The Notre Dame men’s soccer team hasn’t allowed a goal in more than 360 minutes of play. Syracuse has scored just two in its last 450 minutes.

It’s a scenario that screams mismatch for Syracuse in its meeting at No. 9 Notre Dame on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Combine Syracuse’s offense malaise with Notre Dame’s best start in 16 years, including four straight wins and five out of the past six, and the cries grow even louder.

‘There’s still a long way to go, but it’s a solid start,’ Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark said. ‘We’re pretty pleased.’

Notre Dame is 7-2-1 this year and has outscored opponents 17-6, with a 13-2 margin over the past six games. The Irish are peaking and are ranked No. 9 in this week’s Soccer America poll after recently beating ranked conference teams Boston College and Villanova.

Notre Dame is third in the Big East with a 3-1 record. Syracuse (2-7, 0-3 Big East) is second to last.

‘We’ve done bits and pieces well,’ Clark said. ‘The team is still forming. We don’t have everything going well for us.’

Coincidentally, when Syracuse and Notre Dame met last season, the teams were in similar predicaments. Syracuse was 2-5-2 then, and in the midst of a three-game losing streak. Notre Dame was 6-1-2, unbeaten in six straight games and off to an excellent start, en route to a top 10 finish.

But Syracuse garnered a tie with the Irish on Oct. 2, 2003. Syracuse then tied No. 13 Rutgers, 1-1, and defeated No. 22 Connecticut in its home finale.

It sent a message to the Irish not to take the Orange lightly despite its poor record. The same could be said this year.

‘We dropped a point there last year. It was a good game,’ Clark said. ‘But this is the Big East. We could be the bottom team playing the best team and it wouldn’t matter.’

Clark’s proclamation will nearly be true Sunday.

Syracuse is off to its worst start in head coach Dean Foti’s tenure. It’s the quickest the Orange has reached seven losses since 1977, when Syracuse lost seven of its first eight games and finished 3-11. Syracuse didn’t travel outside of New York that entire season.

‘Somehow, what we do in practice gets lost out there,’ fifth-year senior Ryan Hickey said. ‘Coach is doing a great job with us, but we just have a young team and we have to learn something from each game we play.’

Syracuse is most likely headed to its sixth losing season in the past eight years. The Orange will have to win six of its final seven to prevent that.

‘It’s a little frustrating that we keep getting unlucky, but you can’t do anything about it,’ junior Pat Gallagher said. ‘We just have to keep playing and keep battling. We have to find a way to win.’

Published on October 6, 2004 at 12:00 pm