His high school coach remembers it as one of the most amazing goals he’s ever seen. It was only a half-bicycle kick to freshman Syracuse men’s soccer midfielder James Goodwin.

Goodwin and his Merrimack, N.H., teammates were playing their rivals, Londonderry, in Goodwin’s final home high school game last fall.

Merrimack trailed, 1-0, with less than a minute to play and the ball on its side of the field. Along with his teammates, Goodwin advanced the ball to the Londonderry side, but time continued to tick away and Merrimack couldn’t get a shot on net.

Ten seconds remained when a header bounced right to Goodwin, who was in the box about 10 yards from the net.

Goodwin, though, wasn’t in position to get a direct shot on goal, so he did the only thing he could: He lifted his legs into the air and bicycle-kicked the ball into the far corner of the net.

No time left on the clock. A tie game. And an exuberant crowd.

‘It wasn’t a full-blown shot in the air,’ said Goodwin who, along with his teammates, hosts Georgetown on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Syracuse Soccer Stadium. ‘But it was nice. It was the most exciting goal of my life.’

‘I’ve never seen a shot like that before,’ said Ray Juneau, Goodwin’s head coach at Merrimack. ‘He had only one shot and he ended up tying the game. It was just an incredible series of events for him to get the ball down there and score from that angle.’

It was fitting that Goodwin finally caught attention, because for most of high school he went unnoticed. Division I coaches never noticed the sleek, yet powerful, midfielder from Merrimack. His team’s record never garnered any attention, and that hurt his recruiting, Juneau said.

Instead, a lot of the local D-II and D-III schools called.

But Goodwin had higher aspirations. He would run every day and practice every element of his game. Juneau never had a player work as hard as Goodwin before.

‘He was like a workhorse,’ Juneau said. ‘Whatever he had to do, he would. He could take over a game at midfield.’

But as powerful as Goodwin performed, most colleges overlooked him and his first-team state honors. Syracuse head coach Dean Foti, though, knew Goodwin from a high school camp Foti had run.

Foti contacted Juneau through e-mail and asked Juneau about his captain. But Foti’s interest peaked when he made the trip to New Hampshire and personally met with Goodwin at an Olympic Development Program that Goodwin participated in.

Goodwin was sold and has started all eight games and registered 11 shots on goal. He’s yet to score. Then again, he’s not alone.

Syracuse is 2-6 and experiencing a 357-minute scoreless drought.

‘If I was a person in the stands and watched Syracuse play, I’d say (Goodwin) must be one of the veterans on the team,’ fifth-year senior forward Ryan Hickey said. ‘He’s gotten a lot more confident in himself and he’s really coming into his own.’

Goodwin would largely go unnoticed if it wasn’t for his bizarre moves when trying to beat a defender. His legs seem to move more in place than forward or backward, glancing up and down and giving the appearance he’s playing hacky sack rather than soccer.

‘He’s got some weird moves,’ Hickey said. ‘I don’t know how to describe it. But he gets it done.’

But Goodwin’s strange moves have covered a lot of the field for Syracuse so far this season. He’s one of two freshmen to start every game. Then again, he hardly plays like a freshman. His maturity has showed on the field. With Syracuse struggling to score, Goodwin remains steadfast and confident that SU will emerge.

‘It’s going to come down to heart and just to keep on shooting,’ Goodwin said. ‘There are a lot of good players and good attitudes here. It’ll come eventually.’

Published on September 30, 2004 at 12:00 pm