Ian McIntyre called Korab Syla over to the sideline, pointed at the ground and told him “right here.” Later in the first half, the Syracuse head coach pulled midfielder Morgan Hackworth over and told him the same thing.

“I guess I was a couple yards more inside,” Syla said. “… So he was just telling me to get wider, closer to the touch line to make it harder for the other team so we can come closer to maybe getting open.”

The 3-5-2 formation SU runs is designed to attack the wings, and it helped SU dominate on the field, but not on the scoreboard for a majority of the game. The Orange playing wide was also a counter to Binghamton dropping its defense back and playing on its heels.

Syracuse was able to create chances down wings, especially on the right side of the field. The hosts racked up 17 shots, 10 on goal and eight corner kicks. Despite not scoring on any of the chances out wide, SU (4-2-1, 0-1-1 Atlantic Coast) beat Binghamton (5-3), 3-1 at SU Soccer Stadium on Tuesday night.

“We knew they were dropping deep,” midfielder Julian Buescher said. “So we tried to use the whole and the width and that worked pretty well, I guess. We played decent, way better than our last game.”

Syla played a key role in moving the ball down the right side, beating his defender several times right near the endline and crossing the ball into the box. Though it never contributed to a goal, SU was able to put pressure on the Bearcats’ defense.

Because Syla was playing too far from the sideline initially, his positioning made him easier to defend, the midfielder said. Even when McIntyre pulled Syla over, he’d already been pushing the ball.

Less than 10 minutes into the game, Syla worked the ball down the ride side. After kicking the ball into a defender and getting it back, he sent a low-flying ball through the middle of the field. Forward Ben Polk just nearly missed kicking the cross out of the air and into the net. Instead, it rolled to the other side of the field.

“Most of the time, because we have five guys in the midfield, and we’re on one side, they all have to shift and then they left Korab open,” Buescher said. “And if we play well enough, we try to turn it over and bring it to him and he has all that space.”

Syla benefited the most from Binghamton trying to mark all of the Orange’s midfielders. He was open on the backside of the field more than wing Liam Callahan or Hackworth.

Less than 10 minutes into the second half, Buescher tapped the ball to his right, through his defender’s legs, and promptly blasted a pass to the right wing of the field to Syla, who was wide open. Though he couldn’t bring the ball down cleanly, SU played around with the ball, eventually forcing a corner.

With time ticked off the clock near the end of the game and the Orange already up 2-1, Syla ran free down the right side of the field. Buescher, with Bearcats defenders closing in, again snapped a pass to Syla. The midfielder cranked a shot well over the goal and into the black netted backstop.

While SU missed on the chances it created, they were able to pressure Binghamton and control the game from end to end.

“When a team is setting up to restrict space, you’re trying to make the field as big as possible, McIntyre said. “… You want to play all 75 (feet of the field), so get the guys as wide as possible. And when we can stretch teams, we look dangerous.”

Published on September 22, 2015 at 10:57 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati