All Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre and his team can do now is wait.

The Orange had a chance to advance to the semifinals of the Big East tournament and virtually guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament with a win over Notre Dame on Saturday night at SU Soccer Stadium.

But after bursting out of the gates to a two-goal lead, Syracuse (12-6, 5-3) surrendered four unanswered goals in the final 28 minutes and fell to Notre Dame (14-3-1, 6-2-1) 4-2 in the first home postseason match in Syracuse history. Following the emotional, roller-coaster loss in front of a record crowd of 1,675, the Orange’s fate is now in the hands of the NCAA selection committee.

“For a young team there’s those moments and emotional changes,” McIntyre said. “We perhaps took our foot off the accelerator just a little bit and were punished.”

After Syracuse controlled the tempo in the first half, Notre Dame seized the momentum and exploded with two goals in 19 seconds, thanks in large part to freshman forward Patrick Hodan.

Hodan toyed with Syracuse defenders all night and delivered in the 62nd minute, as he rifled a twisting ball past SU goalkeeper Alex Bono.

Hodan then juked out Bono, causing him to slip and fall before finding a wide-open Kyle Richard who lofted the ball into the net with ease for the second goal.

“He was a handful,” McIntyre said of Hodan. “We didn’t really have an answer for him. They’ve got some very dynamic attacking players.”

Syracuse’s two-goal lead was erased, and the Orange couldn’t finish an abundance of opportunities the rest of the way.

Moments after UND’s two goals, Syracuse midfielder Ted Cribley drilled a ball that sailed just over Fighting Irish goalie Patrick Wall’s fingertips and out of bounds.

SU defender Tyler Hilliard almost gave his team the lead in the 72nd minute. Jordan Murrell sent a corner kick into the box. Hilliard jumped and was shoved in the back by a Notre Dame defender. He ended up two feet into the net, but no call was made, much to the dismay of the raucous crowd.

While the Orange offense struggled, Notre Dame continued to create and finish chances. In the 76th minute, Hodan gave SU the lead, taking a pass from teammate Ryan Finley and placing the ball past Bono.

Finley tacked on an insurance goal with six minutes to go to seal the win.

The Irish outshot Syracuse 21-12 and forced Bono to make a slew of diving saves late in the game.

Murrell said Bono kept the Orange in the contest for much longer than it should have been. The defense simply didn’t do enough to preserve the win.

Murrell said he wants all four goals back and is devastated because the defense let the lead slip away. On the verge of victory, Syracuse’s defense couldn’t handle Notre Dame’s attack down the stretch after keeping the Irish in check in the first half.

“It was a lapse,” Murrell said. “I put myself on the line for that. I hate losing.”

Bono dove left and right in the waning minutes, but was unable to keep UND from capitalizing.

“Once we got the two goals, the mindset was to not give one up,” Bono said. “The game was back and forth and they put them away. We had two feet in and they pulled us out.”

Those “two feet in” electrified the Syracuse crowd, and for a while it seemed as though the Orange would stage the upset and send Notre Dame packing with a loss.

Ted Cribley got the scoring started for Syracuse with a goal in the 15th minute. Louis Clark tallied on another goal for SU less than four minutes into the second half.

Following his second goal of the season, Clark burst toward Syracuse’s bench and slid knees-first through the moist grass into a mob of overjoyed teammates. Arms extended, Clark soaked in the moment as his team had taken control.

After Clark’s goal, though, the momentum shifted in Notre Dame’s favor.

“Then they came out firing in the second half,” Cribley said. “I thought when we got the two-nil cushion it wasn’t dead and buried, but we certainly could see it out. Credit to them, they kept playing and finished very well.”

Now Syracuse waits.

With the selection show on Nov. 12, the Orange are very much on the bubble. Wins against Villanova and Rutgers help Syracuse’s cause, but losses to teams such as Niagara and Cal State Fullerton could cost it.

“Hopefully the season’s not over. It’s been terrific,” McIntyre said. “The guys all take tremendous pride when they take a step back and look at it, but we’re not ready to start reflecting yet.”

Published on November 4, 2012 at 12:59 am

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