With a straight face and an unwavering demeanor, Ian McIntyre offered a simple solution for how to replace last year’s top two goal scorers.

“We’ve spoken to the NCAA and they’ve allowed Ben Polk and Julian Buescher to come and play for us,” he said matter-of-factly.

Syracuse’s head coach was joking, of course. Polk and Buescher, who combined for almost half of the Orange’s goals in last season’s College Cup run, play Major League Soccer. They’re not coming back. The reality is No. 6 Syracuse (2-0) has lost its top two goal scorers and 57 percent of its scoring overall. To pick up the load, SU will look to a talented group of youngsters and a few older statesmen.

This is nothing new. Last year, the Orange was tasked with replacing 70 percent of its production. All it did was score 44 goals, win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and advance to the national semifinal for the first time in program history.

Three days into this season, the Orange had already scored five goals from four different players. A different player assisted on each goal. It’s that spread, balanced attack that will take this team as far as it can go.

“Last year we were depending maybe a little bit too much on Julian and Ben,” senior midfielder Oyvind Alseth said. “In order to be successful, we need to spread those goals out more. Midfielders didn’t score enough last year, apart from Julian.”

Rather than relying on only a couple of forwards, SU will look to five seniors with considerable playing experience. Alseth and Chris Nanco both started in all 25 games last year. Liam Callahan started in 24 games and, while Kenny Lassiter started only one game, he played in 19. Newcomer Sergio Camargo scored four goals and had five assists last year at Coastal Carolina, earning him second-team conference honors.

Alseth has not yet scored, but he assisted on Sunday’s game winner over Loyola Marymount, and he’s generated good looks on goal. Nanco scored SU’s first goal of the season and Callahan, Lassiter and Camargo either scored or assisted on a goal in the season opener last Friday. Those five seniors totaled 13 goals last year and are expected to step up.

Tack on a group of newcomers who have already seen time in the early going, and the offensive attack could be even deeper. Freshman forward Johannes Pieles, who hails from Germany, has already notched a two-goal game, including an overtime game winner. He has also assisted on a goal.

Freshman midfielders Mo Adams and John-Austin Ricks, sophomore midfielder Jonathan Hagman and freshman Hampus Bergdahl also will provide attacking options. Louis Cross, a defender, assisted on Nanco’s lone goals this year.

“We’ve got a lot of goals in them,” Alseth said. “Collectively, we’re going to be able to replace those.”

That’s just what Syracuse did on Sunday night. Pieles, playing in Lassiter’s place, headed the ball into the net to beat LMU, 2-1, giving SU a 2-0 start to the season.

“We’re certainly unproven,” McIntyre said, but “we’ve got some new blood.”

Published on August 29, 2016 at 9:28 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21