Dean Foti walked off the field disgusted at his team's first-half performance. He looked down at the stat sheet, which said it all. Syracuse attempted only two shots in the first half.
"I think it was a game of two halves," the head coach said after the Orange's 0-0 draw with Monmouth. "They came out and really took it to us in the first half, and I felt like we were a little sluggish. In the second half, we regrouped and changed a couple of things."
At the half, Monmouth led Syracuse in shot attempts, 6-2. The Syracuse Soccer Stadium scoreboard may have shown SU with a pair of shots, but the Hawks goalkeeper didn't have to make a save until the 59th minute.
Two shots in 45 minutes forced a change in strategy for the second half. After expressing disappointment in his team play, Foti decided to switch formations to a 4-5-1.
The switch to the 4-5-1 was due to the fact that the Hawks were pressing the Orange's forwards.
"Because they were dominating the game," said Foti of the switch. "And we felt like we've got to stop them somehow. In stopping them, you end up having a little bit more of the ball. And we started to get some things going. Before you knew it, we had the momentum and kind of took the thing over."
The new formation was the same alignment Monmouth was using, which allowed SU to transition into offense easier. And when they got the ball in the second half they held onto it, which Foti also said helped in the second half turnaround.
Still, it was a rough first half for SU.
"We came out pretty flat," said forward Spencer Schomaker. "In the first half, we weren't really working that hard. The other team was outworking us. They were first to every ball. We were just on our heels. We were flat."
Considering Syracuse's porous first half, the scoreless tie was not necessarily a bad thing.
"We got a free lesson," said midfielder Kenny Caceros referring to the mindset at halftime. "We came out really flat and we didn't have to pay for it. We didn't get scored on so we should just leave it at that and forget about it and come out as a new team, come out on fire. Just forget about the first half."
Syracuse came out in the second half with that "fire," attacking the goalie with 12 shots followed up with two each in both overtime periods. Syracuse controlled the ball much more as well in a very physical second half of play.
Foti said his team's lack of energy to begin the game could be due to the fact the team is playing its third game in a week. SU played two games in three days in Oneonta last weekend in the Mayor's Cup.
The Orange may have used up a little too much energy during its second-half push. Foti thought during the two overtime periods it was obvious how both teams felt.
"The trick is you weather the storm until you can makes some adjustments," Foti said. "And we did that, I think. But in the end, in the overtime we saw two tired teams I think."
The Orange didn't finish its non-conference schedule as it would have liked. A win against Monmouth, an NCAA tournament team from a year ago, would have given the team momentum heading into its Big East schedule.
But after the game, the players agreed the lackluster performance in the first half was out of character.
"As flat and as poorly as we played, we're lucky we didn't get scored upon," Caceros said. "We can use it as motivation. If we can just play a little better, come out with a little more energy we can take this game."
mibonner@syr.edu
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