10-man Orange drops home opener to New Hampshire 

A red card, a second-half goal fest, and three lead changes: Syracuse University men’s soccer lost 3-2 to the visiting New Hampshire Wildcats in a drama-packed Sunday evening game at the SU Soccer Stadium. 

The Orange, bolstered by a full home crowd, got off to a strong start with a shot on target in the first minute from freshman right-back Gabriel Oksanen. The defender, who opened the scoring against UConn in Thursday’s season opener, found himself in a shooting situation, but his low-driven effort didn’t trouble Aaron Choi, the Wildcats’ sophomore goalkeeper.

The Orange came back knocking on the Wildcats’ goal just four minutes later, when sophomore striker Jordan Grey found himself unmanned behind the New Hampshire defense. His left-footed effort crashed off the bottom of the crossbar and into the back of the net. Otto’s Army erupted in cheers, but to the disappointment of the Orange support, the sideline referee’s flag had indicated offside. 

The game’s first major turning point came at the 10-minute mark, when referee Kevin Maurer showed Oksanen a red card for violent behavior. This forced Ian McIntyre, the Orange head coach, to shift his side into a 4-4-1 shape, sacrificing ball possession for defensive compactness. 

“When you go on man down, you’ve got to reduce the spaces,” McIntyre explained after the game. “We like to press and get forwards up front on the ball. That was our plan this year, and going into this game, but when you’re a man down, you gotta pick and choose.” 

The Orange struggled to get the ball up the field for the remainder of the period. Grey, now operating as a lone forward, often found himself isolated between multiple Wildcat defenders. 

With their newly acquired man advantage, New Hampshire grew into the game, multiplying crosses into the penalty box. Its first shot came in the 27th minute, through defender Max Voigt. His effort, which drifted high and to the right of Kyle Jansen’s goalposts, marked the start of a dominant attacking phase by the Wildcats.

Three minutes later, junior center-back Kohsuke Fukudome forced an outstretched save from Jansen, as his headed effort from a corner kick looked destined for the top left corner. Graduate midfielder Tyson Amoo-Mensah’s follow-up went wide.

The Wildcats ultimately broke the deadlock after the break, in the 53rd minute, when New Hampton’s Cabot McLaren’s inswinging cross from the right side found his fellow junior forward David Davila’s head for a point-blank finish into the bottom right corner. 

McIntyre’s ensuing coaching adjustment, which included five substitutions, seemed to breathe life back into the home side.

The Orange, now much more willing to press the Wildcats defenders, threatened to score from a few set-piece situations before Fukudome brought down Grey inside the box in the 71st minute.

Maurer instantly pointed to the spot: a penalty kick for the Orange, which junior captain Kristjan Fortier coolly dispatched to equalize. 

Less than two minutes afterwards, Grey proved impactful once more. This time, he towered over the New Hampshire center-backs to get on the end of a looping cross. Choi’s fingertips proved not enough to parry the ball away as it lodged itself into the top left corner.

The Syracuse bench emptied in celebration, but the joy that filled SU Soccer Stadium was short-lived. New Hampshire’s McLaren pounced on a loose ball after an inswinging free-kick to level the game 2-2 in the 80th minute. 

Two minutes later, sophomore defender Laurin Preuss put the Wildcats back in the lead with a long-range effort. It was the New Hampshire bench’s turn to empty. 

McIntyre said after the game that he was disappointed by the final score, but not in the spirit his team showed playing with a man down.

“For a performance from our guys, they were fantastic, to go a goal down and then go 2-1 up,” he said. “But from a result perspective, I’m obviously devastated for the guys.”

Grey, currently the team’s top scorer with two goals in as many games, echoed similar thoughts about the Orange’s second-half performance.

“First half, it was hard to kind of press on them and be on the attack, so we had to stay kind of defensive,” he said. “In the second half, we did a better job of actually showing a little bit of dignity and putting our best foot forward.” 

The Orange will chase their first home win of the season against Loyola at 7 p.m. Friday.