Orange Dominates #20/22 Providence in BIG EAST Home Opener; Wins, 3-0

Friday, September 26

SU Soccer Stadium

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

#22 Providence

Senior Pete Rowley assisted on SU's first goal Friday against Providence.

Orange Dominates #20/22 Providence in BIG EAST Home Opener; Wins, 3-0

9/26/2008 10:18:56 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange (5-1-2, 2-1-0) remained unbeaten at home this season with a 3-0 victory against #20/22 Providence (3-2-3, 1-2-1) on Friday, Sept. 26 in front of 973 fans at the SU Soccer Stadium. Syracuse improved to 2-0-2 on its own surface this season and the victory marked the second straight year it defeated a team ranked in the national polls.

The Orange exploited a Providence defense that entered the match tied for fourth nationally in goals-against average (0.26) and had given up two goals in seven games prior to Friday.

Six players collected points in the victory, including redshirt freshman Nick Olivetti (Lewisburg, Pa.), who tallied his first collegiate goal in the 73^rd minute of the contest to close the scoring.

Senior Pete Rowley (Reading, Pa.) got things going for the Orange early in the match. He chased down a ball in the far corner and sent a long service into the box that found classmate Kyle Hall’s (Toronto, Ontario) head to put SU in front, 1-0, in the 15th minute.

The Orange continued to attack in the second half and its hard work paid off when sophomores Geoff Lytle (Miami Beach, Fla.) and Justin Arena (Potomac, Md.) combined on a give-and-go that Arena converted to put SU ahead, 2-0, at the 67:08 mark. Less than six minutes later, an Isaac Collings (Oriskany, N.Y.) shot was blocked by a Providence defender and the ball deflected right to Olivetti who buried the shot and sealed the win.

“We worked very hard preparing for this team and preparing for this stretch of the season,” Orange head coach Dean Foti said. “It’s nice to be rewarded for that. The stuff that we worked on we did well tonight which was nice to see. I said after the Notre Dame game that we had to be better in the final third of the field and we were tonight.”

In addition to its explosive offense, Syracuse received another tremendous effort from its defense Friday. Senior keeper Robert Cavicchia (North York, Ontario) made two saves to earn his sixth shutout in eight games. The backline of juniors Pete Hill (Pittsford, N.Y.), Brien Chamney (Oakville, Ontario), senior Karol Wasielewski (Gdynia, Poland), sophomore Erik Kreider (Webster, N.Y.) and Arena limited Friars’ leading scorer Timothy Ritter to one shot. They also shut down All-BIG EAST midfielder Ryan Maduro who attempted four shots, none of which were good scoring chances.

Maduro’s four shots led the Friars and represented have the team’s total. Goalkeeper Timothy Murray finished with five saves in the loss.

Syracuse returns to action on Sunday, Sept. 28 when it hosts another highly-ranked conference opponent in #2/5 Connecticut. Kickoff is 3 p.m.

Match Notes: The assists by Rowley and Collings represented their first points of the season … Lytle’s helper moved him into a tie with Arena for the team lead (3) … The victory snapped a three-game SU losing streak against the Friars … The three goals were the most for the Orange in the series with Providence since 2001 when it scored five in a shutout victory.