Louis Clark chipped to Lars Muller. Muller headed the ball past Villanova goalkeeper John Fogarty. And in the 68th minute of Wednesday’s road contest, Syracuse broke a scoreless tie that propelled it over the Wildcats and gave the team its second consecutive Big East win on the road.

The 2-0 win gives Syracuse (11-4, 4-2 Big East) its fourth conference victory — the most in a season for SU since 2008. More importantly, the victory separates head coach Ian McIntyre’s team from the Wildcats (10-3-2, 2-1-2) for second place in the conference’s red division and gives it a chance to catch Louisville for first.

“Earning a win over such a well-coached team was huge,” McIntyre said after the game. “They had no divisional losses until tonight, so to make that happen means we were able to beat a quality opponent tonight.”

McIntyre said his team upped its intensity again to earn a quality victory.

As it did against South Florida last weekend, the Orange continued its aggressive play from the opening whistle, registering the first three shots in the opening 10 minutes of the game.

Muller finally broke through late in the second half, though. Sixty-eight minutes into the game, he timed a header just right on a long pass from Clark. The ball went right by Fogarty on the near post and gave Syracuse a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Syracuse widened its lead in the 89th minute from a Villanova own goal. But after the game, McIntyre couldn’t help but think about the first score — and what it could mean this Saturday as his team plays its last home game against DePaul at SU Soccer Stadium.

“It was a pretty goal from both ends, but it was also an important goal,” said McIntyre. “If we can take the momentum from that score and this win going forward, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”

Published on October 18, 2012 at 12:23 am

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets