Noah Rhynhart raced down the right side of the field and centered a pass to Andreas Jenssen. The freshman midfielder, who had made a run into the middle of the 18-yard box, belted a shot to the right side of the net and past the outstretched arms of the Buffalo goalie.

The goal was No. 15 SU’s first of the preseason and was the winning goal in the Orange’s 1-0 win. Syracuse played 21 players against the Bulls, four more than in SU’s first preseason game against No. 3 Georgetown on Saturday.

“Especially the first 30 minutes were very hard, very good,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “I wanted to have a look at a number of guys today, so we did a lot of changes and it disjointed our team performance a little bit.

Full Time

Freshman goalie Austin Aviza played all 90 minutes against Buffalo after playing only in the second half against Georgetown. McIntyre said that freshman goalie Hendrik Hilpert, who is battling with Aviza to start in net, is “nicked up,” which led to the decision to play Aviza the whole game.

Aviza saved all five shots he faced, a step up from his 4-for-6 performance against Georgetown. Against Buffalo, the Orange managed to limit UB to fewer dangerous chances, after what McIntyre termed a “sloppy” performance against Georgetown in the second half.

“It feels good to get rhythm with the team, to get to know everyone better, and it was good to just get a vibe going with the team,” Aviza said.

In front of Aviza, Oskar Sewerin started at right center back, and Miles Robinson flipped from right center back, where he started against Georgetown, to left center back. Robinson turned away at least one scoring opportunity and several crosses. Part of the reason for the move is Sewerin’s ability to pass with his right foot, McIntyre said.

Moving Forward 

Junior forward Chris Nanco didn’t start against Buffalo, but had his minutes stepped up after an injury limited him in practice leading up to SU’s game against Georgetown. Nanco is still getting his legs under him, but McIntyre said he still wants more out of the junior and midfielder Oyvind Alseth.

SU totaled nine shots, three more than they took against Georgetown, but couldn’t finish several of its best chances. He also added that the offense moved well when the ball moved through midfielder Julian Buescher.

Without Nanco, SU tried out a few options, including starting redshirt sophomore Kenny Lassiter, freshman Adnan Bakalovic and Rhynhart. McIntyre was impressed with Bakalovic, who he called just a “pup” at 17 years old. Lassiter, Nanco’s roommate, has impressed the junior forward so far this season.

“Just his strength, his ability to hold up the ball (have impressed me),” Nanco said. “We have a lot of fast guys to run off of (Lassiter) if he holds up the ball, plays it back and we can make runs off of him.”

Published on August 19, 2015 at 10:47 pm

Contact Chris: [email protected] | @ChrisLibonati