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When Amferny Sinclair’s slide tackle landed late as he darted for the ball near midfield, the referee sent him off, showing Sinclair his second yellow card of the game in the 68th minute. Down a man in a 1-1 game, Syracuse was outshot by Virginia Tech 11-0 from that point onward.

Despite the onslaught of chances from the Hokies’ side, the Orange (0-2-2, 0-2-2 Atlantic Coast) were able to salvage a 1-1 draw against Virginia Tech (0-1-2, 0-1-2) after two overtime periods in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“Obviously going down a man with a lot of time left on the clock — I’m very proud of the guys to come away with a point,” head coach Ian McIntyre said. “It would have been very easy to concede, but I thought we deserved something from this game.”

Redshirt sophomore Russell Shealy stood tall as goalkeeper in SU’s defensive effort, recording eight saves in his first appearance. The lone Virginia Tech goal came from Nick Blacklock in the 28th minute. Landon Ameres dribbled past several Syracuse defenders before sneaking it through and connecting with Blacklock, who belted a shot right under a charging Shealy. 

But several times, Shealy’s aggressive moves toward attackers paid off. In the 89th minute, Virginia Tech sent a dangerous pass into the box, but Shealy flew out to punch the ball away with both hands before any player could touch it.

“I thought he was very good today,” McIntyre said. “He was calm, when he was called on he made important saves… He deserved the opportunity, he’s been training extremely well. He’s a terrific young man, good goalkeeper. We’re very fortunate to have two very good ones.”

The Hokies goal came just 14 minutes after the Orange opened the scoring. Deandre Kerr’s shot was saved, gifting the Orange a corner. Noah Singelmann delivered a cross that found an unmarked Sondre Norheim, who headed it into the back of the net on a bounce, beyond the outstretched arms of the Hokies goalkeeper.

But aside from that set-piece, Syracuse struggled to create scoring chances, despite spending time in the Hokies’ half. The last shot the Orange recorded came in the 54th minute, which was followed by 16 consecutive Virginia Tech shots. SU’s best chance perhaps came in the 87th minute, when Hilli Goldhar got the ball into the box and drew a corner. The ensuing cross gave Norheim another look, but he couldn’t connect for a shot this time. 

Down a man after Sinclair’s sending off, the Orange simply couldn’t create the offensive production they had earlier in the game. SU had seven shots before the red card. But in a physical game with 29 total fouls (split 15-14, in favor of Virginia Tech), McIntyre didn’t mind Sinclair’s aggressiveness.

“I was a little bit disappointed with that call,” McIntyre said. “Maybe I’ll change my opinion, but my gut reaction was I think the referee could have had a word with Amferny and gave him a warning. Because those kinds of decisions really change the momentum of the game. It really kind of ruined it as an open contest.”

McIntyre went deep in his bench for fresh legs. Freshmen Stephen Betz and Kenny Clapp played their first collegiate minutes, and graduate student Tim Ekpone saw his first minutes of extended action since briefly subbing in against Pittsburgh.

The Orange have now played two extra time periods in three of four games this season. McIntyre commended his team for putting in such hard minutes, noting it also came after Friday’s nine-hour bus ride.

“We’ve got a lot of tired bodies, a tired emotionally drained team,” McIntyre said. “And that’s the expectation when you play for Syracuse is you leave it all out there, which they did tonight.”

Published on October 24, 2020 at 11:26 pm

Contact Eric: estorms@syr.edu