Syracuse now celebrates its initial NCAA men’s soccer cup championship

With all the years that Syracuse dominated men’s NCAA Division i lacrosse by winning a record 12 national championships, never before has it carried off the men’s national soccer cup trophy.

That is until Saturday when the Orange, under first-year head coach Ian Melntyre, made up for lost time on the pitch in battling power program Indiana before a huge turnout at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.

It was a lengthy match of thrilling moments. It went to a pair of overtimes before it took four penalty kick shootouts to determine the Cuse’s 3-2 win against a Hoosiers program that had won eight national championships in 14 finals, second only to St. Louis winning nine times in a dozen outings.

“Unbelievable,” said Melntyre, “just unbelievable. We came to play against a very good team, and never backed down. I am so proud of these guys.”

It all came to an unprecedented finish for an Orange team that was a pre-season bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference choice. But after winning the AAC tournament championship, it made the 48-team field as the 3rd seed. Indiana was moved in as the 4th seed, Kentucky, the lone undefeated team remaining at 14-0-1, was ranked No. 1, and Washington of the Pac 12 became No. 2.

All of these teams in the field were made up of champions from 23 conferences and qualified automatically

in addition to 25 teams that were selected at-large. But if not for its claiming of the conference tournament, Cuse would have been watching it on the tubes.

So it headed to the quarterfinals where the rousing fans were somewhat buWhile Indiana advanced by shutting down Rutgers, 3-0, Pennsylvania, 1-0 in overtime, defending champion Clemson, 2-1, and Hofstra, 1-0 in penalty kicks, Syracuse took the pitch and blanked Craighton, 3-0, surprised Kentucky, 1-0, got past Pennsylvania, 2-1, in overtime, and shut down Denver, 2-0.

Nothing easy there, and neither was the one for hoisting the championship cup trophy at the familiar site that again served as host. This was the fourth time in a row and eight overall that WakeMed was the popular home pitch.

Now if the Orange had never played here before, it was old hat for the Big Ten’s Hoosiers as they extended their streak to 36 tournament appearances. They were runners-up last year and also in 2020 and 2017.

And so all the experience belonged to head coach Jeremy Gunn’s team. No matter, for with the match already in its fourth minutes, it was already Syracuse on an unassisted header from freshman Howard Henderlong. Not long after, it became 2-0 when senior Sal Sarver scored on a breakaway created by the Cuse defense.

Those two goals were the first in the last five matches allowed by Indiana senior keeper A.T. Harms. But the Hoosiers weren’t going away after trailing 2-zip at halftime.

Just eight minutes into the second half, it was Indiana freshman Marc Mihalic assisting fellow freshman teammate Mal Maher who shot the ball past Syracuse senior goalie Russell Shealy and into the lower corner. It stayed that way until the scoreboard clock showed 64:07, and that’s when Hawk Helmer booted in a high shot that bounced off the left post and into the net.

Now it’s all even at 2-2. And that’s way it stayed until the referee signaled the overtime.

The first one was played fast, but without any sure shots. The second brought some better shots, but it was splendid defense via both teams, and that included the goaltending of Harms and Shealy.

Two scoreless overtimes brought a time-out as the referee set down the shootout rules. The first two went

4-4, the next one had Indiana with a 2-1 and 3-2 advantage but the Orange managed to tie it and now came shootout No. 4.

Again the Hoosiers took the lead at 2-1and 3-2, but when Syracuse knotted it again and it came down 5-5, Indiana freshman Barry Bezerra hit a hard shot down the middle that Shealy pounced on. Now the Cuse needed only the game-winner and it was in the hands of its senior captain Anferny Sinclair, who took a deep breath, a few steps to the left, and boomed one beyond Harms.

It didn’t take long for the celebration as Sinclair raced behind him to the cheering Syracuse contingent while Indiana head coach Jeremy Gunn consoled his players as they tumbled to the ground.

“I am so proud of our team,” Melntyre said. “We capped a super season with a record 19 wins, we went against some elite teams and played like we had been here before. Of course we hadn’t, and it was just a real great accomplishment on the day after our women’s basketball team won, and on the same day our men’s basketball team won. Wow, what a great time they must be having on campus.

EXTRA POINTS:

Right behind St. Louis and Indiana in men’s soccer is San Francisco with five titles in seven finals. Then there’s Virginia with five in eight finals. Maryland and UCLA have won it three times, Howard, Clemson, North Carolina and Connecticut twice, and there’s the Syracuse Orange quite a ways from its chilly, snowy, winter weather celebrating yet another national championship. Move over lacrosse, but it would take many, many more times like this to ever catch up.