On Thursday, Aug. 29, Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre placed the upcoming season in the big picture.

He could only say so much about tactics and strategy leading up to SU’s season-opening match against Colgate. So for a moment, he nudged the Raiders aside and spoke candidly about the coming year.

“It could potentially be monumental for us,” McIntyre said. “Things are falling into place for the SU men’s soccer program. We need to take care of business and build on our recent success.”

A year prior, Syracuse embarked on the best season in program history — also the final season of the Big East. But after stressing the importance of following up in 2013, McIntyre also noted that capturing similar success in the team’s first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference wouldn’t be easy.

He called that a “big ask.” And he was right.

After finishing 10-7-1 and 3-7-1 in the ACC, Syracuse failed to make the ACC or NCAA tournament at regular season’s end. After looking to bury former futility with two straight successful seasons, the Orange is left with a shell of what it aspires to be. However, with every player on the current roster returning next season, the team will extract valuable experience from 2013 and get back to the drawing board right away.

“We really competed this year, there were some games we deserved to lose but others that were unlucky and could have gone our way,” SU goalkeeper Alex Bono said. “It was our first season in the ACC and our wins, we earned every one we got.”

In its first-ever ACC contest against Virginia Tech on Sept. 6, Syracuse learned two things: that it could compete in one of the nation’s premier conferences, but also that wins wouldn’t be served on a plate.

Leading 1-0 late in the second half, SU was less than five minutes away from winning its first conference game in as many tries. But then the Hokies scored in the 86th and again in the 98th, the latter a sudden-death goal that left the Orange with a shocking 2-1 loss.

That was the prelude to what would be a rocky, yet competitive inaugural ACC season.

“That was our first ACC test against a team that competes every season,” Bono said. “We didn’t come out with the win and were disappointed, but we put ourselves in a position where we could be upset.”

From there, the Orange finished with a spotless 7-0 nonconference slate — highlighted by a 1-0 win against then-No. 12 Connecticut — but didn’t fare as well in conference play.

Regardless, the season boiled down to one game, where the Orange had the opportunity to sneak into the ACC tournament as the eighth and final team.

“We had a chance,” freshman forward Chris Nanco said. “We had to beat Wake Forest. We knew we had to beat Wake Forest, and we just didn’t.”

Syracuse lost 4-1 to the Demon Deacons, and its final soccer of the season was played at W. Dennie Spry Soccer Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“I don’t really remember what I was thinking after that game,” Nanco said. “I just remember it being quiet. It was hard for anyone to talk.”

On Monday, the NCAA announced the 48 teams that will compete in the NCAA tournament. Six ACC teams received bids, the most of any conference in the country.

The Orange finished ninth in the conference and the foregone ending of its season was substantiated by the tournament field.

But SU didn’t take the news as an excuse to take the day off. The team participated in a fitness test on Monday afternoon to gauge each player’s current condition before training picks up after Thanksgiving Break.

For McIntyre, the last four months weren’t a bump in the road. They were the second step in turning his blissful vision into an actuality.

“If you would have told me two years ago that my team would reach the Sweet 16 and then compete in the ACC, I would have said ‘No way,’” McIntyre said. “I want Syracuse to permanently be on the soccer map, and we’re getting there.”

Published on November 20, 2013 at 12:30 am

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