Hendrik Hilpert slowly walked off the goal line, his lips pursed with no expression on his face. Clemson mobbed nearby, as the Orange prepared to board a flight back home, its chance at back-to-back conference titles no longer alive.

Penalty kicks haven’t been kind to the Orange over the past year. After a shootout victory against North Carolina in the 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals, SU has lost its last two shootouts — both to Clemson — with one coming in last year’s College Cup semifinal and one coming two Sundays ago in the ACC tournament quarterfinal.

With the NCAA tournament opener for the Orange on Sunday, penalty kicks are once again a possibility if the game is tied after 110 minutes. The only time No. 8-seed Syracuse (11-3-4, 3-2-3 Atlantic Coast) can face No. 3-seed Clemson, its Achilles heel in shootouts, is the national championship game. For now, either Dartmouth or St. Francis (Brooklyn) will venture to SU Soccer Stadium for a second-round tilt, and Syracuse will hope for better fortunes on penalty kicks if the game reaches that point.

“We’ve grinded out a lot of games this year and last year,” senior forward Chris Nanco said, “and we’ve been unlucky in penalty kicks.”

Head coach Ian McIntyre considers several different factors when choosing his penalty-kick takers. He keeps count of each player’s percentage when the team practices penalties during the postseason while also relying on whether or not a player feels comfortable to take the spot kick come shootout time.

If there are more than five players who believe they are ready, McIntyre uses his discretion, mainly based on his practice notes, to determine who the first five will be. Against Clemson this year, SU trotted out Kamal Miller, Sergio Camargo, Jan Breitenmoser and Kenny Lassiter before Clemson ended the game without Syracuse needing a fifth taker. Nanco, who McIntyre dubbed the team’s best penalty taker, was injured and therefore didn’t take one against the Tigers.

“You can never manufacture that kind of pressure in practice,” McIntyre said. “You can also have a number of guys that during the run of the game, things can happen as well. It’s not a perfect science, but there is some kind of thought process that goes through it … You can have an idea of guys that you want … but things can change as well.”

The head coach says there are 10-12 players he trusts to take a penalty. Two Sundays ago, Camargo stepped to the spot with less than five minutes remaining in regulation and Syracuse trailing, 1-0. He slotted the penalty home, but then missed his penalty in the shootout.

For the senior transfer from Coastal Carolina, he chooses which side he’s kicking to before the kick and tries to deceive the goalie as much as possible with hip and eye movements. Nanco, who has a ritual of taking three steps back and two to the left after he places the ball, normally goes to his right but switches it up on occasion since he believes opponents have seen film of him going right.

McIntyre doesn’t instruct players on how to take a penalty or give his team a detailed scouting report of which way the goalkeeper tends to dive. Against the Tigers, SU faced a goalkeeper in Brady Allardice who didn’t play in regulation but was brought on just to save penalties. McIntyre said he tries not to overload players with information because “It’s like telling Shaquille O’Neal, ‘This is the way to shoot a free throw.’”

“We had some guys, who I would say are much better than me and some other guys that actually took the PKs but weren’t feeling that day,” Camargo said. “Some other day, maybe I’ll feel the same way.”

Published on November 16, 2016 at 9:15 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman