All season long, Dean Foti complained about the quick turnaround between games, concerned about his squad’s fatigue and health while often playing twice in four days. After Saturday’s match, though, the Syracuse men’s soccer team head coach was thanking the schedule makers for such a quick layover.

‘Sometimes a short turnover is the best thing,’ Foti said. ‘You can’t dwell on anything, you just gotta move onto the next game and get prepared for it. And that’s what we did.’

It was exactly what the Orange needed – to return to the field quickly after its worst half of the season. On Wednesday, mental lapses on defense led to three goals in eight minutes by Villanova’s Mike Seamon, costing Syracuse a valuable opportunity to pick up three points. A couple of days later, the backline reminded everyone why it’s the backbone of the team.

The Syracuse defensive unit returned to form Saturday, leading the Orange to a key 1-0 victory over No. 22 South Florida, keeping its slim postseason hopes alive. Unlike in the second half Wednesday, SU’s back four played a full 90 minutes maintaining its shape and forcing the Bulls into second-range shots and turnovers.

‘Before the game, there wasn’t much talk of anything because guys knew what we needed to do,’ said Brad Peetoom, senior defenseman and team captain. ‘It was time to stop talking about it and do it, and that’s exactly what we did.’

In the first 20 minutes of the match, the defense already seemed more together and controlled than it did Wednesday. South Florida’s first three shots didn’t even reach the goal area, instead getting blocked and deflected by defensemen.

Each of the first three USF shooters initially appeared to have an opening, but defensive players quickly closed the gap and prevented the ball from reaching SU goalkeeper Rob Cavicchia. South Florida took 10 shots total in the game, most of which from outside the box, and Cavicchia needed to make only four saves.

Of those shots, four were blocked, and the Syracuse defense intercepted and stole several long crosses and balls toward the goal that could’ve created scoring chances for the Bulls.

‘We want to try and outwork teams, and part of that is doing the little dirty work stuff,’ Foti said. ‘The dirty work is stepping up, closing people down. It never gets mentioned, you don’t get on the highlight reel for doing it, but it’s stuff that has to be there if you’re going to be successful.’

Perhaps the biggest difference between Wednesday and Saturday, however, was Syracuse’s ability to piece together an entire game without a single breakdown. South Florida took seven shots in the first half, including one excellent opportunity by Simon Schoendorf saved beautifully by Cavicchia.

Syracuse’s goalkeeper wouldn’t need to make another great play for the rest of the game. In fact, USF wouldn’t have another legitimate chance to score the equalizer until the last few seconds.

After halftime, the Orange clamped down, allowing just three shots in the final 45 minutes. The Bulls only other real threat came when Schoendorf fired a shot off a corner kick that sailed over the net as time expired, securing Syracuse’s victory.

On Wednesday, the Orange allowed all three goals in the second half. Saturday was a complete effort for a full 90 minutes.

‘You could feel it in the air a little bit,’ senior defenseman Aaron Bonser said. ‘The hard thing is this team has been inconsistent up until now, so you really didn’t know if we could stay focused, and we did. If we come focused, we will do good things.’

In the practices before Saturday’s match, Peetoom made sure everyone forgot about Wednesday night with a must-win game against a top 25 team looming. Instead of dissecting the second half against Villanova, the Syracuse defense stashed away the memories.

For a chance to reach the Big East tournament, the Orange must beat St. John’s and DePaul, two of the top opponents in the conference. If SU has a shot, the defense will lead the way, and Saturday was a good start.

‘Tonight, there wasn’t much I had to do for motivation because guys knew what they needed to do, and they came out and performed,’ Peetoom said. ‘At the end of the day, it’s a ‘W’, and now we’ve gotta go on to St. John’s.’

Published on October 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm