ORANGE TOPS FORDHAM IN MEN’S SOCCER EXHIBITION, 2-1

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The 20th-ranked Orange men’s soccer team opened its exhibition schedule with a 2-1 victory against Fordham Sunday, Aug. 18 at the SU Soccer Stadium. SophomoreStefanos Stamoulacatos (Camillus, N.Y.) and junior Nick Perea (Hollywood, Fla.) each scored in the first half to lead the Orange past the Rams.

“I thought for our first time out we were good,” SU head coachIan McIntyre said. “We created some chances. We’ll get better at converting some of those. Fordham’s hard-working. They’re a good team, very well coached. This was a good test for us.”

Stamoulacatos opened the game’s scoring in the 12th minute when he finished anEmil Ekblom (Bekkestua, Norway) pass in front of the goal after Ekblom beat his defender to get free. A little more than 35 minutes later, Perea gave the Orange a 2-0 advantage with a beautiful header on a longJordan Murrell (Markham, Ontario) service.

In the second half, Fordham’s Casper Gimand converted a corner-kick opportunity in the 62nd second minute to close the gap to 2-1. However, that was the only offense Fordham could muster as Syracuse successfully defended for the remainder of the match to improve to 5-1 in exhibition games since 2011.

Redshirt sophomore goalies Andrew Coughlin (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) andMatt Stith (Montclair, N.J.) combined to earn the win for Syracuse. Coughlin started and made one save. Stith replaced him in the latter stages of the second half and played the rest of the game.

Fordham keepers Sean Brailey and Alex Naples teamed up for six saves. Brailey stopped four shots in the opening period. Naples made two spectacular diving saves in the second half.

The Orange returns to action Tuesday, Aug. 20 when it welcomes Ryerson University of Canada to the SU Soccer Stadium for another exhibition. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and admission is free.

SU Soccer Stadium, Syracuse, N.Y.

August 18, 2013

Fordham 0 - 1 - 1

#20 Syracuse 2 - 0 - 2

Scoring: SU: Stefanos Stamoulacatos (Emil Ekblom) 11:30, SU:Nick Perea (Jordan Murrell) 37:02, FU: Casper Gimand (Tommy Granot) 61:26

Shots: SU 14, FU 8

Corners: SU 9, FU 3

Saves: SU 1 (Andrew Coughlin 1, Matt Stith 0), FU 6 (Sean Brailey 4, Alex Naples 2)

Fouls: SU 11, FU 11

Offsides: SU 1, FU 0