After the first half of the Syracuse men’s soccer game against Fordham on Sunday, it appeared SU could coast with its 1-0 lead to its third win of the season.

The Orange held the Rams scoreless through the first 45 minutes and allowed few scoring opportunities by winning the possession battle and keeping the ball in Fordham’s end of the field.

But upon taking the field in the second half, Fordham threatened to tie up the score. Less than a minute after the break, a Fordham player controlled the ball about 10 yards in front of the goal but was unable to convert on a turnaround shot. Two-and-a-half minutes later, Fordham drew a free kick from just outside the box, but the ensuing shot was foiled by a diving save from SU goalie Rob Cavicchia. It seemed like the Orange was in for a fight to the end.

Two minutes later, it was a different story.

On a counter attack after the Fordham free kick, the Orange attacked in a three-on-two break, and SU forward Kyle Hall scored his second goal of the game off a pass from fellow forward Hansen Woodruff. Eighty-nine seconds later, Woodruff added an insurance goal off of a pass from SU forward Tom Perevegyencev. SU cruised through the rest of the game and went on to win 3-0.

In the span of five minutes, SU went from fighting to maintain its slim lead to sitting comfortably on a three goal cushion. In the process, the Orange displayed a killer instinct it has lacked at times in 2007.

‘We talk about important times during the game and when it’s important to score and those are critical times – the beginning of the game and the beginning of the second half,’ SU head coach Dean Foti said. ‘If you can find ways to score in those times, those critical times in the game, it really puts the other team back on their heels.’

The first goal came as a direct result of the offensive pressure applied by Fordham. With most of the Fordham players caught in the Syracuse end looking for a goal, Hall, Woodruff and midfielder Luis Martinez were able to break away from the pack on a counter attack. Two passes and a shot later, SU had a 2-0 lead.

‘We work on it in practice,’ Martinez said of the breakaway situation. ‘But it comes automatically in the game.’

Foti had sensed the tide turning against his team in the closing minutes of the first half, and he pointed to the first second-half goal as a momentum changer.

‘Had we not gotten the first goal of the second half, I think they would have been a lot more energized,’ Foti said.

On the second goal, Perevegyencev gained possession of the ball deep in the box. After drawing attention from the defense, the forward was able to find a streaking Woodruff who buried a shot into the right side of the net. Woodruff said the momentum gained from the second goal helped SU net its third.

‘We figured it’s only a one-goal lead, we can’t sit back and wait for them or wait for the game to run out,’ Woodruff said. ‘We have to take it to them and end the game. We came out hard and we got a quick counter attack, I think off one of their corner kicks, and we got the goal, and then right after that we had momentum, and we got a third goal.’

The first half bore a resemblance to Syracuse’s game last Sunday against James Madison. After going up 1-0 in the first half, Syracuse succumbed to a JMU offensive surge early in the second half, and came away with a 1-1 tie. This time around, the Orange made sure it was a different story.

‘In James Madison, we kind of let them come back in the game by not doing what we did today and just try to end the game,’ Woodruff said. ‘As soon as the second half started when we got those goals, it just ended the game.’

Published on September 16, 2007 at 12:00 pm