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Just three minutes into its match against Loyola Maryland, Syracuse began its first offensive move. Olu Oyegunle fed the ball to Giona Leibold, who sped down the sideline near midfield. 

Leibold passed the ball back into the middle of the pitch, but continued his run and got the ball back again just a couple of passes later. He sprinted forward, got the edge on his man and delivered a left-footed cross into the box from his “favorite spot”, right where the penalty box meets the touchline on the left wing. Greyhound keeper Konstantinos Parisis dove to knock the ball out, but he merely deflected it into the air behind him to Levonte Johnson at the far post. Johnson redirected the ball off his body into the back of the net. 

On SU’s second offensive move of the night just a minute later, Lorenzo Boselli sped downfield before laying the ball off to Amferny Sinclair, streaking down the wing beside him. Sinclair one-touched a pass to Nathan Opoku in front of goal and the forward tapped it in at the near post. 

In just over four minutes, Syracuse’s wide play gave it two goals. And the Orange (10-2-1, 4-1-0 Atlantic Coast) didn’t stop there on their way to a 6-1 win over Loyola Maryland (4-4-4, 2-1-2 Patriot), their largest margin of victory this year. Save for a lull at the beginning of the second half, Syracuse dominated on offense and found success in open spaces on the wings all night. 

After two early goals from the wings, Syracuse kept the pressure on. Despite a 2-0 lead in the opening minutes, head coach Ian McIntyre spurred his men on like they were trailing in the final minutes, yelling things like “Do it early Buster!”, “Don’t let it drop!” or “Move!”

The SU players heeded their coach’s advice. Facing freshman defender Pat Kakayira, Leibold sliced another cross into the box in the ninth minute. A minute later, he sent a cross from the same spot as his assist that went past four Syracuse attackers in the box all the way to Noah Singelmann at the far post. Singelmann’s one-touch rocket went just wide.

“It was very good for us wide players, lots of open space,” Leibold said.

Leibold found so much open space against Kakayira that the defender was subbed out of the game just twelve minutes in. Kakayira had started the past three games – and played all but two minutes – but he didn’t return until the 80th minute, with the Greyhounds already down 5-1.

With Kakayira out, Loyola contained Leibold more. But the Italian midfielder still got off several more dangerous crosses. His 25th-minute cross put Nathan Opoku in a dangerous position, but after a dummy shot, the forward couldn’t get one off in the crowd of defenders.

“You know [Leibold] is having an effect when they make a substitution early to rotate their personnel,” McIntyre said.

Coming out of halftime, Syracuse had an easy 3-0 lead and left five starters, including Leibold and both forwards, on the bench. Meanwhile, Loyola changed formations and pushed aggressively as Syracuse struggled to generate offense. The Orange, especially Oyegunle, were sloppy with giveaways on defense all game. Shealy and Buster Sjoberg had to rescue Syracuse multiple times in the early going of the second half. 

“F—ing clean it up,” Sjoberg yelled after one such giveaway. 

After Kelan Swales forced a turnover in the midfield, Russell Shealy sprinted out to try to clear the loose ball at the edge of the box. But he didn’t reach the ball in time and slid into attacker Loc San. 

Shealy was shown yellow, and on the ensuing penalty, Swales buried the finish in the left side of the net to bring the score to 3-1.

Immediately, McIntyre brought back all five starters to “get control of the game again.” He called the Orange’s performance early in the second half “sluggish.” But results weren’t immediate. Syracuse began improving its midfield play, but in the 67th minute, Singelmann got in a shoving match with two Loyola defenders and both teams received yellow cards. 

“What are we doing?” McIntyre yelled over and over again. 

But less than a minute and a half later, a goal cured all of the Orange’s second half problems. Leibold found a pocket of space – in the middle of the field this time – and Boselli found him for a top-bin finish. 

“They were fired, down 3-0,” Leibold said. “Then, that 4th goal, and they broke down. Then another, and another.”

Syracuse put the game “to bed” after the fourth goal, McIntyre said, and began dominating Loyola like they did in the first half. Again, Syracuse’s wide play flourished, even on set pieces.

In the 77th minute, Curt Calov delivered a corner kick to Opoku, whose header glanced off Christian Curti and past Parisis. Just four minutes later, Calov crossed the ball into the box again, this time to Camden Holbrook, who headed it to Francesco Pagano for a tap-in.

“[Leibold] has got that much quality and directness and it was good,” McIntyre said. “It was great that he had service, created chances but seemed to get a goal as well.”

Published on October 10, 2022 at 11:02 pm

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