The weekend ended with a whimper, much like it began. Able to muster only a single goal in two games, Syracuse retreated off the field, slumped in defeat. Worse than that, the weight of history lay on its backs.

The men’s soccer team, sitting at 1-6 after two weekend games, is off to its worst start since 1977. That season, 14 years before current head coach Dean Foti took over, the Orange started the season 1-10.

But to Foti, the numbers aren’t the problem.

‘The thing that sort of gets hidden in all this is that the actual performances and the quality of the soccer that we’ve played has not been bad,’ Foti said after Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Georgetown. ‘It’s actually been pretty good, but we haven’t won. So therein lies the problem.’

Syracuse had no shortage of scoring opportunities against Seton Hall and Georgetown this past weekend. But a series of misfires, poor passes and inaccurate shots plagued the Orange and kept the team on the wrong end of the score.

At one point during Friday’s contest against Seton Hall, senior forward Tom Perevegyencev made a series of moves with the ball just outside the box, navigating past defenders to get an open look at the goal. He eventually fired the ball off-target, and another scoring chance resulted in nothing but frustration.

So Foti may be correct. SU may be playing well but is just missing that ability to convert opportunities into goals.

Though the chances exist, the fact remains the team has only won one game thus far. Even so, senior captain Hansen Woodruff said the historical significance of SU’s start hasn’t bothered its players.

‘You’d think it would, but right now, the most important thing is the Big East,’ Woodruff said after the Georgetown loss. ‘Right now we’re only 0-2 with nine games to play, so we’ve got a lot to look forward to.’

In reality, what Syracuse has to look forward to is a slew of games against nationally ranked Big East opponents, along with unranked opponents who have received votes in the national polls. Considering the Orange has gone 61-105-18 in Big East play in Foti’s tenure, history suggests the road may only get tougher for SU moving forward, not easier.

Faced with the possibility of putting together the program’s worst season in more than 30 years, Foti and the team have decided to adopt a ‘stay the course’ mentality.

‘The kids are frustrated, but you have got to keep shooting,’ Foti said after Friday’s 3-1 loss to Seton Hall. ‘You keep shooting until they start falling, and hopefully they start falling soon. Eventually, if you continue to play well, you’ll start getting results.’

The trouble with ‘eventually,’ though, is that time is not a luxury for the Orange.

In 1977, a 1-6 start turned into a 3-11 season. A 1-5 start in 1994 became a 7-9-2 record. Even a 2-3 start as recently as 2004 ended with a 5-12 campaign, the most losses in program history.

But for now, Foti said his team will continue to practice and play Syracuse soccer in lieu of the daunting numbers.

‘From the standpoint that we obviously want to win, we still get up and go to practice every day,’ Foti said. ‘We still come out and try to put our best foot forward and put our best performance forward.’

azmeola@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2009 at 12:00 pm