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Syracuse men’s soccer (7-3-5, 2-1-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) rose to No. 19 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, which was announced Tuesday. After slipping from No. 10 to No. 22 last week, the Orange climbed three spots.

SU responded to its 12-spot drop on Oct. 19 with a 2-0 victory over Yale. Felipe D’Agostini earned a brace with two goals in a two-minute span midway through the first half to power the Orange past the Bulldogs.

Heading into the match, Syracuse had the second-worst shot accuracy in the country (a .319 shot-on-goal percentage). It registered five shots on target against Yale, the most in its last five games at that point. But in SU’s clash with North Carolina State on Sunday, it went back to its old ways.

It took until the 63rd minute for the Orange to tally a shot on target against the Wolfpack. At that point Syracuse was down 1-0 after NC State’s Hakim Karamoko took advantage of a defensive lapse in the 51st minute. Head coach Ian McIntyre pushed his players forward for much of the second half, resulting in more pressure in the final third. But SU still needed luck to equalize.

A shot from Lorenzo Boselli in the 77th minute was saved by Wolfpack goalkeeper Samuel Terranova. Off the rebound, NC State’s Vusumzi Plamana accidentally knocked the ball back and it bounced into the goal to knot the game at 1-1.

“We got a bit of luck with the own goal,” McIntyre said after the draw. “We could have done with just a little bit more quality to finish (NC State) off.”

With just one game before postseason play, Syracuse hasn’t strung together consistent performances. Since its biggest win of the year thus far — a 1-0 road upset of then-No. 13 North Carolina — the Orange have gone 1-1-2, which includes a 2-1 loss to Temple. Over that span, they’ve only scored double digits goals once (Yale) and have shot at just a 0.315 accuracy rate.

Published on October 24, 2023 at 4:37 pm

Contact Cooper at: [email protected] | @cooper_andrews