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Syracuse’s last game against Boston College saw it take a 1-0 lead off a free kick goal from former star forward Ryan Raposo. Back in Newton, Massachusetts, in a crucial conference matchup against the Eagles, SU was dealt a rare free-kick inside the penalty box.

Boston College had drawn a pass-back violation between goalkeeper Brennan Klein and his center back. The Eagles lined up seven players in its wall to close off the angle of Curt Calov’s close-range indirect free kick.

His shot was drilled right into the wall, but after a mis-clearance from the seven-man wall, the ball went back to Calov’s right foot and he immediately launched a rising ball near the penalty spot. The ball ascended through traffic and was headed for the upper-left corner before Klein leaped up, stuck both arms in the air and made an outstretched grab on the ball to deny Syracuse’s deja-vu opener.

Similar to the last meeting between the two sides, Syracuse (7-6-2, 1-4-1 Atlantic Coast) fell by just a goal to Boston College (5-5-2, 1-3-2 ACC) after conceding an 84th-minute goal. The Orange maintained the majority of the game’s possession and thrived at times through its high pressure, a system that saw them concede 18 fouls against the Eagles.

The one chance Boston College broke through on Syracuse was on Kristofer Konradsson’s game-winner. Konradsson broke free from a challenge at midfield and was able to dribble in a straight line, uncontestedly into SU’s half.

As Konradsson approached Syracuse’s backline he cut to his left, opening a gap between Christian Curti and Max Kent. He had  ample space to find the bottom right corner to fire a shot out of reach of a diving Russell Shealy for his first goal of the season on Boston College’s only shot on goal of the game.

Syracuse had another chance to recreate Raposo’s free-kick goal just a minute after Konradsson’s goal and after Deandre Kerr was clipped a yard before the top of the penalty area. Kerr quickly grabbed the ball and set up his own free-kick, with Calov to his left as the decoy right-footed shooting option.

Kerr opted to kick — a left-footed shot that curled inwards — over the Eagles’ wall but ended up firing it into the side netting. The free-kick opportunity came on BC’s sixth foul of the game and was by far their most dangerous one given up, not including the back-pass.

Syracuse gave up18 times — three times as many fouls as the Eagles — bringing its Division I-leading total to 231. The identity the Orange have established throughout their season cost them in terms of their search for early momentum, which has factored into many of their high-scoring results.

Although Syracuse committed 11 second-half fouls — six of them conceded in the half’s opening 20 minutes — most were incidental, aerial challenges. The first half was full of challenges, most notably with Hilli Goldhar body slamming an opposing Eagles defender on two separate occasions, both in SU’s own half. Amferny Sinclair was at fault on a final minute sliding challenge that gave Boston College a dangerous free-kick with 20 seconds left, but the shot was driven wide left of Shealy.

Despite increasing its high pressure on BC’s backline and controlling the game’s tempo, Syracuse wasn’t able to generate quality chances in the final third. Long balls into the wing backs were working for the Orange, primarily in the build-up phase.

Early in the second half, Luke Biasi sent the ball up the right-wing for Manel Busquets, who brought the ball down to the turf. He cut inside into space with no pressure on him, but took too big of a touch and let it roll right to the feet of an Eagles defender in his way. A minute later, a similar succession occurred along the left wing where the ball was played into Goldhar who teed up a cross that sailed over everyone in the box and BC simply watched it go out for a throw-in on the opposite end line.

Despite a low number of free-kicks conceded by Boston College, the set-piece ratio between the two sides was reciprocated through Syracuse’s 11 corners. Many times, the Orange opted for a short corner or a driven ball back to one of its defenders who instead sent the ball into the box 30 yards from goal, something that didn’t challenge the Eagles in the air whatsoever.

Syracuse’s best set-piece opportunity came in the 57th minute after Buster Sjoberg headed the ball back near the penalty spot after an attempted aerial clearance from BC’s defense. The header found Goldhar wide open 10 yards away from the back, right post. Goldhar fired a first-time volley low along the turf and right into the side netting.

With only four points, the Orange have now dropped into fifth place in the ACC’s Atlantic division as the Eagles have taken over fourth place with its first conference win of the season.

Published on October 15, 2021 at 10:38 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu