When Nick Roydhouse emerged from the Syracuse locker room following SU’s 1-0 double-overtime loss to Villanova on Wednesday, he was beat. The loss was tough to absorb both physically and mentally, and the midfielder’s injured left shoulder took quite a few hits in that game against the Wildcats.

So when asked about the team’s upcoming game against DePaul, Roydhouse couldn’t think about specifics. He just knew one thing — SU must win or it will be left out of the Big East tournament. Again.  

‘We’re going to have to throw everything we have at them and try and get the victory,’ Roydhouse said. ‘If we don’t, then there’s nothing afterwards. No playoffs, no postseason, so we’ve got to put everything on the line and go after that win.’

SU’s chance to make the Big East tournament has come down to the final regular-season game. The Orange (3-11-1, 1-6-1 Big East) will face DePaul (5-10-2, 2-5-1 Big East) on Saturday in Chicago at 2 p.m., with a chance to qualify for the conference tournament. The top six teams from the Red Division make it, and the Orange currently sits in seventh place. But a win over the Blue Demons would tie SU with DePaul and give the tiebreaker to the Orange, allowing them to make the tournament.

A win would send SU to the conference tournament for the first time since 2005, but winning in the Big East hasn’t come easy for Syracuse this season. Following a rare 4-2 win against Cincinnati on Oct. 22, the Orange’s confidence was high. A well-played game against Villanova shouldn’t diminish that confidence, even though SU came out with a loss.

‘Despite the loss (Wednesday) and some unlucky losses this season, the morale in our dressing room is high,’ midfielder Ted Cribley said. ‘We’re all confident that we can do it. And we’ll go in, fingers crossed that everything will work out and we’ll get the win.’

For SU, those unlucky losses have been prevalent this season. All 11 losses have come by one goal, and the loss to Villanova was especially crushing.

With just under a minute remaining in double-overtime, the game seemed headed for a tie. But the Wildcats raced downfield and scored on a counter attack. While the Villanova players celebrated and ran up the small hill behind the SU goal, all the Syracuse players could do was stand, sit or lay on the field as Roydhouse did stunned by the loss.

And with its season hinging on one final game, SU must move on quickly and rediscover its offensive outburst from the Cincinnati game.

‘We do have everything to play for on Saturday,’ Roydhouse said. ‘So we can be a little bit more optimistic.’

SU head coach Ian McIntyre has shown that sense of optimism throughout the team’s entire season. Loss after loss, his outlook for this team has remained positive. McIntyre knows his team needs a win come Saturday. And that’s what he expects.

‘Now we have to go to DePaul and win,’ McIntyre said. ‘It’s something that if we play and we keep working the way that we have, there’s some good things that are going to happen to this team.’

About the only good thing to happen to SU in Big East play was the win against Cincinnati. After Syracuse scored its second goal of the game to break a 1-1 tie, it scored again. And again. For its fourth and final goal, Louis Clark, SU’s leading scorer, ran down the right side of the field and sent a shot past the Cincinnati goalkeeper. Suddenly, the team that struggled all year on offense had broken free for a dominant 4-2 victory.

But those moments have been few and far in between for the Orange this season. Games like the one against Villanova have been a more common sight. Now, Syracuse has one final chance to avenge all those tight losses by earning one singular win to play its way into the Big East tournament.

‘It’s the best situation because we know what we have to do,’ Cribley said. ‘It’s not in anyone else’s hands. We’re not looking at the tape and thinking, ‘What if they do this, what if they do that?’ It’s completely in our hands.’

rnmarcus@syr.edu

Published on October 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu