To be effective with the cross, you have to be absolutely perfect. And unfortunately for the Syracuse men’s soccer team, Virginia Tech was just that.

Virginia Tech scored four of its goals Sunday on crosses in a 5-1 victory over the Orangemen at Syracuse Soccer Stadium.

‘We put the work in at practice,’ Tech sophomore midfielder Charlie Howe said, ‘and today it just came out in a positive way.’

Virginia Tech’s first strike came only 3:33 into the game when Howe delivered a high cross in front of the goal. Junior Ken Jonmaire headed the ball toward the left post past a diving Alim Karim, who had zero saves. The Hokies scored again in similar fashion with only 10 minutes left in the first half to give them a 2-1 lead over the Orangemen. SU scored its only goal on midfielder Frank Bruno’s penalty kick.

The Syracuse men’s soccer team has refused to comment to The Daily Orange.

‘We do crossing and finishing every day in practice,’ Virginia Tech head coach Oliver Weiss said. ‘Today it worked almost to the maximum extent that you want it to work.’

It was working so well in the first half that the Hokies decided to try the cross again and they found a similar result. With only 4:40 left in the game, Tech forward Bailey Allman set a cross to Howe, who was waiting wide-open, 5 yards in front of the right side of the net.

‘Once we got the ball out wide, as you saw in our first two goals that came off crosses, we knew that we would be able to score goals,’ Howe said.

The Hokies (8-2-1, 3-1-0 Big East) got the ball out wide again a minute later to Howe, who crossed the ball to senior forward Bobby O’Brien. After O’Brien took the cross, he placed the ball past the right arm of Karim.

The Virginia Tech offense was able to break the game open late in the second half, scoring its last three goals in the final 10 minutes of the game.

In the 81st minute, Howe sent a lob to sophomore midfielder Peer Rogge on the left side of the box. Rogge took advantage of a one-on-one matchup with Karim and booted the ball into the net on the left side.

On offense, the Orangemen (2-6-3, 0-3-2) weren’t able to get anything going, perhaps because of a Tech defense that stationed as many as 10 players behind the ball.

Defenders Chris Fehrle and Chris Aloisi were able to get the ball down to forwards Jarett Park and Kirk Johnson, but whenever they got near the box, the forwards were met by a hoard of Tech defenders.

‘You give the (Syracuse forwards) room and they are very dangerous,’ Weiss said.

As evidenced by the score, the Orangemen, who lost their first home game, had little room to work with. They scored once on a penalty kick.

That Virginia Tech was able to score on its opportunities and Syracuse wasn’t, proved to be the difference in the game. Syracuse attempted nine shots and scored on none. Virginia Tech only had one more attempt, but it scored on half its shots.

In the end, though, the cross is what made the game for Virginia Tech. Syracuse was unable to stop the play that Tech executed flawlessly

‘Nobody can defend that goal,’ Weiss said. ‘We train, and if we can get the cross right, we can pretty much get a goal against anybody.’

Published on October 6, 2003 at 12:00 pm