No. 6 Syracuse kicks off its season against Massachusetts Friday at 7 p.m. at SU Soccer Stadium as part of the Central New York Classic. The Orange comes off its most successful season in program history, one in which it advanced to the national semifinal match, won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and posted a 16-5-4 mark. In UMass head coach Fran O’Leary’s first season in 2015, the Minutemen finished 5-13-1 but won three of its last six games.

SU beat both UC Riverside and Rutgers in last year’s Central New York Classic, outscoring its opponents 6-2. This month, SU went 1-0-2 in exhibition play while the Minutemen went 1-1.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of Friday night’s match.

All-time series: Syracuse leads 2-0

Last time they played: The Orange scored three goals in a 17-minute span to win 3-0 at home. In the 2013 midseason contest, now-senior Chris Nanco had two shots on goal. UMass was amid a seven-game losing streak and without a win on the season. Beating UMass gave Syracuse its third straight win. The Orange finished that year, its inaugural year in the ACC, 10-7-1.

The Massachusetts report: Returning nine starters, the Minutemen’s biggest strength is its defense. Its senior keeper, Jorge Becerra, and several defenders who have played significant minutes return. Sophomore Brandon Merklin played all but 36 minutes in his freshman campaign. He started all 19 contests and logged a team-high 1,674 minutes, earning him the team’s Rookie of the Year honor. Defenders Josh Jess and Clement Benhaddouche also anchor the defense.

Only four players on last year’s team scored two or more goals. Two of those players are gone, leaving senior Ty Goncalves and sophomore Kevin Boino as the team’s primary offensive threats.

This is a very talented team and strong program, Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre said. With a different coach and players, Umass may look more like its team of 2007 than that of 2015.

“They press, they win the ball back, they got some players that can hurt you,” McIntyre said.

How Syracuse beats Massachusetts: The Orange should be able hold UMass’ offense in check. But SU players noted the Minutemen’s athleticism and said not allowing dribblers more than two or three uninterrupted touches will be SU’s main focus on the defensive end Friday night.

The Orange will win this match by scoring, just as it did the last time these two teams played three years ago.

Stats to know:

57 — Percent of goal-scoring Syracuse has lost from last year’s team, notably its top-two scorers Julian Buescher and Ben Polk.

7 — Number of starters the Orange returns this year, including the entire defense.

14 — Number of goals the Minutemen scored last year, about one-third of Syracuse’s 44-goal season and second-to-last in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Player to watch: Andrew Barrowman

The freshman forward has yet to play a regular season match, but McIntyre singled him out as a big-time scoring threat. In high school, he trained with the U.S. under-17 national team. Earlier this week the 6-foot-1, 160-pounder was named to the Atlantic 10 preseason All-Rookie team.

Published on August 26, 2016 at 12:22 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21