SU Soccer Stadium was empty — save for one player and two adoring fans. Syracuse defender Louis Cross held a cellphone out in front of the three and snapped a picture as the man and woman decked out in Syracuse apparel, including bright orange scarves, smiled widely next to him.

Cross’ parents, Tony and Joanne, traveled thousands of miles from England to watch him play — like they do once every year. They’re in the middle of a two-week trip in which they’ll get to watch six of SU’s games.

In front of his parents, Cross netted his first goal of the season and shut down Bowling Green forward Pat Flynn, who came into the game tied for fifth in the country in goals and tied for sixth in points.

Cross’ play helped the No. 16 Orange (9-3-1, 2-2-1 Atlantic Coast) shut out the Falcons (6-6-1, 0-1-0 Mid-American) and hold them to just four shots — two on goal — in the 3-0 victory at SU Soccer Stadium on Tuesday.

“Usually we’re watching these games after midnight so I’m normally watching it in bed,” Tony Cross said. “If he had scored I could see that a cup of coffee would’ve ended up all over the bedding.

“We were up and down. We jumped and probably ruined everybody else’s night.”

From the start of the game, Cross matched up with Flynn one-on-one. When the forward tried to sneak behind the backline Cross was there to jab out his right foot and stop the pass. And when Flynn’s teammates tried sending long balls into him Cross consistently headed them away.

When the Orange offense was maintaining possession of the ball, SU head coach Ian McIntyre constantly yelled to Cross to “squeeze up some.” The result was Cross forcing turnovers in the midfield and sustaining the Syracuse offensive possession.

One of Bowling Green’s best chances of the game came in the first half when forward Tate Robertson headed a cross on goal. But Cross was standing just a few feet in front of the goal line and kicked it away.

“I don’t think they had any shots that were actually inside the box,” Cross said. “We limited them to just the outside area. They didn’t create anything behind the defense.”

When Flynn was substituted out in the first half, Bowling Green head coach Eric Nichols pulled him aside, barking tips into his ear and pointing to where Cross was standing on the field.

The second half was much of the same with SU stifling Flynn and the entire Falcons offense. Robertson tried dropping behind SU’s defense more, Cross said, but he and the rest of the back line were able to keep the Bowling Green offense quiet.

With 15 minutes left in the game Cross contributed on the offensive end, too. Midfielder Julian Buescher’s shot was blocked by two defenders and Cross crashed into the box to knock the ball out of the air for the goal.

“The last couple of days we’ve been giving Louis a hard time,” McIntyre said. “It’s nice for him to chip especially when his mom and dad were here. It was a quality strike from about 2 inches.”

After the game, Cross was announced as the man of the match. He signed posters for fans, then greeted his parents — receiving a kiss on the cheek from his mom — before doing interviews with reporters.

As Cross was interviewed, his dad stepped onto the field to capture the moment with more pictures, capping the special evening.

“To come out here and see him play is extremely special,” Tony Cross said. “And to see him score is fantastic.”

Published on October 13, 2015 at 11:09 pm

Contact Jon: [email protected] | @jmettus