mark of the first half, Buescher crossed a ball to Ekblom who headed it into the crossbar. 

“I know Emil’s runs. He comes (toward the shooter) and then goes back,” Buescher said. “The center back covers him and it creates space. I like it so I can give it to his feet and he can score. I do my work and then he does his work.” 

“They’re our foreigners, so I guess it’s something that they do in Europe,” midfielder Chris Nanco said. “It’s a great connection between them.” 

Through two games so far this season, Syracuse has had five different goal scorers. And though depth is something the team prides itself on, no goal may have been more important than Ekblom’s. 

With Syracuse running a new-look lineup with two forwards, it may give Ekblom even more room to create and more chances to score, supplementing a deep Syracuse attack.

Said McIntyre: “We’ve got guys who complement each other and have different complementary roles … When it connects, it’s good to watch.”

Published on August 31, 2014 at 11:52 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu