Orange Rally Comes Up Short Versus Rutgers

Saturday, October 11

SU Soccer Stadium

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

Rutgers

Pete Rowley scored his first goal of 2008 Saturday against Rutgers.

10/11/2008 10:49:08 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange rallied back from a 2-1 deficit in the second half, but couldn’t hold off Rutgers in overtime as the Scarlet Knights (5-4-3, 2-3-2) defeated Syracuse, 3-2, on Saturday, Oct. 11 at the SU Soccer Stadium. Sam Archer tallied the game-winning goal for Rutgers with 1:09 left to play in the extra session.

Archer’s golden goal came after SU senior forward Spencer Schomaker (Seattle, Wash.) tied the match at 2-2 with 1:07 remaining in regulation. Schomaker’s goal was the result of a deflection on a serve into the box by classmate Kyle Hall (Toronto, Ontario). Following the equalizer, Syracuse (5-4-3, 2-4-1) earned two corner kicks in the final 15 seconds of the period, but could not convert. The match went to overtime and Archer won it with a shot to the right side of the Orange net off a pass by Dilly Duka.

Duka finished with five points in the contest. He had a hand in all three goals for the Scarlet Knights, scoring in the 59th and 67th minutes, respectively, in addition to his assist on the winner.

“We want to win every game,” SU head coach Dean Foti said. “But you could tell right from the start we didn’t have it in our legs. We weren’t closing people down. We’ve had a long two weeks and it finally caught up with us tonight.”

A see-saw affair from the start, the Orange grabbed an early 1-0 lead on senior Pete Rowley’s (Reading, Pa.) first goal of the season. Rowley alertly lined up a free kick after a Rutgers’ foul and bent a shot into the top corner of the goal at 5:31 before the Scarlet Knights could set their defense.

The Orange remained ahead, 1-0, until Duka broke through for a goal at the 58:11 mark. His second goal, an unassisted tally, came at 66:38 and put Rutgers in front, 2-1.

Trailing by a goal, Syracuse went to a three-man backline instead of four in an effort to put more pressure on Rutgers. The strategy paid off as Schomaker converted in the 89th minute to tie the match.

In the overtime, Syracuse recorded two shots, including one on goal, but it was Archer that came through with the game-winner on Rutgers’ second shot of the period.

Orange goalie Robert Cavicchia (North York, Ontario) made season-best nine saves in the match. He had five in the second half, including one from point-blank range that resulted in the play that led to Schomaker’s goal.

Amir Haghshenas finished with five saves in goal for the Scarlet Knights to earn the win.

Syracuse returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 18. The Orange will host DePaul for a 7 p.m. contest at the SU Soccer Stadium.

Match Notes: Junior Tom Perevegyencev (Budapest, Hungary) made his first start of the year at forward … Rowley’s goal was the 11th of his career and his first since he scored against Rutgers in 2006 … Saturday’s match was the second consecutive two-point game for Schomaker (he had two assists at St. John’s on Oct. 8), marking the first time in his career he recorded back-to-back multi-point games.