ONEONTA, N.Y. – Dean Foti didn’t have much time to devise a game plan. Less than 48 hours after the Syracuse head coach’s team beat North Carolina Wilmington, the Orange would play again – this time against Florida Gulf Coast.

Still, the strategy wasn’t hard for Foti to devise – target a weak Eagles backline. The Orange relentlessly attacked the Eagles’ defense with exceptional results, winning 3-0 and capturing the 33rd annual Mayor’s Cup Tournament in its second appearance in the tournament. SU beat UNC-Wilmington Friday, 1-0.

‘We knew that their back four, I mean nothing against them, but kind of give up a lot of breakaways in the past,’ said forward Spencer Schomaker. ‘So as forwards, we tried to work on gaining possessions from their back four and winning balls from them and from their just looking forward.’

Forward Kyle Hall was named offensive tournament MVP, scoring two goals in the two games. Goalkeeper Robert Cavicchia was awarded the defensive MVP after posting two shutouts.

The 156 people in attendance at Elmore Stadium in Oneonta, N.Y., witnessed countless plays in which Syracuse (3-0-1) executed something similar to a give-and-go in basketball. After gaining possession of the ball, an SU forward would pass to a teammate then bolt down the field. If all went well, a deep pass would land over the heads of the defense right in stride to a streaking forward.

The game plan didn’t lead to results on the scoreboard immediately. SU scored its first goal 59:15 into the game. It almost took an hour to score, but Florida Gulf Coast (1-2-1) began to show the weakness that SU originally focused on.

‘We’re trying to stretch the game,’ Foti said. ‘We felt like the speed we have on the front, we could try and get behind them … and I thought we were OK at that. But we were struggling to finish them off, but all of a sudden, once you get the first one then things open up a bit.’

Forward Tom Perevegyencev put the Orange on the board with his team-high forth goal of the season after receiving a deep pass from Karol Wasielewski. The play worked to perfection, as the ball landed evenly with the defenders, and Perevegyencev avoided being offside.

‘They’re a good attacking team, but at the same time their defending wasn’t as good, their marking wasn’t as tight,’ said Hansen Woodruff, who scored the Orange’s second goal of the game. ‘Especially in the back, they want to keep the ball, you know they’re not really interested in playing defense so they’re slow in transition. So we won the ball, played it back, then that first one over the top was open most of the time.’

The strategy led to the Orange’s third goal at 75:27, when Hall deflected one in the back of the net. The goal came 1:09 seconds after SU’s second goal.

Hall, Woodruff and Perevegyencev all had breakaway opportunities during the contest. Perevegyencev fired the ball off the top cross bar, ricocheting to Schomaker for a header at the goal, but Eagles midfielder Cristian Raudales used his hands to prevent the goal. The referee awarded Pete Rowley with a penalty kick, which the goalie denied.

Even if the deep pass didn’t lead to pull-away situations, the Orange still wanted to push the ball and continue to be a nuisance to the Eagles defense.

‘We don’t even have to go to goal,’ Schomaker said. ‘You can hold the ball up, we can get our whole team on their half of the field and just keep possession. That’s what we really wanted to do, hold the ball and keep possession on their side of the field.’

The strategy worked, but the execution was not always there. In attempting to get behind the defense, SU was offside seven times. Syracuse had committed the infraction nine times in its first three games.

Foti said the game plan contributed to the number of times his team was offside, but said many could have been prevented.

The Orange stayed on the right side of the ball more than enough to secure an easy win in the Mayor’s Cup. After the game the players and Foti acknowledged it’s nice to win any tournament, but in reality the Big East season is their ‘bread and butter.’

More pleasing was that the Orange could devise a game plan and execute it flawlessly on such short notice.

‘It’s nice to go in and see the result of a game plan work out,’ Schomaker said. ‘Especially with us and the coaches too, it’s nice to go and have a plan and have it turn out. So it’s definitely a positive.’

mibonner@syr.edu

Published on September 7, 2008 at 12:00 pm