Desperation had set in for Syracuse.

Its season was slipping away as each second went by. Losing 3-1 to St. John’s with less than 20 minutes remaining, the Orange had to at least force overtime to have a chance at making the Big East Tournament.

SU coach Dean Foti began to make more subs, trying to get fresh legs on the field. Goalkeeper Robert Cavicchia played halfway up Syracuse’s side, and the defense pushed up to midfield. At every stoppage of play, Syracuse players raced to the ball, put it in play and got the game moving again.

Then the frenzy culminated. Kyle Hall was taken down just outside the St. John’s box with 1:45 left. An argument ensued between opposing players, as frustrations boiled over. Cavicchia came racing from his own end to the edge of the 18-yard area to join the shouting match.

Hansen Woodruff’s free kick went off the crossbar and was cleared by St. John’s. The Orange was deflated, as the 3-1 defeat Wednesday in front of a 1,049 fans – the fourth-largest in the history of the SU Soccer Stadium – ended its chances for the postseason.

‘When the score’s 3-1, you realize if you don’t do something now, your season’s going to be over,’ Woodruff said. ‘You start getting desperate. Your emotions start to get the best of you.’

Syracuse (6-7-4, 3-7) opened the scoring with a goal by Hall in the 27th minute. But after that, it was all St. John’s (9-5-4, 6-2-2), as the intensity mounted with each Red Storm goal. The momentum shifted midway through the second half, when defenseman Brien Chamney let in an own goal off a long ball that ricocheted off his head into the back of the net. From there, Omar Alfonso of St. John’s added two more goals to seal the victory.

Photo by Nick Ruggiero’> As insurance goals were added, Syracuse’s sense of urgency grew greater. Shortly after the third St. John’s goal, the game paused for a media timeout due to its national television exposure on ESPNU. It was a rare opportunity for the Orange to rest mid-game; while the Red Storm remained scattered on the field, the Orange used the opportunity to huddle up in an attempt to salvage the season. Senior defenseman and captain Brad Peetoom used the time to rally his teammates.

‘Our season is 22 minutes long right now if we don’t come back and pop a couple of goals in,’ Peetoom said. ‘We’ve got to leave our hearts on the line, and we did our best and there wasn’t a lack of effort at all. In the end, it wasn’t enough.’

The Orange was often forcing long balls down the field, to no single player in particular. SU played more players up, but they were repelled by a defensive-minded St. John’s in a congested crowd of players deep in St. John’s territory.

That clash led to a collision-filled ending, most notably when Hall was taken down and the players argued and a shouting match ensued. Minutes earlier, Woodruff had been yellow-carded for taking down a player that had just taken a ball from him.

‘The game was a little chaotic. … Things got a little out of hand because of some of the calls,’ Foti said.

The physicality was a departure from some of the more recent Syracuse games. And while Foti said the desperation at the end of a game plays into that, he didn’t discount some of the officials’ decisions as factors.

‘Most games get physical when fouls aren’t called,’ a peeved Foti said. ‘And so if they’re not called, ‘Oh, I can get away with that? Well maybe I’ll try this.’ It escalates. That’s how it escalates. Sometimes people are pretending to get fouled and they don’t get fouled, and they’re not really fouled and they get the ref to make a call, so there’s a lot of gamesmanship going on, let’s just put it that way.’

To qualify for the Big East Tournament, the Orange would have had to beat St. John’s and then DePaul on Saturday. Additionally, Rutgers and Cincinnati would have had to tie Saturday evening for SU to jump into the sixth and final playoff spot.

But now, Saturday will officially mark the end of the Orange’s season that began with the program’s best start in more than 20 years. There will be no postseason.

‘It’s gone by really fast. It just seems like a couple weeks ago, the season just started,’ Woodruff said. ‘It feels pretty weird knowing that almost three months went by.’

Published on October 31, 2007 at 12:00 pm