http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/201...came_a_contender_for_no_1_in_the_country.html
Syracuse, N.Y. — For two years, Ian McIntyre sold his vision. Now, the Syracuse men's soccer program is living it.
In the coach's fifth season at Syracuse, he has taken a two-win team to the cusp of a No. 1 national ranking, finding a potential power in a sport that is often an afterthought at Syracuse.
"Two years before I came they won two games," said goalie Alex Bono, a junior from Baldwinsville and the program's top pro prospect. "The year before I came they won three. My outlook was 'let's go to a team that has talent but hasn't gotten results and let's turn it into a winning program.' That was the ideal vision and it's what happened. It's been a best-case scenario."
Syracuse currently sits fourth in NSCAA men's soccer rankings, an all-time high ranking, with a record 11-1. A new poll is due Tuesday, and the three teams ahead of the Orange lost or tied over the weekend, creating the possibility SU will be defending a No. 1 ranking when it visits UConn at 7 p.m.
"If I'd told you (that I thought) we'd be 11-1 at this point, I don't know that I would have been entirely truthful," McIntyre said. "We were looking for people to get in on the ground floor, to fight and scrap for credibility. You're selling them on a vision, a goal and what you aspire to achieve."
Few, outside the Orange sphere of influence shared McIntyre's vision - at least any time in the near future.
McIntyre inherited a three-win team in 2010 and won just five games in his first two seasons. He won 14 in Year 3, advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16, but slipped to 10-7-1 last year with a 3-7-1 record in the loaded ACC.
The ACC coaches predicted the Orange to finish last in its division this year and 10th of 12 teams overall, a sign they didn't think a Northern team could cut it at their level.
When Skyler Thomas and Bono played summer soccer on a team with ACC opponents, Syracuse was scoffed at.
" 'Oh, Syracuse, they're not a soccer team,' " Thomas remembers hearing from teammates at Reading (Pa.) United. " 'They can't play like we can.' All the guys so far that said we've played that said that so far, we've won."
Unlike most of its ACC breathren, Syracuse can't load up on in-state players, the kind that dream of donning the home team's colors. With New York talent limited, and Syracuse far from a historic destination, the staff looked outside the area.
Way outside. Seven of the team's starters are from outside the United States.
McIntrye is from England. His top assistant, Jukka Masalin is from Finland. Both have international recruiting credentials and connections.
McIntyre's first class brought Thomas and Jordan Murrell, a pair of players from the Canadian National Team who currently lead the top defense in the country, allowing three goals in 12 games.
A year later came a player from the Finnish National Team, and leading scorer Emil Ekblom came from Norway the year after that.
None were chased by traditional college soccer powers, allowing McIntyre to find underrated value without out-recruiting championship contenders.
The presence of international players, who grow up in Europe's pro system, crafted a team content to win with defense, poised in close games and capable of building off last season's close losses.
"Our defense has been so solid we never have to really chase the game," Ekblom said. "We've been in good position from the start. We're not really stressed, you know?"
But despite the success, McIntyre believes that a consistent product begins with local recruiting. Bono was the local star, the top-ranked player in New York from right down the road.
He's become McIntyre's local lynchpin, a regular in the Syracuse record books and an All-ACC Third Team selection last year. The Orange landed two more impressive players from the region this offseason in Villanova transfer Liam Callahan (Amherst) and ranked-recruit Troy Carrington (Verona, N.J.).
Bono was lured by the cache of playing with national team players, a mix that's been as fun as it's been successful.
"Every day is an adventure when you're with a bunch of European guys," Bono said.
Including, as Syracuse is proving, a trip to the top of the college soccer world.
"I didn't get any ACC offers," Bono said. "Coaches move and teams move but you never forget. You circle games on your schedule every year. I have a lot circled on mine. I've been checking off a lot of them so far."
