1985 BIG EAST Champions
Syracuse men’s soccer entered the 1985 season a confident team, just a year removed from an NCAA Tournament appearance. While finding much success throughout the 1984 season, the main goal, a BIG EAST Tournament Championship eluded the Orange, something they would avenge in 1985.
The season marked the start of a new era for the Syracuse program. Tim Hankinson became the 12 head soccer coach in Syracuse history, taking over for Alden Shattuck who led the program for six successful seasons before accepting the coaching reigns at Maryland. Shattuck led the 1982 team to a BIG EAST Tournament title and took the 1984 squad to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
Hankinson took over a team returning 10 starters from the season before. Returning players included standout seniors Ken Vieira and goalie Rick Fatscher, who along with the rest of the 1985 team, was poised to make noise in the BIG EAST.
And that is exactly what the Orange did. Finishing the regular season with a strong 10-6-4 record, Syracuse entered the BIG EAST Tournament with a strong belief in itself and left as champions, downing rival Connecticut, 1-0, to win its second BIG EAST Tournament crown in four years.
| 1985 RESULTS: 12-6-4, 2-1-1 | |||||||
| Date | Opponent | Result | Score | ||||
| Sept. 7 | MARIST | W | 6-0 | ||||
| Sept. 11 | PROVIDENCE * | W | 1-0 | ||||
| Sept. 14 | at Adelphi | L | 1-2 | ||||
| Sept. 15 | at St. John's * | T | 0-0 (2OT) | ||||
| Sept. 20 | at Boston College * | W | 2-0 | ||||
| Sept. 22 | at Connecticut * | L | 1-3 (OT) | ||||
| Sept. 25 | at Canisius | W | 6-0 | ||||
| Sept. 28 | vs. Yale | W | 4-2 (OT) | ||||
| Sept. 29 | at Loyola | L | 0-2 | ||||
| Oct. 1 | HOBART | W | 3-0 | ||||
| Oct. 4 | at Army | W | 3-2 | ||||
| Oct. 6 | at Farleigh Dickinson | T | 1-1 (2OT) | ||||
| Oct. 9 | ST. BONAVENTURE | W | 3-1 | ||||
| Oct. 12 | at Hartwick | L | 0-5 | ||||
| Oct. 16 | COLGATE | W | 3-0 | ||||
| Oct. 19 | at Oneonta | L | 1-2 (OT) | ||||
| Oct. 22 | ITHACA | T | 1-1 (2OT) | ||||
| Oct. 25 | LONG ISLAND | T | 1-1 (2OT) | ||||
| Oct. 30 | CORNELL | L | 2-3 (OT) | ||||
| Nov. 2 | FORDHAM | W | 3-2 (OT) | ||||
| Nov. 9 | vs. Pittsburgh (BET) | W | 2-0 | ||||
| Nov. 10 | at Connecticut (BET) | W | 1-0 | ||||
| SEASON LEADERS | |||||||
| Goals: Ken Vieira, 14 | |||||||
| Assists: Mark DiMonte, Greg Kolodziey, Scott Owsiany, 4 | |||||||
| Points: Ken Vieria, 31 | |||||||
| Saves: Rick Fatscher, 119 | |||||||
It didn’t take long for Hankinson to get his first victory at Syracuse. In the team’s home opener against Marist, the Orange started off just the way it expected to, with a 6-0 dismantling of the Red Foxes. Junior captain Jim Garrant led the way, notching a hat trick. The Orange followed its home-opening win with a victory to start BIG EAST play, downing Providence (1-0) on a goal by sophomore standout Mark DiMonte.
The team went on the road for its next seven contests. The up and down trip included a tough overtime loss to rival Connecticut. However, the trip included a win over another conference rival in Boston College, as well as back-to-back victories against Canisius and Yale. Vieira finished with hat tricks in both games. After the first nine games of the season, Syracuse was 5-3-1 and nearing the midway point of its campaign.
The Orange returned home after the two-week road trip to face Hobart. Goals by Vieira and DiMonte helped SU to a 2-0 win, one that ignited a four-game unbeaten streak and pushed the team’s record to 8-3-2. During the streak, SU also beat Army and St. Bonaventure and fought to a 1-1 tie against Fairleigh Dickinson. Throughout that span, Vieira and Dimonte, who each tallied three goals over the four-game stretch, led the way again. Senior forward Saied Nikkhah also contributed two goals and two assists in the four matches.
The second half of the regular season proved to be the toughest stretch for the Orange. In its last seven games, the team went 2-3-2. After losing 5-0 to powerhouse Hartwick, the Orange shut out Colgate, 3-0, with Vieira, Scott Morrell and Dino Pappas tallying scores.
The last five games all saw overtime as Syracuse had tough losses to upstate neighbors Oneonta and Cornell, while tying Ithaca and Long Island, who was undefeated and ranked sixth in the nation at the time. In the last regular-season game, SU defeated Fordham at home, a 3-2 overtime victory that brought Vieira within one goal of tying the single-season record for goals scored at the time (14).
THE POSTSEASON
Junior Eric Miller Sundsted remembered the team’s mindset heading in to the tournament.
“They have a banquet every year, and [our team] went to banquet, where they always give out the season’s awards, and we got no awards,” Sundsted said. “We all thought ‘this is beautiful, we’re the underdogs and no one’s expecting us to win anything.’” Fully aware of their own talent and potential, the Orange relished the role and used it to its collective advantage.
Syracuse’s opponent in the semifinal game was Pittsburgh. The Orange benefitted from an own goal off of a corner kick in the fourth minute to take the lead. After peppering the Panthers with a school BIG EAST Tournament record 22 shots, Vieira scored in the 82nd minute to put the game away. The 2-0 victory set up a chance for redemption in the championship game against Connecticut, which had beaten the Orange in the conference tournament the previous year.
The underdog Orange braced themselves for a hostile environment in front of the 4,800 fans in Storrs, Conn. Facing its biggest rival in the season’s biggest game, the veteran team was determined to finish its season the right way.
After struggling early in the contest, a game-changing save by Fatscher on a direct kick turned the tide of the game and gave SU the confidence and momentum it needed. Greg Kolodziey broke the stalemate with a goal in the 56th minute and his score proved to be all the Orange needed.
Fatscher finished with 11 saves against the Huskies, an SU BIG EAST Tournament record. He was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player (MOP) and was joined on the all-tournament team by Krister Johansson and Vieira.
The season couldn’t have ended more perfectly, as the Orange entered the tournament as underdogs and left as champions.
