Orange Extend Winning Streak at Cornell

ITHACA, N.Y. – Redshirt senior Liam Callahan scored the go-ahead goal less than five minutes into the second half to lead the No. 2 Syracuse men's soccer team to a 3-1 victory at Cornell on Tuesday, Sept. 20. The Orange improve their record to 8-0, which is the best start in program history, bettering the mark of the 1984 squad that began the season with seven consecutive wins.
 
"You don't want to get carried away, but I also want our guys to enjoy the fact that they've had a wonderful start to the season," said Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre. "The fact that you're comparing starts to that wonderful 1984 team – this is a terrific accomplishment and I want our guys to enjoy it. This was an opportunity today for the guys to write their names in the record book."
 
Syracuse applied pressure early and had a scoring chance in the eighth minute when Liam
Callahancrossed the ball across the box, but the pass was just out of the reach of senior Oyvind Alseth. While the Orange continued to be the more dangerous team, it was Cornell that got on the scoreboard first when George Pedlow broke into the box and put his shot in the back of the goal to give the Big Red a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute. The goal was the first Syracuse had allowed in more than 340 minutes of play.
 
The Orange tied the score in the 44th minute. Callahan served the ball to the far post on a corner kick. A Cornell defender headed the ball back toward the middle of the box where sophomore Miles Robinson headed the ball into the net for his third goal of the season. Syracuse continued to attack and had the final scoring chance of the first half, but sophomore Jonathan Hagman's shot hit the post as time expired.
 
The second half featured more Orange offense as Syracuse earned two corners in the first four minutes of play. Callahan gave the Orange the lead for good in the 51st minute when he scored off a pass across the box from Alseth. Hagman added an insurance goal in the 73rd minute. Senior Sergio Camargo tried to lob the ball over Cornell goalkeeper Ryan Shellow, who was able to get his fingertips on the ball, deflecting it to the left side where Hagman collected the ball, shot and scored for his third goal of the year.
 
"We were a little bit flat the first half," McIntyre said. "I thought us scoring right before halftime was important and that kind of changed the momentum. It allowed us, in the second half, to have that kind of performance. I thought our second half was outstanding."
 
The Orange would have had more goals were it not for the play of Shellow, who finished with 13 saves, eight of which came in the second half. Syracuse outshot Cornell, 29-4, and recorded 10 corner kicks to one for the Big Red.
 
After the mid-week break from ACC play, the Orange return to conference action on Friday, Sept. 23 when it travels to South Bend, Ind. to take on No. 3 Notre Dame at 7 p.m.