Julian Buescher ran straight down the center of the field, looked to his right at the Syracuse bench and imitated a basketball jump shot. He formed a circle with his pointer finger and thumb with his three fingers extended.

Coming on the heels of a Ben Polk goal, Syracuse players huddled past the benches, near the end of the field.

Lost in the shuffle was that Oyvind Alseth had just assisted on his third goal of the night, the first multi-assist game of his career. Syracuse (5-2-1, 1-1-1 Atlantic Coast) drubbed Pittsburgh (4-3-1, 0-3), 5-0, and Alseth’s assists boosted the Orange in the win.

A tactical shift pushed Alseth from his typical position in the center of the field to a natural spot on the wing. From there, he breathed life into a Syracuse offense that had more heads in hands from missed chances than goals in the game’s first 36 minutes. Once Alseth revved SU’s motor, the Orange scored three goals on its first four shots in the second half.

“In the beginning, I started thinking back to when we played Pittsburgh two years ago. We just kept going at them and we couldn’t score,” Alseth said. “… We had a couple good crosses that resulted in a goal and that’s what we needed to get going.”

Before SU could convert, the Orange missed on eight shots. Forward Chris Nanco fired the ball into the crossbar, rocking the net. Buescher chipped a ball over the top of the defense that Nanco collected, but dribbled right into his defender who had fallen. A defender eventually blocked Nanco’s shot.

Forty seconds later Miles Robinson leaped into the goalie for a cross, which caused the ball to fall into the net. Fans cheered thinking there had been a goal. Instead a foul was called on Robinson.

“I don’t think any time you have three assists you’re behind the scenes,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “But we made a little bit of an adjustment and pushed him wide in the first half.”

The adjustment cleaned up SU’s missed opportunities. McIntyre subbed Andreas Jenssen for Korab Syla 30 minutes into the game, allowing Alseth to play the wing. In SU’s offense, wings push the ball up the side of the field and typically cross passes into the box.

In only six minutes out wide, Alseth crossed the ball to Polk, who had a defender draped on his back. Polk tapped the ball to Noah Rhynhart, who split two players with his shot and scored.

Only eight minutes later, Alseth assisted on another, crossing a ball into the box that landed perfectly on Polk’s foot. Alseth said he didn’t even look up to cross, but just tried to put the ball in a dangerous spot.

“It was huge to settle the nerves. It was a big game. We knew there was a lot riding on it, we needed three points,” Polk said. “… It was good to settle the nerves on the first goal and we just kept pushing and kept pushing and the walls fell down.”

Before Alseth’s position switch, McIntyre said Pittsburgh had been clogging the middle of the field. Having the midfielder to push the ball wide allowed SU to stretch the Panthers, move the ball freely and play crosses into the middle.

The goal buried Pittsburgh, which changed from its typical 4-3-3 formation, sending more players forward, McIntyre said. In a position that Alseth hasn’t played this season but he said comes natural, he was able to create the turning point for SU and set the stage for Polk.

“When they kind of had to chase the game,” McIntyre said, “we could expose them a little bit at the back today.”

Published on September 25, 2015 at 11:33 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati