On Ian McIntyre’s team, there’s an understanding when it comes to working on set pieces.

“He wants us to take ownership,” said Syracuse midfielder Nick Perea. “If you’re on set pieces, then you need to practice (them) on your own time.”

“We like to take pride in our set pieces and how well we do them.”

However, the Orange’s execution on set pieces — free kicks and corner kicks — has been spotty over its last three games. In SU’s win over Massachusetts on Sept. 25, two of the Orange’s three goals came off of set pieces. But in the Orange’s shutout loss to Virginia on Saturday and its overtime win over Binghamton on Tuesday, SU wasn’t nearly as successful converting on its set plays.

The Orange (7-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) hopes to give its attack a boost with better execution on set pieces when it hosts North Carolina State (4-2-2, 1-2-1) at SU Soccer Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m.

“These games are so closely fought and they’re very competitive, sometimes they swing one way or another on a set-piece opportunity,” McIntyre said. “In the modern world, we’re watching all each other’s games. It’s important that your set pieces evolve as the season goes on.”

Junior Jordan Murrell’s left foot strikes the ball on most of Syracuse’s set pieces, especially its free kicks and right-corner kicks. Every day, he tries to hit the field before the team’s practice to attempt approximately 20 of them, he said.

And if there’s sufficient time after practice, Murrell goes right back to improving his skill.

“I try to put it in the best place as possible,” Murrell said, “and hopefully my players are making a run in the same spot as the ball is. It’s kind of like a look in the eyes across the pitch and see where they’re looking to go and try and put it on their head, so they can score.”

That’s exactly what Murrell did against the Minutemen when he placed a corner kick ball right on Perea’s head. Standing inside the front post, all Perea had to do was give the ball a slight nod to send it to the back of the net for a goal.

Later in the match, Murrell fired a free kick from outside the box toward the net, in a perfect spot for Juuso Pasanen to head it home.

“We have players who can really put balls in dangerous areas. He strikes a great delivery,” McIntyre said. “So if he puts them in the right areas, then it’s the job of the guys to get on the end of them.”

But when SU faced a suffocating Virginia defense and a scrappy Binghamton team, the connection wasn’t there.

In a six-minute span during the second half against UVA, Syracuse drew five set-piece opportunities, and on all five, the Orange failed to capitalize. After a scuffle between the Cavaliers and SU, Murrell launched a free kick too far from the goal for a teammate to have a chance to redirect it on net.

Against Binghamton, the Orange’s nine corner kicks resulted in zero goals, forcing SU’s attack to rely on other methods for its two scores.

Murrell said both the location of his set-piece kicks and his teammates’ off-ball movement are areas that always need improvement, and set pieces are an aspect of SU’s game that will dictate much of the team’s success going forward.

“We work hard on them every week,” Murrell said. “They’re very important in the world of football nowadays. Games are won and lost on set pieces and we need to be sure on them.”

Published on October 3, 2013 at 1:31 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb