The Syracuse men’s soccer team is ACC Atlantic Division champions. The Orange clinched the title on Saturday night when Louisville lost to Wake Forest. Syracuse (14-2-1, 5-2-1) finished the regular season by beating Boston College, 2-1, in double overtime on Friday.
“The guys take tremendous pride and they’ve always taken tremendous pride at representing Syracuse University,” head coach Ian McIntyre said.
The Orange received the No. 2 seed in the ACC conference tournament, only behind Coastal Division champion Notre Dame. Syracuse earned a bye and will host a quarterfinals game next Sunday at 1 p.m. Its opponent will be the winner of Wednesday’s first round match between Duke and NC State.
“It’s been good going from being a program who didn’t win a lot of games before a bunch of us got here to being a team that won a ton of games and now we’re one of the better teams in the country,” junior goaltender Alex Bono said. “It’s been a roller coaster ride, but it’s all been worth it to where we are now.”
The Orange is ranked third in the country and reached as high as second a few weeks ago. Before this season, Syracuse’s best ranking came back in 1984 when it was sixth.
In Bono’s senior year at C.W. Baker (Baldwinsville, N.Y.), Syracuse won just three games. It’s been his suburb play that has propelled Syracuse to national prominence. As of last week, the team led the entire NCAA with .36 goals against per game.
“An important thing that people need to know is that it’s not just the goalkeeper that keeps balls out of the back of the net,” Bono said. “It’s the three guys – my back three – and guys in front of them, as well.”
And Bono’s gotten more goal support from his offense, too. Syracuse averages 1.82 goals per game, up from 1.67 from a year ago. The Orange has already scored more goals this season than last season, even before entering tournament play.
Chris Nanco, a sophomore forward, is second on the team with five goals. He credits Syracuse’s experience as one reason why the offense has improved.
“This is our second year playing together, all together," Nanco said. "So the team chemistry is building as we go on and you can see how good it is because we’re getting a couple of goals.”
Now comes the hard part – translating a Cinderella regular season into postseason success. Coach McIntyre is keeping his goals incremental for the time being.
“In college sports, if you progress, ultimately that final game – unless you win a national title – is a loss,” McIntyre said. “Is this team built for a run in the national tournament? We’ll have a look.”
Bono’s dreams, meanwhile, are a bit more ambitious.
“National champions," Bono said. "Why not go and try to win it all?”