Syracuse men’s soccer has earned a spot in the ACC quarterfinals against NC State, after their 2-1 win over Virginia Tech on Wednesday.
Syracuse pulled out the close victory against Virginia Tech on two
goals from CB Tim Brdaric, as the Orange mainly found offensive success on balls into the box all night. The game was quite close, however, as a late first-half goal by Declan Quinn of the Hokies and a late potential penalty that was called off gave Virginia Tech some life, but the Orange were able to fend them off and move on.
Now looking to the next matchup on the docket for the Orange, NC State will be hosting Syracuse in the ACC quarterfinals in Raleigh, after their 3-0 win over Louisville. The winner of this game will head down to Cary to play in the ACC semifinals against the winner of Stanford and SMU, two teams the Orange have already played this season.
The Wolfpack are 12-1-4 on the season, and are currently ranked 5th in the nation. However, they have gone 4-3-1 in the conference, leading to their lower seed than some other teams. In terms of recent form, they went 3-1-2 in their recent matches, before winning against Louisville, showing that they are not at their best form all season as of right now. Their home record, however, is quite solid at 8-1-3, so Syracuse will definitely have their work cut out for them if they want to move on to Cary.
Of course, the main thing to watch to see how the Orange will do against NC State is their game they played in Raleigh in their last game of the regular season. The game ended 1-1, showing that Syracuse is very capable of playing it close with NC State at their home stadium. In this one, it seems likely that NC State will try to come at the Orange a little differently to try and change the result.
Overall, this game is likely to be challenging, but not unwinnable for the Orange. The season closer showed that Syracuse can keep up with this team, and, in the tournament, with extra time and penalties potentially looming if the Orange can manage another regular-time draw, this makes the threat even more daunting for NC State. NC State definitely has the advantage, but Syracuse can definitely pull a result out of this game and make it back to the ACC Semifinal for the third time in four years.
Syracuse will play NC State at Dail Soccer Field in Raleigh at 6 pm on Sunday, November 9th. You can watch the game on the ACC Network.
