STATE COLLEGE, P.A. (SYRACUSE ATHLETICS) –
Trailing 1-0 in the 89th minute, graduate student Pablo Pedregosa needed just six seconds to net the equalizer as No. 1 Syracuse men’s soccer played to a 1-1 draw at No. 20 Penn State Friday evening.
‘Cuse recorded a season-best 20 shot attempts and 11 corners, putting six shots on target.
Scoreless through the first 88 minutes of action, the two teams traded tallies over a six second span to pick up a point in the match.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Following an opening 35 minutes of back-and-forth play, Syracuse gained momentum over the final 10 minutes in the half. ‘Cuse outshot the Nittany Lions, 7-3, including a header from graduate student Josh Belluz that went off the post, holding the Orange off the scoreboard.
The two teams continued to trade chances over the first 25 minutes of the second half until Syracuse was given a red card, forcing the team to play a man down.
Penn State was finally able to break through with the man advantage at the 88:07 mark when Caden Grabfelder put a shot past Syracuse keeper, Jahiem Wickham.
Down a man and now down a goal, ‘Cuse wasted no time responding. Marching up the field, graduate student Felipe D’Agostini rang a shot off the post before Pedregosa corralled the rebound and shot it into the left side of the net past Penn State keeper, Kris Shakes.
Syracuse’s backline held Penn State to just one shot on target over the first 70 minutes of action, keep the Nittany Lion offense at bay.
“I’m very pleased with the resiliency of the group tonight, especially being down a man late,” head coach Ian McIntyre said after the match. “We did a good job limiting their opportunities. When they scored, it could have been very easy to accept the result, but the boys went straight down the field and scored a terrific goal. It was a rollercoaster ending, but a great college soccer game to be a part of.”
OF NOTE:
- Syracuse played the final 20:07 of the match with 10 players.
- Pedregosa scored his sixth career goal and first in a Syracuse kit. He has also now scored at least once in all five of his collegiate seasons.
- Wickham made his collegiate debut in net, turning aside two of the three shots on target in 20:07 minutes of action.
- The Orange extended their unbeaten streak to 17 matches dating back to last season.
- Head coach Ian McIntyre is now 8-1-1 all-time against Big Ten opponents.
- Syracuse has recorded 50 shot attempts and 25 corner kicks over the first three games of the year.
- Nine different Orange recorded a shot attempt on Friday.
UP NEXT:
Syracuse returns to Central New York to begin a three match homestand at the SU Soccer Stadium beginning on Monday, Sept. 4, versus UAlbany. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. (ACC Network Extra).
