After Syracuse goalkeeper Phil Boerger collided with a St. John’s player and fell to the ground, the Red Storm’s Adrian L’Esperance scored the team’s second and decisive goal with fewer than eight minutes remaining in the game.

Boerger was not happy with the contact and neither was SU defender Nick Bibbs. While Boerger retreated back into the goal, Bibbs relayed his frustration toward the linesman. The argument left Bibbs with a yellow card.

‘It wasn’t a fair call,’ Bibbs said. ‘So I was a little upset, and I expressed my anger.’

When a foul wasn’t called on that play, Bibbs didn’t understand why the Red Storm caught a break, especially when the Orange was called for nine fouls in a physical 2-1 loss to St. John’s Wednesday night. In a chippy Big East game with rain pouring down throughout its entirety, the Orange came up short. Despite increasing its intensity from the first half to the second half, SU did not get enough calls in its favor or make enough plays to win.

‘St. John’s teams will fight and scrap for every ball,’ SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. ‘But also the conditions, when it’s wet and slippery, that can add to a little bit of that nature. It’s going to become a bit more of a combative game.’

Bibbs acknowledged after the game that Big East battles are tough to referee. But he still thought the officials could have done a better job. Grant Chong provided an aggressive spark off the bench for the Orange, but also committed a foul and had a few pushes against St. John’s players.

And though playing physical soccer is a part of the game, Chong still thought that Bibbs got fouled on St. John’s first goal of the game. But the referee didn’t make the call.

One foul the officials did call set the tone for SU’s aggressiveness for the rest of the game. Fewer than five minutes into the second half, SU midfielder Jide Oluyedun got tangled with St. John’s Pablo Battuto Punyed and knocked him down, receiving a yellow card.

Though the call went against SU, the play represented the physical mentality Syracuse kept throughout the second half.

‘The first half we were a little soft. And coach Mac told us that,’ Bibbs said. ‘So second half, we picked it up and we went harder to the ball. That’s why we had more fouls.’

Although SU kept pace with the Red Storm in the latter half of the game, that second goal that upset Boerger and Bibbs was ultimately the final dagger in the Orange. Then SU’s aggression turned into desperation when it found itself down 2-1 with precious seconds ticking off the clock toward the end.

‘After they scored that, we just started throwing not cheap shots, but we were just frustrated with ourselves, getting frustrated with everyone else and just not controlling ourselves,’ Chong said. ‘So that’s where the stupid fouls come into play.’

McIntyre didn’t think the game was nasty, nor did he believe that fouls were the sole reason SU lost the game. For the Orange, it was hard to overcome the nine fouls called against it, though, even if the team’s head coach wouldn’t attribute the loss to the referees.

And with a ranked team in St. John’s as the opponent, the game wasn’t meant to be easy.

‘It was two teams that were looking for Big East points,’ McIntyre said. ‘And we know that points in this conference are hard to come by.’

Although physical play was expected, putting in that effort and still losing matches like Wednesday’s sting for the Orange.

And Chong knows that certain plays hurt SU. A number of free kicks for St. John’s came after a Red Storm player fell and stayed on the ground for quite some time.

The frustration was evident for Bibbs on St. John’s final goal, much as it was visible for Chong and the rest of the Orange as the game wore on.

‘The game got a bit scrappy at the end,’ Chong said. ‘When they scored their second goal, I think that just completely demoralized us. That was a big blow to us. I think after that the frustration grew and fouls sort of started arising more.’

rnmarcus@syr.edu

Published on October 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Rachel: rnmarcus@syr.edu