Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

After his postgame press conference finished, head coach Ian McIntyre walked over and stood next to Abdi Salim, who was resting on the hood of one of the groundskeepers’ John Deeres right outside the stadium. 

It was Salim’s first competitive game since fully tearing his ACL 18 months ago, and McIntyre had some advice. 

In Salim’s return to the pitch, McIntyre was grateful to have his leadership and defensive acumen back in the fold. But he reminded him to stay focused, despite the distractions and frustrations that Iona forward Joe Wright caused Salim and the Syracuse backline as a whole. 

Wright and Salim battled for much of the game – pushing, pulling and tugging at each other – but Salim and Syracuse came out on top. The Orange beat the Gaels 2-0 and their stout defense held Iona to just four shots all game, and none on goal after the seventh minute. 

Iona tried frustrating Syracuse from the opening kickoff – clogging the middle of the park, clearing the ball incessantly and playing Wright wide of Salim to try to spring him free. Whenever Salim tucked in, Iona sprung a long ball for Wright. In the first few minutes, Wright played well offside on multiple goal kicks in an attempt to draw Syracuse’s defense apart. 

Wright, who is listed at 5’7” and 140 pounds, battled for contested balls with the 6’1”, 177-pound Salim early and often. He drew fouls on Salim in the eighth and ninth minutes. 

When asked about Wright, Salim’s eyebrows perked up, he laughed and said “Oh, number nine?”

“He was fast, so I just had to stand him up. He was small, so every time I would touch him, he would get fouled,” Salim said.

But McIntyre implored his players to play physical defense without fouling and said it was important that Syracuse wasn’t frustrated by Iona’s tactics. 

“Sometimes I get too excited,” Salim said. “So, let’s say they check him to the ball and I’m going towards it, I’ll be a little too aggressive. So, I got to calm down with that a little more.”

As Salim and Wright’s battles lessened, Iona found less and less room in the Syracuse half. The Gaels never truly had a good run of possession in Syracuse’s half all game, but even their long balls dissipated after the early going of the first half.

Salim said the Orange thought Iona would come out with a four-man defense, but the Gaels played three at the back and sat deep. 

“The natural thing, especially when a team plays in a slightly lower block, you have time on the ball, so you want to slow it down,” McIntyre said. “We talk about being patient but having urgency and the ability to move the ball.”

Early on, McIntyre yelled to Salim, “Don’t slow it down, Abdi,” and late in the first half, he encouraged his players to keep the play going.

McIntyre said that he wanted to keep the tempo up so when they did commit a foul, the game slowed down, especially on corners and goal kicks. Although Iona tried to slow the game down time and time again, McIntyre was adamant about Syracuse keeping up the pace. 

McIntyre also credited the timing of Syracuse’s two goals for the team’s energy against the plodding Gaels.

“Our goals were scored at important times today, where we could’ve, after 15 minutes of the game, just started to get a little frustrated,” McIntyre said. “That game from [Nathan Opoku], now, you’ve got something to hold onto and to play with and it also means Iona has got to score a goal.”

And after Julius Rauch scored in the 69th minute to increase the lead to 2-0, Syracuse was able to play much more comfortably on attack and in defense. 

McIntyre said the central defense was strong, but he commended the midfield for making sure Iona’s attacks were as predictable as possible. Especially in the second half, Syracuse’s midfield pressured the ball well and stopped balls going up to Iona’s forwards before they got there. 

“We just got tight to everything,” Salim said. “We gave no time. You give them no time, not one shot, they can’t do nothing with it.”

Published on August 25, 2022 at 10:04 pm

Contact Connor: cpignate@syr.edu