Oskar Sewerin paced, matting down the grass so he didn’t slip. He lined up a few yards off the ball and waited for the referee to let him approach it for a penalty kick.

The junior defender was the third player to take a penalty kick for Syracuse against North Carolina. He had played just one game — a 5-0 stomping of Pittsburgh on Sept. 25 — prior to the Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal before being plucked from the roster to take the pivotal kick.

“I’ll be honest, I was pretty relaxed… The only thing I can do is tell the guys I’m proud of them, I love them, get out there, good luck and enjoy it,” McIntyre said. “Now, if I turn around and say, ‘You must score this goal,’ that probably undermines what we’re trying to do.”

Syracuse started practicing penalty kicks after the Orange’s 2-1 loss to Boston College to close out the regular season. All non-playoff games end with two periods of 10-minute overtime play and go directly to a tie if neither team scores. Each playoff game must have a victor, so penalty kicks ensue if neither team scores in overtime.

Despite Sewerin’s lack of minutes, he played a key role in the most important game Syracuse has played. The showdown with UNC avenged an earlier 2-1 loss to the Tar Heels in which SU gave up a 1-0 lead in the last 17 minutes. The win guaranteed No. 13 SU (11-5-3, 3-4-1 ACC) a a date with No. 2 Clemson (15-1-2, 6-1-1) in the ACC semifinal. Whoever prevails will play the winner of No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 19 Virginia in the conference championship.

“ACC rules are you have to take someone over 6-foot-3 to take a penalty,” McIntyre joked about the stalky Sewerin. “… He’s one of the first guys on our penalty-kick list.”

In the regular season, because there are no penalty kicks, SU didn’t practice them. In nearly every practice since playing BC, the Orange has taken some penalty kicks, Alseth said.

Sewerin had an inkling that he would be taking penalty kicks if a game ever came down to them. In practice, he took more than some other players, and he was netting his shots.

At the end of the first overtime, coaches told him to warm up for penalties. Sewerin said as much as he tried to get warmed up, he was also caught up in trying to watch the game.

“I didn’t know that I was going to take the third one,” Sewerin said. “I was maybe expecting to take one a little further down the road.”

McIntyre said he structures his penalty-kick lineups with stronger penalty-kick takers first during shootouts and asks players who wants to take penalty kicks instead of forcing certain players to take them. Julian Buescher, who leads Syracuse in goals, assists and points, rang his first shot off the post. Oyvind Alseth made his kick, but so did both of UNC’s first two shooters.

When Sewerin stepped up to take the kick, his goal was to just read the goalie. Sewerin said that Syracuse didn’t watch any tape of Tar Heels goalkeeper James Pyle in previous penalty-kick situations and that SU typically only scouts other teams’ penalty-kick takers for goalie Hendrik Hilpert.

As Sewerin wound up, the goalie dove in the same direction he was going to shoot it. Fortunately for Sewerin, the ball was low enough that Pyle couldn’t get his body to the shot.

“He didn’t seem nervous at all, he seemed very confident,” Alseth said. “Got a little bit lucky, though, with the goalie, but that doesn’t matter as long as the penalty goes in.”

Sewerin said he’s taken penalties before and never in such a big moment, but it took until he had stepped back from the moment to consider the brevity of the penalty kick.

When it came down to crunch time, when Syracuse’s season could’ve ended, even if only temporarily, McIntyre brought in one of his players that’s seen the least action.

“When you’re not playing that much,” Sewerin said, “you want to try to contribute as much as you can.”

Published on November 10, 2015 at 9:09 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati