Since allowing a goal against Notre Dame on Sept. 13, Alex Bono went almost 540 minutes without allowing another.

But early in the second half of Syracuse’s match against Albany on Tuesday night, Bono allowed a shot from Afonso Pinheiro to squeak just inside his near post. It was Bono’s first mistake in almost a month, and with the score knotted at one, it put the Orange in a place it hadn’t been all season: tied and not scoreless.

Still, the No. 4 Orange (10-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) escaped with a 2-1 victory over Albany (3-4-5, 1-0 American East) on Tuesday night on midfielder Alex Halis’ score with nine minutes remaining in regulation.

“They say that a goal is not one person’s fault, it’s more of a plane crash,” Bono said. “The plane doesn’t just go down and crash. The engine comes down, and then something else happens, and then this happens and this happens and then the crash happens.

“We lost the ball, bad tracking and (Pinheiro) made it through and he had a good finish.”

It was a slow night all around for Bono, as Albany focused on its defensive third with a 3-4-3 formation. The Great Danes took just four shots, just one on net. Tuesday’s match marked just the second time this season Bono did not record at least one save.

With Syracuse flat in the opening minutes of the second half, Albany gained momentum in its attacking third. Forward Leo Melgar picked up the ball in the middle of the attack and slid a pass to Pinheiro on his right wing. Pinheiro slowed down and took a few short dribbles before shooting.

Though Bono got a piece of the shot, it wasn’t enough, and the shot went by his near side.

“As a team, we started the second half so flat, we kind of needed that to kick us into gear,” Bono said. “We lost the ball in a bad spot, one ball through and he was in. He just kind of curled it around me in my near post.”

Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre emphatically said it wasn’t a shot Bono definitely should have saved. The coach also added what was more important was the way his goalkeeper and the rest of the SU team responded, winning for the first time in comeback fashion.

“It’s good to know that we have that in us, that we can come against adversity and get a late goal to put us through,” Bono said. “But I like it better when we don’t give up goals and I think everyone else does too.”

Published on October 7, 2014 at 11:36 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu