Men's Soccer Squares Off with #8 Boston College
9/10/2004 11:53:06 AM | Men's Soccer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse men's soccer team will play its last home game of September when it hosts the eighth-ranked Boston College Eagles at 1 p.m. in the SU Soccer Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 11. Saturday's game is Camper Reunion Day and Youth Day. All youths, ages 18-and-younger will receive free admission.
U.S. Youth Soccer will also be on hand to help celebrate Youth Soccer Month. There will be several items available free of charge, including t-shirts, frisbees, parent guides, coaches brochures and calender strips. For more information on Youth Soccer Month, visit www.youthsoccermonth.org.
The Eagles have opened the season with two straight wins, defeating #21 Brown, 3-1, and #24 Cal State Northridge, 1-0, at home last weekend. The two wins propelled BC into the eighth spot in this week’s coaches poll. Charlie Davies leads the offense with two goals and four points. Johann Helgason and Pat Haggerty have each scored for the Eagles. Guy Melamed leads the team with two assists. Haggerty was named to the CollegeSoccerNews.com Team of the Week after scoring a goal versus the Bears. Issey Maholo has played all 180 minutes in goal for the Eagles, registering 13 saves and a 0.50 goals against average. Boston College has outshot its opponents, 30-18, on the season.
The game is the BIG EAST opener for both schools. Syracuse earned its first victory of the campaign, winning a rain-soaked contest at Cornell on Wednesday, 2-1. Freshman Pete Rowley scored his team-leading second goal to give SU a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. The Big Red tied the game midway through the first half. Syracuse scored the only goal of the second half, a tally by junior Jeff Evans in the 60th minute. Junior keeper Rich Scheer made four saves in the victory. Syracuse has lost both its home games so far in 2004, and is trying to avoid its first three-game home losing streak since a seven-game stretch in in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. The Orange has defeated at least one ranked team in each of the past seven seasons.
BC leads the all-time series with the Orange, 13-8-2. The Eagles have won the last four meetings with Syracuse, including a 2-1 win last season. The Orange’s last victory in the series was a 3-0 shutout on the road in 1999. SU’s last win at home versus Boston College was another 3-0 blanking in 1998. This is the third straight year that the Eagles have been ranked coming into their matchup with Syracuse.
ORANGE SNAPS ROAD WINLESS STREAK
Syracuse’s 2-1 victory at Cornell ended a streak of 10 consecutive games away from home without a win. The Orange went 0-8-2 in road or neutral games during that stretch. Prior to Wednesday, SU’s last road victory also came at Cornell, a 2-1 win on Oct. 30, 2002.
SYRACUSE VERSUS THE TOP 25
The Orange ran its streak of consecutive seasons with at least one victory against a ranked team to seven with a 2-1 win versus 22nd-ranked Connecticut on October 26, 2003. SU has nine wins against top-25 opponents since 1997 and went 1-3-3 versus ranked teams last season.
EVANS PUTS UPPERCLASSMEN ON THE BOARD
Junior forward Jeff Evans notched his first goal of the season, scoring the game-winner against Cornell. It was his second career game-winning goal (vs. Colgate 2003). Evans loves to play against the Big Red. In three career games versus Cornell, Evans has two goals and three assists for seven points. Evans now has five goals, three assists and 13 points in 31 career games. He was the first Syracuse upperclassman to score a goal this season following two goals by freshman Pete Rowley and a score by rookie Isaac Collings.
ROWLEY NETS SECOND OF ROOKIE CAMPAIGN
Syracuse freshman Pete Rowley notched his team-best second goal of the season against Cornell. Rowley also leads the team with four points. He scored his first career goal in his first career game in the Orange’s loss versus St. Bonaventure. The rookie is the first Orange freshman to score a goal in the season opener since Jeff Knittel in 1995. Knittel scored Syracuse’s second goal in a 3-0 win versus Monmouth on Sept. 2, 1995. Rowley was one of two BIG EAST freshman to score goals in their first games. Pittsburgh’s Chris Bastidas talled his first career goal in the Panthers’ 3-0 win versus Canisius. Rowley has started the last two games since coming off the bench in the opener. Only two freshmen have led SU in scoring outright since 1995 - Knittel in 1995 and Kirk Johnson in 2000.
