Phil Boerger made what appeared to be a game-saving stop. With less than four minutes to play, Boerger leapt toward the upper right section of the goal, tipping a Marquette shot away from the net to preserve a 2-2 game. Overtime seemed imminent.

But Marquette wasn’t finished. Just seconds later, in the 88th minute of play, Golden Eagles forward James Nortey got free and connected on a goal to give Marquette a 3-2 lead.

Boerger couldn’t get to that one.

‘He just put the ball right by me,’ Boerger said. ‘Really disappointing to let that goal in.’

It was a difficult night for the Syracuse defense in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Marquette in its Big East opener. Boerger had nine saves as the SU defense played valiantly but ultimately came up short. It allowed Marquette to score three goals, a season-high allowed by a usually stout SU back line.

The Golden Eagles were more aggressive than any opponent to visit the SU Soccer Stadium this season, and the Orange defense responded with more physical play as well. Defender David Neumann took it to Marquette from the get-go, bumping against Marquette’s players and sliding his body toward the wet turf in pursuit of the ball.

SU’s aggression seemed to work. The Orange allowed just one goal during the first half.

But it quickly fell apart toward the end of the game. SU saw a 2-1 lead dissolve quickly as Marquette scored goals in the 65th and 88th minutes. The SU defense held its own against a barrage of shots by Marquette, but also failed multiple times in allowing those two second-half goals.

‘I think at times, not just the back four, we showed a little bit of naiveté,’ SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. ‘So I think we got exposed, they exposed our back four. For (the team’s young defenders), that’s a real baptism to Big East soccer.’

Marquette’s first and last goals came among a scrum of Syracuse and Marquette players around the goal. SU couldn’t get out of the chaotic situation it found itself in, and Marquette converted on both.

Marquette’s first goal of the game also came from Nortey, who headed it in off an assist from Calum Mallace. And on the final goal, he ran free off of a corner kick and got open to shoot the ball into the left side of the net.

Shots came at a nonstop pace in this game, with 45 total between SU and Marquette. And the five goals scored combined were the most in a game for SU this season. At the end of the game, Boerger wasn’t pleased with SU’s defensive efforts.

‘We can do better,’ Boerger said. ‘Obviously, we gave up three goals. That’s not good enough to win in the Big East.’

Neumann is quick to place the blame on the whole team, though. The loss and the three goals allowed wasn’t all Boerger. It wasn’t the entire defense. Everyone must improve.

‘We just made a couple of mistakes and they got a couple goals on it,’ Neumann said. ‘It’s on all of us. We all need to do a better job. That’s us as a whole team.’

Boerger points to a variety of areas SU can work on — staying compact defensively, defending for the full 90 minutes, hard work, communication, making sure the team has all its marks.

They’re areas often taken for granted and ones SU usually finds itself taking care of, but it just didn’t happen in this game.

‘This was my first Big East game, and they say the Big East is a really high level of competition,’ Boerger said. ‘And that’s what this way today. End to end stuff.’

Boerger made some of his best saves of the season in this game. His last save, the one before Marquette’s game-deciding goal, got the crowd on its feet. It was Syracuse’s game to win.

But the team let that final Marquette goal in. Boerger is still searching for his first shutout of the season, and he said it’s killing him he hasn’t had one yet.

On Saturday, despite his efforts, he was far away from a shutout. Three goals away. And that last one was the toughest to accept.

‘If one team didn’t score the other team was going to,’ McIntyre said. ‘A cruel way to finish at the end.’

rnmarcus@syr.edu

Published on September 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu