Men's Soccer

McIntyre buys 250 tickets for Syracuse’s NCAA tournament game at SU Soccer Stadium

By Matt SchneidmanSenior Staff Writer

Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre has bought 250 tickets for Sunday’s NCAA tournament second-round game, assuring that the first 250 students who arrive at SU Soccer Stadium on Nov. 23 with their student ID card get free admission.

The Orange will play either Hartwick or Penn State. The game will be during Thanksgiving break for SU students, but McIntyre said this was more about making a small gesture to the fans who have supported the team throughout the record-breaking season.

“The SU Soccer Stadium has turned into a special place to watch a soccer match,” McIntyre said.  “… So just in a small way, it’ll hopefully get some of our supporters in the stands and at the same time, have a chance to say thank you.

“I know some of the student body will be heading home so timing’s not ideal from that perspective, but I think our Syracuse soccer community will really enjoy this one.”

No. 4 Syracuse (15-3-1, 5-2-1 Atlantic Coast) is the tournament’s No. 9 seed, with the seeding being based on the NCAA’s ratings percentage index rankings and not the official National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.



Hartwick (6-9-4, 3-1-1 Sun Belt) and Penn State (12-5-1, 5-3 Big Ten) will face off in a play-in game on Thursday at 7 p.m. in University Park, Pennsylvania, a game McIntyre said he’ll catch in person. The winner will play the Orange on 2 p.m. on Sunday.

McIntyre added how sometimes the team doesn’t get the chance to interact directly with the crowd, but the players have been able to do so as the program has evolved.

Sunday’s game will be the first-ever NCAA tournament game Syracuse hosts and the second postseason game this season. After attracting a program-record 2,533 fans for the ACC quarterfinal against Duke, McIntyre hopes for a similar environment this weekend.

“There’s nothing quite like postseason college soccer,” McIntyre said. “That’s the wonderful thing about our sport, the crowd is part of the action, is part of the event. We saw that at the Duke game.

“I hope that it’s the same way on Sunday.”





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