The role of Cinderella would not be casted upon the Massachusetts men’s soccer team Wednesday night.
In front of a crowd of 593, UMass fell to national powerhouse Syracuse 3-0 for its eighth straight defeat The Orange, ranked No. 20 in the country entering the season, provided one of the final tests for the Minutemen (0-8-1) before Atlantic 10 play begins Oct. 11.
Syracuse (5-2) dominated offensively, outshooting UMass 15-5 with seven different players registering at least a single shot. The Orange offered an aggressive offensive attack intent on creating pressure early, which created two goals in the first 45 minutes.
Nick Perea scored his third goal of the season in the 31st minute, capitalizing on a corner by Jordan Murrell to beat UMass goalkeeper Nick Ruiz with a header. Stefanos Stamoulacatos scored just 12 minutes later for the Orange, working around an UMass defender and cleaning up a deflection in front of Ruiz.
“I think you have to expect what they can do on the attacking side of the ball,” UMass coach Sam Koch said of Syracuse’s cohesiveness as a unit. “They’re very, very good at combining, the best team we’ve seen so far being able to work together and combine.
“Having said that, (Syracuse) sends a lot of people forward and we had a lot of opportunities to counter and I thought we did well and created good chances ourselves, we just didn’t put them away.”
UMass entered the game aware this would be the toughest team it faced to date and hoped to use it as a learning tool moving forward.
“I think we’re a better team having played them because we realized, here are some of the areas we have to work on,” Koch said. “They exposed us and punished us when we made mistakes.”
Two of the Orange’s three goals came off set pieces, the second coming in the 48th minute. Juuso Pasanen beat Ruiz on a header off another corner from Murrell for his first career goal to make it 3-0. Syracuse took eight corners compared to the Minutemen’s five.
“(Syracuse’s) players are men,” Koch said. “They’re bigger, faster, stronger. We’re still puppies so I think we have to be realistic in where we are and the direction we’re going in.”
A realistic approach was also warranted offensively, where Koch acknowledged he was pleased with the chances his team created against Orange goalkeeper Alex Bono, who he called “the best goalkeeper in college soccer.”
Still, Bono enjoyed a relatively stress free night, making saves on only two shots. UMass has scored just one goal in its last five games and struggled to maintain possession in the opposing end.
“Is (the offensive struggle) an emergency? I think when your house is on fire, that’s an emergency,” Koch said. “Is it something that’s certainly concerning? No doubt.
“You’ve gotta also be realistic, we went against one of the top 20 teams in the country and we’re not, yet.”
The development of the young squad continues to be a process, something the team works on consistently. Mired in a losing streak, Koch stressed it’s important for his team to stay positive amid the struggles.
“I think the team is definitely down and depressed they haven’t done better, but they also realize there are a number of areas where we continue to improve,” he said.
The next step is a home date with Siena, the final game before conference play begins.
“If we don’t have a better result against (Siena) then I’d say we should be concerned,” Koch said. “But today’s game, I think we got what we wanted out of this game which was a really good learning experience.”
Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.
