Orange Off to Best Start in Program History

Tuesday, October 7

SU Soccer Stadium

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

10-1-0

Albany

3-4-5

Albany

Syracuse

10/7/2014 10:24:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

SU now 10-1-0 after 2-1 victory against Albany

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 4 Orange defeated Albany (3-4-5) by the score of 2-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the SU Soccer Stadium to improve to 10-1-0, the best record for the team through 11 games in school history. Jordan Murrell scored his second goal of the season in the first half and Alex Halis tallied the deciding goal in the 82nd minute.

Syracuse dominated the match, outshooting the Great Danes, 17-4, including a 9-1 margin in the opening period.

Murrell began the scoring in the 33rd minute when he bent a beautiful corner kick over the Albany defense and past keper Tim Allen to give the Orange a 1-0 lead.

In the 56th minute, the Great Danes tied the game by capitalizing on one of their few dangerous scoring chances. Afonso Pinheiro broke into the open and received a pass from Leo Melgar. Pinheiro then beat Orange goalkeeper Alex Bono inside the near post for his team-leading fourth goal of the season to even the match at 1-1. Pinheiro's tally was the first goal by an SU opponent in nearly a month and snapped Bono's school-record streak of consecutive scoreless minutes at 537:34.

After Pinheiro's strike the two sides played evenly for the next 15 minutes, but Syracuse eventually wore the Great Danes down. A flurry of three consecutive shots by the home team had the Great Danes on their heels when Halis came off the bench in the 81st minute. Less than a minute later, Halis rewarded the work of his teammates by receiving a pass from Julian Buescher and ripping a shot from the top of the box that deflected off an Albany defender and into the top left corner of the net for his first goal of the season.

Up 2-1, the Orange extinguished any hope of an Albany comeback by controlling the last 10 minutes of play.

Overall, SU did not allow a shot after Pinheiro's tying goal at the 55:03 mark, a stretch of nearly 35 minutes to end the match.

Bono picked up his 33rd career win and was not forced to make a save. Allen kept Albany in the game, finishing with seven saves, including four in the first half.

Syracuse steps back into ACC play on Friday, Oct. 10 when Wake Forest makes its first-ever to trip to the SU Soccer Stadium for a 7 p.m. match.

Match Notes: Murrell's goal was the first allowed by the Albany defense in the first half of a match this season ... Syracuse's 10-1-0 record eclipses the program's previous best 11-game start to a season (9-1-1) achieved in 1982 and 1984 ... The Orange has won three straight against Albany and improved to 6-1-1 all-time against the Great Danes ... SU is 7-0-0 in non-conference play this season and has won 18 games in a row against non-conference opponents dating back to 2012.