KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Chris Nanco pulled his jersey over his head, covering the tears. Kamal Miller lay on his back with his knees in the air, then slammed two fists into the grass.

Oskar Sewerin stood between them inside the NCAA logo at midfield with his hands on his hips, staring blankly toward the Clemson celebration forming in front of him.

With one kick, Clemson’s T.J. Casner shattered No. 6 seed Syracuse’s (16-5-4, 3-4-1 Atlantic Coast) dream season. His kick, the fourth penalty kick for the No. 2 seed Tigers (17-2-4, 6-1-1) and fourth to find the back of the net, halted Syracuse’s best season ever in the Final Four at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas on Friday night and moved the Tigers onto the national title game.

“We are a special team and have had a wonderful season,” head coach Ian McIntyre said. “I couldn’t be prouder of my guys.”

Before overtime on Friday, Clemson head coach Mike Noonan hugged McIntyre and told him that soccer can be cruel.

It can be generous, too.

Syracuse wasn’t supposed to be here. Not in Kansas City. Not playing in the Final Four.

When Syracuse was ranked No. 15 in the preseason poll, McIntyre said it was probably too complimentary. This wasn’t the same Syracuse team that was ranked No. 1 at one point last season. SU tried to replace Hermann Trophy finalist goalie Alex Bono and its three starters on the back line. Twelve players left Syracuse in the offseason, taking 70 percent of its scoring with them.

On the road in the first game of the season, Syracuse lost to Hofstra and dropped out of the Top 25 for five weeks. In four games against ranked opponents during the regular season, the Orange was winless.

In those five weeks, the pieces shifted to fit together. Ben Polk, a community college transfer, and Julian Buescher, who didn’t score a goal last season, emerged as the team’s leading scorers. Freshmen Miles Robinson and Kamal Miller bolstered a back line that, along with freshmen goalies Hendrik Hilpert and Austin Aviza, put up nine shutouts.

In a span of five weeks to start the postseason, Orange went undefeated in seven games, including four against ranked teams.

Wins on the road against North Carolina, Clemson and Notre Dame — the ACC tournament’s No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds — despite being seeded just seventh, led to the first ACC title in Syracuse men’s soccer history and the first conference title since 1985.

“If you had said at the beginning of the year that we could,” McIntyre said after the winning the ACC championship, pausing, and seemingly in disbelief.

What followed was the first Elite Eight game in Syracuse history and then its first Final Four appearance.

But against Clemson, its season came down to penalty kicks.

With each made Tigers kick, the 11 Syracuse players standing at midfield recoiled. After the fourth and final one, they collapsed. Sewerin moved to the sideline and crouched, staring at the net. The net he missed. At what this season could have been.

During the postgame press conference, McIntyre was his usual jovial self, joking that the net should have been wider so some of SU’s shots would have gone in. But midfielder Juuso Pasanen’s eyes welled with tears and his lip quivered between answers. Nanco’s did the same.

The pieces of the team, more like a puzzle at the beginning of the season, had all fallen in line only to have the dream cut short just one game away from a chance at a national title.

“A dream season would have been if we carried on, but it was a fantastic season,” Pasanen said. “A historic season for the program.”

Published on December 12, 2015 at 12:47 am

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus