After an uneventful first half, the Syracuse men’s soccer game against Colgate on Tuesday night quickly turned special for freshman forward Eric Kleiman.

Kleiman put a touch pass from Spencer Schomaker into the top right corner of the net for his first career goal about nine minutes into the second half. The goal came on Kleiman’s first career shot after having appeared in seven games thus far into his freshman season.

Kleiman’s goal was the lone Syracuse score in a 1-1 tie against the Red Raiders.

‘I just wanted to run to the team and celebrate with everybody,’ Kleiman said. ‘It was a team effort. I wanted to bring them into the celebration with me.’

The Reading, Pa., native was a quality scorer throughout his years in high school, but college soccer is a different game. SU head coach Dean Foti explained that in high school, players take on opponents in their same age groups – mainly juniors and seniors. In college, however, players will see opposition that can be as much as four to six years older. Foti said that makes scoring a lot harder, but he still expects results.

‘(Kleiman) was a very successful scorer as a youth player, and I think he will be as a college player, too, as he gets acclimated to bigger, faster, stronger guys,’ Foti said.

What should make Kleiman’s transition easier are the qualities he has as a soccer player. Foti explained that the freshman is a hard worker who’s very energetic and busy on the field, using last night as a prime example.

‘He came out and gave us a boost at the beginning of the second half,’ Foti said. ‘I’m glad he was rewarded for it by getting the goal.’

Kleiman’s skills have been evident to his teammates, even before the Colgate game.

‘He showed it today that he has good qualities,’ senior Ezra Prendergast said. ‘He has done well so far for us whether he gets one minute, two minutes or three minutes. He comes out and plays and that’s the most important thing in a player. You feel very good when you have a player like that.’

The hard work Kleiman has put in is beginning to pay off too. Foti said if he continues to play as well as he did last night, he will start to get more playing time.

Kleiman, though, will just continue to do what he always has; saying all he can do is keep playing as hard as possible.

‘He’s got a knack for scoring goals,’ Foti said. ‘You can always use that.’

Published on October 18, 2005 at 12:00 pm