Shortly before double overtime between Syracuse and Virginia Tech, SU’s Oyvind Alseth and Emil Ekblom planned out what would be the game-winning play.

With their plan in action, Alseth sent a cross from his right midfield position into the 18-yard box. SU forward Chris Nanco nicked it to Ekblom, who redirected a shot by Hokies goalkeeper Ben Lundgaard.

Ekblom’s goal in the 104th minute snapped a scoreless tie and No. 9 Syracuse (9-1-0, 3-1-0 Atlantic Coast) beat Virginia Tech (7-4-0, 2-2-0) 1-0 on Saturday night at Thompson Field in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“They were a handful and for us to find a way right at the end, to come away with three points, I think gutsy is a good word to use,” Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre said. “We were just lacking a little bit of quality in the final third and finally at the end we had a good finish from Emil.”

McIntyre said the Orange gained momentum in the first overtime, but admitted he thought the match looked as if it would end scoreless.

SU goalkeeper Alex Bono turned aside six shots, including one in the first overtime, for his ninth shutout of the season. Five minutes into the first extra-time period, the sophomore keeper turned aside a header from Virginia Tech forward Ricardo John.

McIntyre agreed Saturday’s match was much like the gutsy performance it had last week against then-No. 2 Virginia. But with a six-day layoff after Tuesday’s game against Colgate was cancelled, Syracuse had an extra boost.

“I think, possibly in a funny way, the (cancellation) on Tuesday probably helped us a little bit tonight,” McIntyre said. “ … It was our first overtime game of the year, and overtime games become very chaotic.”

Syracuse’s attack jumped all over Virginia Tech to start the match. The Hokies committed four fouls in the first 15 minutes, and Ekblom and Nick Perea had shot attempts blocked early on.

In the 27th minute, Ricardo, who finished with five shots on goal, had two headers turned aside by Bono in a six-second span.

The Orange earned its first win, in five tries, against the Virginia Tech program.

“It would have been very terrible if we came all the way here and didn’t get a result,” Ekblom said before the team began a 10-hour bus ride back to Syracuse. “We had to work very hard, but I thought we were the better team.”

Published on October 5, 2014 at 12:42 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu