For the first time in 36 days, the Syracuse men’s soccer team had a reason to be happy – it won a game.

Players congratulated each other. They smiled and laughed. With just one win, the Orange appeared full of confidence and ready to tackle the remaining four Big East games on its schedule. The players even dared to dream of making a late run at the Big East tournament.

Unfortunately for Syracuse, if the Orange wants to return to the tournament for the first time since 2000, it’ll have to most likely finish its schedule with a slew of victories.

While Wednesday night’s 2-0 win over Rutgers snapped a seven-game losing streak, it also broke a four-game skid in conference play. Syracuse is next to last in the 12-team Big East with three points. Only the top eight make it to the postseason.

Syracuse hosts Providence in its final home game Saturday at 7 p.m. at Syracuse Soccer Stadium.

‘We’ve got to string off a bunch of wins,’ freshman Brad Peetoom said. ‘We’ve just really got to come out (Saturday) and put a lot of heart into the game and win it.’

Providence (0-12, 0-7 Big East) is the one team in the Big East that isn’t ahead of Syracuse. West Virginia occupies eighth place with nine points and a 3-4 conference record.

In order to qualify, Syracuse will have to leap not only West Virginia, but also Rutgers (8 points) and Pittsburgh (7). Syracuse has four conference games remaining, while West Virginia and Pittsburgh both have three and Rutgers two.

‘We’ve just got to build off of this win,’ forward Jeff Evans said after Wednesday’s win. ‘To get a win like this to start our next streak of Big East games is just huge for us. It’s a morale booster and we just have to feed off of it.’

If Syracuse wins the remainder of its schedule, it’ll finish with 15 points, which would almost undoubtedly place the Orange in the postseason. Last season, 12 points was good enough for eighth place in a 13-team Big East.

The only problem is winning four straight games. Syracuse is 3-10 for the season and hasn’t won back-to-back games this year. The offense has scored just nine goals.

‘We have nothing to lose,’ Evans said. ‘We make a run here and we spoil some other team’s season, and get ourselves in the tournament.’

The players know anything short of going 4-0 the rest of the year will leave their destiny in the hands of other Big East teams. And they don’t expect any pity from the rest of the league for their team-record 12 one-goal games.

‘Every one of our games is a must-win,’ junior goalie Alim Karim said. ‘If we lose, we’re going to have to rely on other teams to get in the tournament.’

‘We’re just going all out,’ Evans said, ‘trying to win the next four games.’

Published on October 21, 2004 at 12:00 pm