With 38 minutes left in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Adelphi, senior Guido Cristofori’s frustrations boiled.

Panthers defenseman Gary Sullivan shielded the ball from the SU forward and Cristofori bowled him over from behind.

The forward needed to vent his emotions after a frustrating day — two goals disallowed because he was offside and a missed breakaway. Still, Cristofori’s frustrating day was the best that any Orangeman had.

Cristofori scored the lone Syracuse goal in front of 370 people at Syracuse Soccer Stadium. The victory for SU comes despite playing poorly for the fourth time in five games.

“This is a team we should bury, 4-0,” senior defender Eric Chapman said. “We have to take our game days more seriously. We’re not coming out ready to play.”

Despite outshooting the Panthers, 24-7, Syracuse failed to convert on any of its chances until the 60th minute. Cristofori, who collected a point for the fourth consecutive game, broke through the Adelphi defense, sliding a pass to junior Kirk Johnson. Johnson hammered the ball off the chest of Adelphi goaltender Igor Yatsenko, and the rebound landed at Cristofori’s feet.

As the ball settled into the back of the net, Syracuse players looked to the officials. The referee had taken a goal away on a similar play 40 minutes earlier. With no motion from the officials this time, Cristofori broke into a wide grin as 10 teammates tussled his hair in congratulations.

“It felt good to get a call,” Cristofori said, “and to get one that actually counted on the scoreboard.”

“That’s just a matter of being a little more alert,” Syracuse coach Dean Foti said. “We were offside a few more times than we would have liked today.”

Seven minutes before the game-winner, Johnson delivered a backheel pass that sent a wide-open Cristofori one-on-one with Yatsenko. With the goaltender charging, Cristofori rolled the ball wide of the net.

“It was frustrating, but everyone misses sometimes,” Cristofori said. “I thought I finished it, but when I looked over it was on the side of the net.”

Poor finishing from both sides and the defensive posture established by Adelphi set up Cristofori’s heroics.

The Panthers never managed a shot on goal, even though at times no one hampered their efforts. Adelphi’s best chance occurred only 10 minutes into the game. Padraiq Drew broke through the SU defense and deked goaltender Alim Karim to the ground. With a helpless Karim lying behind him and the defenders trailing by two steps, Drew slid the ball a foot wide of the goal.

“We had our two or three breakaways,” Adelphi coach Bob Montgomery said. “The one that was wide open — that needs to be in the goal. That’s the difference in the game.”

With Adelphi playing as many as nine men inside the 18-yard box, the Orangemen had numerous chances to drop crosses in front of the net. More often than not, the results were either errant efforts that floated out of bounds or snatched from the air by Yatsenko.

Despite dominating time of possession, Syracuse created only four corner kick opportunities. Adelphi, meanwhile, earned three.

“We struggled today,” Foti said. “I’m surprised by it. I don’t think we played near 90 minutes. If I knew the reason why, I’d tell you.”

Published on September 16, 2002 at 12:00 pm