ONEONTA, N.Y. – After taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, the Syracuse men’s soccer team looked like it could coast its way to a victory against James Madison.

Then the fatigue set in.

Playing in humid conditions, Syracuse head coach Dean Foti was forced to go to his reserves early and often to ensure his starters would not tire out. This led to a JMU surge to start the second half. Just 10 minutes after the break, JMU forward C.J. Sapong, while lying on the ground, was able to kick the ball in after SU goalie Robert Cavicchia deflected the initial shot, tying the game at one. From there, after a second half and two overtime periods that saw strong surges by both teams, the score ended in a draw, 1-1, as SU went to 2-0-2 on the season.

‘I felt like the energy, there were a lot of ebbs and flows in the game, but it was more a result of just, it’s very hot, it’s very steamy,’ Foti said. ‘Kids get sort of to the point where they’re on empty, and you start to make some subs, and there are kids back up again because those kids are a little bit fresher.’

The SU defense was able to contain the JMU offense for most of the first half and force the ball to the outside and away from the middle of the goal. But as the heat began to take its toll, both teams were forced to frequently switch between starters and reserves, leading to a game marked by alternating offensive charges by both teams.

‘As the game went on more, it was like a pingpong match,’ said SU forward Kyle Hall. ‘We would attack, they would foil it, and they would come put pressure right on top of us and we would have to defend it, and then we would go back.’

For Foti, this type of game stemmed from the large number of substitutions made, leading to frequent mismatches on both sides of the field.

‘Every sort of 15 or 20 minutes in the game, there was like, one team starts to take it to the other,’ Foti said. ‘And it’s kind of because those guys are at the end of their line, and we needed to make some subs. And when that team makes the subs, and they kind of pick it up again, and all of a sudden, the other team is under a little bit.’

One of the players most affected by the high temperatures was SU forward Hansen Woodruff. After assisting Hall on a goal early in the first half, Woodruff had to sit the last 19 minutes of the half and a large portion of the second half and overtime due to fatigue.

The duo of Hall and Woodruff accounted for 12 of Syracuse’s 18 goals in 2006, and Hall knows Woodruff’s second half absence contributed to the lack of offensive production.

‘I wouldn’t say it was harder, but it sure did hurt because he’s another person who’s fast as well, and he’s good on the ball,’ Hall said of Woodruff. ‘So it hurt a little, but everyone else did well, like (SU forward) Spencer (Schomaker) did well, (SU midfielder) Thomas (Perevegyencev) did well.’

The offense was also hampered by the fact that Woodruff’s replacement most of the game was Kenny Caceros, a midfielder. This left Hall and Schomaker as the only forwards on the field for most of the latter stages of the match. Midfielder Luis Martinez switched into more of an attack position, but SU still found itself in many two-on-four situations – two SU forwards against four JMU defenders.

After the game, Hall could not help but feel like the game was one his team had let slip through its hands.

‘This feels like a loss because we should have had this one,’ Hall said. ‘We had chances, that goal they scored shouldn’t have happened. So we got an all right result, but it’s not good enough for what we want this season.’

Published on September 9, 2007 at 12:00 pm