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Syracuse men’s soccer has been tested time and time again throughout its National Championship defense. It took then-No. 7 Louisville to the brink, stood its ground against now-No. 4 Wake Forest and bested then-No. 13 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC. Earlier today, the Orange had moved up to No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches top 25 Poll. 

Yet against inferior competition, they’ve faltered. An opponent doesn’t get much more inferior than Temple, which rolled into SU Soccer Stadium with one win. Nevertheless, the Orange let the Owls lead for 51 minutes. Gabriel Mikina finally equalized in the 87th minute but two minutes later, Temple scored again.

Rocco Haeufglockner sprinted down the right side past midfield and into the attacking third. He passed to Felix Ewald and made a run toward the top of the 18-yard box. Ewald sent a leading pass in between SU’s Pablo Pedregosa and Buster Sjoberg, finding an open Haeufglockner. He fired a one-timer into the top left corner of the net, getting it past goalkeeper Jahiem Wickham and securing the upset victory.

“We’re trying to go and get a win and we’re throwing numbers forward,” Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre said postgame about the game-winning goal. “(There was) a little bit of naivety, turnover and they countered and it (was) a great finish.”

On paper, it seemed inconceivable. In reality, No. 10 Syracuse (6-3-3, 2-1-2, Atlantic Coast Conference) played down to its competition in a stunning 2-1 loss to Temple (2-5-3, 1-2-1 American Athletic Conference). Despite outshooting the Owls 15-5, SU only registered two shots on goal and had zero throughout the first half. The Orange held strong defensively for the majority of the contest, but two crucial lapses led to two Temple goals. Coming off its biggest win of the season against UNC, Syracuse fell flat.

“It wasn’t about a lack of focus, it wasn’t about a lack of intensity, it was just a little bit of a lack of quality for us tonight,” McIntyre said. 

Outside of its wins to open the season against Providence and Binghamton, Syracuse has struggled to play its same brand of soccer against non-Power Five schools. During the month of September, the Orange only outscored non-Power Five teams 3-2. It beat UAlbany 1-0, lost 2-1 to Cornell, while being outshot by 14, and narrowly defeated Colgate 1-0. Plus, despite the game being ruled a no contest due to inclement weather, the Orange were tied with Siena after 56 minutes. So far this season, Siena is 2-7.

These games were merely a preview. All of SU’s problems it showed against lower competition were amplified during the evening. Offensively, it simply struggled to finish.

In the fourth minute, Nate Edwards fed Jeorgio Kocevski inside the 18. Kocevski had a clean shooting lane, but his shot flew high above the crossbar. Kocevski would misfire again in the 22nd minute as Lorenzo Boselli tapped him a pass with plenty of space to work with. The midfielder took a couple of steps forward and sent a rocket towards the net. But again, he missed high.

The Orange attempted nine shots as opposed to the Owls’ two in the first half. Temple played physical defense, deterring runs made by players in the attacking third and forcing Syracuse to play greedy. In the 31st minute, Boselli attempted a shot a few yards outside the 18 that sailed above the net, despite having passion options along the outsides.

“In the final third, we need to be cleaner, get shots on target,” SU defender Noah Singelmann said. “Because if you don’t get shots on target, you can’t really score.”

Four minutes later, the Owls struck first. Tessho Kobayashi found Lleyton Imparato on a through ball in the final third. As Imparato charged to the ball, Wickham came out of position to try and grab it. Edwards battled with Imparato for the next touch, but the Temple midfielder just nicked it. The ball trickled past Wickham and into the net for a 1-0 Owls lead.

While the Orange have often slowed down against non-Power Five schools, this was different. The only time they’d been trailing in one of these situations was to Cornell, which scored a late game-winner. 

But Cornell isn’t Temple. Cornell was ranked in Week 3 of the United Soccer Coaches top 25 Poll. While Temple didn’t win a game until Oct. 4. And before that, the Owls had not won since Oct. 18 of 2022. Syracuse needed to make adjustments.

“(Our) mentality was first class,” McIntyre said. “My halftime talk to the team wasn’t about energy or focus, it was about a lack of quality.”

The Orange came back out with a sense of urgency. In the 56th minute, Boselli and Nicholas Kaloukian had a 2-on-1 in the final third. Kaloukian received a feed from Boselli on a give-and-go along the left side within the 18. But Kaloukian had to maneuver himself to get off a clean shot. Once he did, the Temple backline had already crashed in. The ensuing shot was blocked.

As opportunities piled up, Syracuse had little to show for it. In the 63rd minute, Kocevski sent a cross inside the box. Although, no attackers cut inside the 18 and Owls goalkeeper Flannan Riley secured the ball.

Six minutes later, Kocevski whipped a free kick that went directly into the midsection of Haeufglockner. Syracuse retained possession off the rebound and the ball made its way back to Kocevski. He wound back and fired a shot from the high left corner of the 18, which missed to the right.

“Overall, I thought our service into the box wasn’t as good as it’s been,” McIntyre said. “We weren’t at our best tonight, but we were good enough to get something out of this game.”

Temple failed to build up an attack from the back and the Orange had another chance. Kaloukian, with his back facing the net, tried to squirm out of the blanket coverage that Owls’ Draven Barnett had him in. Barnett stuck with Kaloukian the whole way and forced the ball out of play. Syracuse was awarded a corner, but it didn’t amount to anything.

At last, the Orange tied it. Kocevski found Sjoberg on a corner, who headed it high up in the air toward the left post. Mikina tracked the ball and muscled his way above multiple Temple defenders. He put a clean header past Riley to even the score at 1-1.

The Orange were immediately silenced less than two minutes later. Haeufglockner’s game-winner sealed the victory for Temple. They hadn’t allowed the Owls to generate any sort of breakaway chance up until that point but when it mattered most, Syracuse played to the level of its lowly opponent.

“We need to be a little bit more mature, especially with our age,” Singelmann said. “You can’t concede there. It’s the 89th minute. Obviously we want to win the game but you’ve got to make sure you can’t concede there.”

Published on October 10, 2023 at 11:43 pm

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews