Orange Beats Rutgers, 1-0

Thursday, September 4

Piscataway, NJ

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

3-0

Rutgers

2-1

Syracuse

Rutgers

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

9/4/2014 10:22:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Ekblom scores game-winner in 74th minute as SU runs record to 3-0

Score By Period	1st	2nd	Final
Syracuse	0	1	1
Rutgers	0	0	0
Box Score Sept. 4, 2014 \| Yurcak Field / Piscataway, N.J. \| Attendance: 913

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Orange men's soccer team improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2006 with a 1-0 victory against former BIG EAST rival Rutgers (2-1) Thursday, Sept. 4 at Yurcak Field.

Sophomore Emil Ekblom's goal in the 74th minute was the difference. For Ekblom, it was his second game-winning goal in as many outings.

Junior keeper Alex Bono made six saves, two short of his career high, to post his third consecutive shutout.

"I thought we had a very good first half tonight," said head coach Ian McIntyre after the game. "The Rutgers goalkeeper (David Greczek) was able to pull off some very important saves for them and in these kinds of games the longer it remains tied up the more you start to worry. Thankfully, Emil scored the all-important goal. Although we could have managed the game a little bit better in the beginning, I thought we got good value in our 1-0 victory."

The Orange took the game to the Scarlet Knights right off the bat. Syracuse attempted eight shots in the opening half, forcing Greczek to come up with six saves to keep the match scoreless at the break.

In the second half, the visitors eventually broke through. Ekblom beat Greczek at the 73:58 mark with a flick-on header that went just under the cross bar off an Oyvind Alseth free kick. It was SU's fifth goal in a row off a set piece.

The Scarlet Knights tallied the final three shots off the match after Ekblom's goal. However, Bono and the Orange defense were up to the task. Bono recorded two saves in the last 11 minutes, including one on a header by JP Correa in the 86th minute, and the SU back line successfully fought off three Rutgers corner kicks to preserve the clean sheet.

Correa and midfielder Erik Sa were the focal points of the Scarlet Knights' attack, recording five of the eight shots taken by the home team. Greczek played all 90 minutes between the posts for Rutgers and finished with seven saves.

The Orange held an 11-8 advantage in shots for the match and earned 12 corner kicks to three for Rutgers.

Up next for the Orange is another road match against a former BIG EAST foe. Syracuse visits St. John's on Saturday, Sept. 6. Kickoff between the Orange and Red Storm is set for 7:30 p.m. at Belson Stadium.

Match Notes: Junior Stefanos Stamoulacatos started his first game of the year and played 87 minutes … Redshirt junior Brandon Albert made his 2014 debut, coming on as a sub in the final minutes … Bono raised his career record to 26-13-2. His 26 victories are tied with Robert Cavicchia (2005-08) for fourth on the SU all-time list ... Bono now has 21 shutouts, one shy of Cavicchia for second on the school's career ledger … The Orange has won 14 straight games versus non-conference opponents.