Syracuse men’s soccer has showcased one of its best seasons in program history this year. The Orange are one of the hottest teams in college soccer and just claimed their second ACC Championship last weekend.
The ‘Cuse took down defending national champion Clemson 2-0 in the title game. The victory earned Syracuse its second ACC crown.
This is an SU team that was obviously chalk full of talent, but the team believes it was the group’s cohesion that pushed them forward on their magical run.
“I think the group is what made us win. What shows it is that in the end we gave the trophy to the guys that weren’t on the roster and took a picture with them, Lorenzo Boselli said.”
Boselli played a critical role in Syracuse’s championship run. The Italian scored the game-tying goal in the semi-finals against Virginia and then the game-winning goal against Clemson in the finals.
The Italian was one of several key additions for the Orange over the offseason. Boselli signed with SU in November of last year. Fast forward one season later and the ‘Cuse is on top of everyone in the ACC.
Boselli is a crucial piece of an entire puzzle which aimed to turn around the Syracuse program. The junior is one of several key pieces SU Head Coach Ian McIntyre added in the offseason to bolster his roster.
“It was important that we brought in some experience with players like Lorenzo, Nate, and Levonte, said Coach McIntyre.”
Nathan Opoku and Levonte Johnson were huge pickups for Syracuse in the offseason. The tandem ranks first and second on SU’s teams for points with 21 and 22 respectively.
Johnson’s name made waves about a week ago when he single-handedly advanced the Orange to the ACC semi-final round.
The pair of transfers have aided in Syracuse’s run to the top of the ACC. Coach McIntyre believes his team from one season ago could have accomplished the same task. However, with the transfers of Boselli, Opoku, and Johnson, the Orange had the capability to check off one box that they couldn’t last year.
“We were close last year. So we learned a lot of being on the wrong side of some of these tight games last year, overtime and one-goal games. So, having that maturity from the players, now we got over the line this year, Coach McIntyre said.”
That maturity figures to continue to pay dividends for Syracuse. The Orange’s next challenge? Advance to and win the College Cup. Coach McIntyre led his eerily reminiscent 2015 squad to the final game, now he tries to get over a different hump and tie a bow on a magical 2022 campaign.