Nick Roydhouse felt a different kind of energy during warm-ups before last Saturday’s game at Louisville. Although the warm-ups weren’t any different and the players were putting the usual amount of effort in, the aura and intensity were distinct for the SU midfielder.

‘You can kind of tell,’ Roydhouse said. ‘Everyone was there to play. The quality was higher. Everybody was switched on.’

Facing a highly touted opponent in that match could have been the cause for that newfound energy. The Cardinals were ranked No. 11 in the nation and made it to the national championship game a year ago. It was a big-time Big East match and the Orange came ready, notching one point in the conference standings with a scoreless tie.

SU (2-7-1, 0-2-1 Big East) will find itself in a similar situation at home Wednesday when it goes against No. 21 St. John’s (7-3-2, 1-2-0) at 7 p.m. at SU Soccer Stadium. The Orange plays a second straight game against a ranked Big East team and a second opportunity to set the tone for the match during warm-ups.

Many of Syracuse’s best performances this season have come when SU steps up its level of play against tough opponents. It’s when Syracuse faces opponents that should be inferior — like SU’s loss to Binghamton — that it tends to fold. Roydhouse knows St. John’s will present another tough task, and the Orange will have to rise up to the occasion and make plays not just in warm-ups, but also during the game.

‘It tends to be, the teams you play against, you play to their level,’ Roydhouse said. ‘And, unfortunately, we did that against Binghamton. When we play the better teams, we perform. We know it’s a big game.’

The defense’s play, SU’s calling card all season, is expected to produce similar results as the Louisville game, when the Orange recorded its first clean sheet of the season against one of its top opponents.

After losing its first two conference games by a goal apiece, Syracuse gained some confidence and a tangible result that things may be looking up.

St. John’s provides different challenges than Louisville. The Red Storm is quicker. It’s small and technical, and it runs around, placing pressure on its opponent.

Syracuse will have to match St. John’s intensity and pressure on both sides of the ball.

‘We know St. John’s is a good team, so we’re going to have to be on our feet and have the same performance we had against Louisville,’ defender Ryan Tessler said. ‘We’re going to go after them. We’re playing a top-10 team in the country, so we’re going to try to get a result.’

Tessler and SU will have a tough test containing St. John’s leading goal scorer, Jack Bennett, who has five goals on the season. But the Orange face challenges on both sides of the ball with a ranked team like the Red Storm.

‘They’ve got quality players in all positions,’ SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. ‘They’re a tough team to play. They really pressure you; they’ve got a lot of technique. But I like our matchups.’

There’s little room for error against a talented team like St. John’s. Everyone must be ready starting with warm-ups. Just like the Louisville game.

‘Hopefully we can start like that again and start the game with a bang,’ Roydhouse said. ‘We just have to make sure we’re switched on for every play. There’s no time to rest when you’re playing the good teams. Every play of the game is potentially a goal-scoring play for a good team, so we have to be on our game.’

St. John’s is just another game on a grueling schedule filled with three straight ranked conference opponents. The Orange plays No. 11 USF on Saturday at home. But it also presents SU with another chance to get its Big East win in 1 1/2 years under McIntyre against a quality squad.

The warm-ups SU will take part in before the game will be the same as always — dynamic exercises, passing drills, sprinting. Against Louisville, Roydhouse said they were all on point. Passes were good, players were in position, the technique was on par.

And now SU wants to come out of the gate prepared so it can pick up a win this time.

‘We now realize that we’re done against the best team we’ve played against,’ Roydhouse said of Louisville. ‘If we can play the same way we did and just put away our chances against St. John’s, we should be able to come away with a result.’

rnmarcus@syr.edu

 

Published on October 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu