STORRS, Conn. — When Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre played soccer for Hartwick College in the early 1990s, he earned a reputation as a clutch goal scorer, despite playing on the back line.

In his four-year career, he tallied 18 goals and 10 assists. In 1993, he scored game-winning goals in back-to-back NCAA tournament games. Now McIntyre’s Orange defenders use his past as motivation.

“We always joke around about us scoring goals,” SU defender Jordan Murrell said. “We need to score goals. Our coach used to be a defender and he used to score goals.”

And as of late, the back line has been producing offensively.

A defender has scored five of SU’s last nine goals and in the past two games alone, the back three of Murrell, Tyler Hilliard and Skylar Thomas has four goals and three assists. For a team that’s earned half of its wins by 1-0 decisions, scoring, especially from defenders, hasn’t been the benchmark of No. 2 Syracuse’s historic season.

The defense will look to continue its offensive production when the Orange (12-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast) takes on Louisville (6-5-1, 3-2) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.

“We want to score goals,” Murrell said. “It’s always good to keep clean sheets but we want to contribute on the winning end and we want to score goals.”

Being able to get corner kicks and free kicks is crucial for the defenders being able to score, Murrell said, adding that the back line isn’t able to get forward without them.

Against Wake Forest last Friday, two free kicks were translated into goals — both traveling from Murrell’s left foot to Hilliard’s head and into the net. In SU’s 4-0 win at Connecticut on Tuesday, it managed seven corner kicks and scored off two of them. Hilliard and Thomas each knocked one in.

Hilliard’s two goals against the Demon Deacons marked the first time he scored since 2012, and his brace against the Huskies quadrupled his career goal total in just two games.

Against Connecticut, a Murrell corner was stopped by a Huskies’ defender, but a bad touch fell right to Hilliard and his sliding shot found the back of the net.

“We’ve waited, what, four years for this?” McIntyre said of Hilliard’s recent scoring streak. “We talk about it with attacking players, goals are like buses. You wait a long time for one and then they all come together. Hopefully he’s got a couple more buses that’ll turn up soon.”

Five minutes after Hilliard scored on Tuesday, he picked up an assist on Thomas’ goal.

Murrell lined up for another corner, and Hilliard was first to the ball and put a shot on goal. UConn goalkeeper Scott Levene saved the initial shot, but Thomas picked up the rebound and poked it in.

The back line’s production hasn’t come at a cost on the defensive end. Wake Forest managed only two shots on net, though it did put one of them in for a goal with less than four minutes to play in what was at the time a 3-0 game.

Connecticut didn’t muster one shot on net. The closest it came to scoring was an Ethan Vanacore-Decker free kick that hit the post during a slow start for the entire Syracuse team.

“It’s just hard work and buying into our system that we play in and really applying it,” Hilliard said. “Communication is definitely great and just having faith in the boys that you’re playing next to.”

Even though Murrell, Thomas and Hilliard — along with goalkeeper Alex Bono — have posted shutouts in 10 games this season, they want to continue turning defensive success into offensive results.

Said Murrell: “The less they score, the more we’ll score.”

Published on October 16, 2014 at 12:07 am

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