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Luke Biasi left Monday’s training relieved. Although he allowed three set-piece goals against Pittsburgh, Syracuse didn’t have to do a routine lap of his set pieces. Instead, SU scoured his possessions in the final third, bolstering play wide – an area Biasi said he and the rest of the Orange squad knew they could exploit against Colgate.

“We can really exploit them on the flanks and get crosses in the box,” Biasi said on Monday. “We just have to keep a lot of pressure on them with us being more athletic than them.”

And Tuesday night, that’s exactly how the Orange handled Colgate. Biasi took advantage of an unusual space given to him and used his speed and crossing ability to his advantage.

Whether Biasi received a bouncing ball or a ball on the ground, he had the time and space to plan his next move, either by dribbling to the baseline to whip a cross, or even by getting creative and by hitting the ball on undersized defenders in its path. . Biasi threw plenty of crosses into the box – some of which didn’t allow his defenders – but he executed a game plan that propelled Syracuse to another important midweek, non-conference victory.

Having the advantage on the open sea led Syracuse (5-4-1, 1-2 on the Atlantic coast) to a 3-0 victory over Colgate (0-11, 0-4 Patriot). The Orange stayed true to their game plan and dominated the Raiders, leading to three goals either from a cross or from a set piece.

Syracuse managed to break through at the end of the first half, their loose play finally bearing fruit. Giona Leibold and Jeorgio Kocevski bundled the ball wide and Leibold let go of the ball for Kocevski to throw another.

His cross found the header by Francesco Pagano, who beat his defender in the air center and nodded in the lower left corner for his fourth goal of the season. It was a goal preceded by several quality serves from Biasi and Leibold, and gave Orange the pressure three minutes before halftime.

“The goal was really a great moment for Cicci to score just before half-time,” said head coach Ian McIntyre. “It took a bit of air from them and kind of calmed us down for the second half.”

Leibold started Tuesday night’s game on the bench for the first time this season, with senior Hilli Goldhar taking her place as left-winger. It was Goldhar’s first start of the season after missing the first three weeks with injury.

McIntyre substituted the two after 25 minutes of play and Syracuse’s loose play became more balanced. While Goldhar still received the ball on the left, he was more efficient in finding Syracuse’s central targets, including a dangerous pass-and-go combination that saw Colin Biros send a curling center to the head of DeAndre Kerr, that he sent just off the right. Publish.

With Leibold – arguably the faster of the two – the Oranges were able to add a whole new dimension to their offense, one that Colgate couldn’t handle.

McIntyre believed Colgate was effective in his tactical game plan to sit down with compact defensive form to deal with Syracuse’s speed. But with 10 minutes to go in the first half, they sat too far away on Leibold, and he had enough room to set up a low cross in traffic into the box, which rolled between a wide gap on which Biasi ran. He fired a first shot with a curled left foot aimed at the lower left corner, but Colgate’s Adam Fam stood strong in the goal area and put one foot on the ball to steer it out of harm’s way.

“For Giona, he’s faster than me. He’s the kind of player who’s going to put his head down and go down to the baseline, tear it up, ”Biasi said.

In the second half, McIntyre experimented with both Leibold and Goldhar in midfield, giving them the opportunity to move to the left wing. This gave Goldhar more freedom to carry the ball inside and find Leibold overlapping around him, or vice versa.

At the end of the second half, Goldhar received the ball wide with plenty of room to work, but instead of pulling it wide, he cut in and brought it back through the midfields. . He cleared the way along the left flank for Leibold, who received the ball into space for a cross. He found Kerr with a rushing pass, as Kerr took the lead over a Colgate defender who had previously slipped. He used the advantage to generate a shot on goal just for Raiders goaltender Andrew Cooke.

Colgate’s strategy of sitting down allowed him to be in a comfortable position to generate a counterattack and outnumber Syracuse in the future. It’s happened twice to SU in five minutes, both arriving on the right wing after a failed connection on a pass in the final third.

Biasi was already high on the right flank, comfortably in Colgate’s half of the field, when he sent the ball towards Kerr. A Colgate defender stepped in to clear the Raiders left wing. With Biasi pushed up the field, Edelstein dribbled against the pressure from Buster Sjoberg. Edelstein then crossed the ball for Timmy Donovan, who faced Kent while Edelstein straddled to his left. Donovan played a back pass into space for Edelstein, but his shot hit the outside of the net.

Then Biasi was out of position again, allowing Donovan to receive the ball down the left wing. He took it all the way near the baseline before sending a cross that Aidan Davock put a left toe on, redirecting it a few inches from the right post. It would have given Colgate a 1-0 lead, but instead the game was kept scoreless.

Tuesday’s victory comes after a 3-2 road loss in double overtime to Pittsburgh, number 16, where the Orange allowed all three goals on set pieces. With another non-conference win, McIntyre said Syracuse can build on two mixed results and turn things around with the rest of its ACC schedule, starting with NC State on Friday.

“They left everything on the pitch in Pittsburgh and unfortunately came away scoreless against a good team,” said McIntyre. “I knew we would have a reaction and it was good to take a home win and prepare for another big win on Friday.”