After a first-round upset win over Pitt in the ACC tournament, the 13-seed Syracuse Orange will be heading to 12-seed Stanford for their second-round matchup. Kick-off is tonight at 6 pm. The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
The Orange were able to reach the second round by stunning #20 Pitt in their building, winning on penalties 7-6 after drawing 1-1 in overtime. Syracuse’s goal was scored by Bryson Rodriguez in the 16th minute, his sixth goal of the season. However, Pitt would level the match
later in the 77th minute. The game would stay level all the way to penalty kicks after this, where a late miss from the Panthers in the eighth round of kicks would open up the door for Dakota Jonke to send the Orange through to the second round.
Stanford also made it to this point by pulling off an upset. The Cardinal upset 5-seed Louisville 2-1, winning off of an 88th-minute winning goal from Jayden Fitzgerald Boes. The defense led the way for Stanford, as they held Louisville to only three shots on target all game, compared to their seven.
Stanford is a team that has gone through some highs and lows this season, but has overall been hard to put away at times. The team came into the season ranked quite highly, and they started off defending that ranking, as they were undefeated through their first eight matches. However, as ACC play began, they began to struggle a lot more, as they went 1-4-3 in the conference, to finish the season with an overall record of 8-4-3. They still have some good results, however, as they drew with the current #1 team in the nation, SMU, earlier this year, who are still undefeated.
Syracuse has also had a difficult year, as they went 1-5-2 in conference play and 7-7-2 overall. The Pitt result was a huge step in the right direction for this team; however, there are still some big issues the team needs to address, primarily offensively. The Orange only scored four goals in conference play this season, not including the one scored against Pitt. Syracuse still has a lot that needs to work out; however, this is far from an unwinnable contest. Stanford has shown a lack of defensive prowess this season so far, as they gave up 17 goals in conference play, which is third worst in the ACC. If Syracuse can take advantage of that poor defense, they could find themselves in the semifinals in Cary.
A semifinal berth would also be huge for this team’s tournament resume. According to RPI, Syracuse is in the first five out of the NCAA tournament, just barely outside of the field. Another big win like this could be what we need to just sneak into the tournament, although we still might need to do more. The winner of this game will have to play the winner of a match between a solid Virginia squad and that tough SMU team, so it will be difficult from here on out to get another big win. An ACC Tournament finals berth would likely secure a spot for Syracuse in the field.
However, Syracuse must focus on the opponent in front of them, and this is an extremely winnable game for the Orange. If they win this, they have a serious chance of keeping their season alive and bringing us back to the tournament for the fourth time in five years.
