After pushing Notre Dame to the brink of an upset in the Big East tournament on Nov. 3, Ian McIntyre thought his players proved they had “more soccer left in them.”

The NCAA tournament selection committee agreed with the Syracuse head coach on Monday night. For the first time since 1984 and the second time in program history, Syracuse earned an appearance in the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid.

The Orange (12-6) will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., for an opening-round game against Cornell (15-1) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Berman Field. And that means McIntyre and Syracuse will extend the storybook 2012 season by at least one more game.

“I told the guys before tonight that tournament bid or no tournament bid, I’d be proud of the end result of this season,” said McIntyre, who coached Hartwick to an NCAA tournament berth in 2005. “But you could tell that as this week wore on, our guys weren’t happy with going out like they did.”

McIntyre said no Syracuse player wanted to end the season with the “sour taste” of a loss to Notre Dame. But Syracuse may have benefitted more from that 4-2 defeat than those players initially thought.

Syracuse held a lead over the Fighting Irish — the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament team – for 48 minutes of its Big East tournament game earlier this month. That game, combined with a breakout, 12-win season and another strong year for Big East teams, pushed Syracuse into the 48-team field.

The Big East will be represented by eight of those 48 teams. Team captain and senior Ted Cribley is just happy that his team is one of them.

“We were one of the six or so teams that were close, so going into tonight, you expect the worst,” Cribley said. “Now that we’re in, it’s fantastic.”

Syracuse can breathe a little easier now.

When the online selection show pitted the Orange against nearby Cornell in the second of three regional brackets, senior Louis Clark just shook his head in disbelief. But for the most part, other players, like fellow senior Mark Brode, rose to their feet in jubilation.

“They cheered so loud that we couldn’t hear what they (the selection show) were saying about us,” McIntyre said. “I’ll have to wait to see what they said, but there was no way we could hear with that noise.”

But the long-awaited celebration will also be a short-lived one. With only one loss on the season, Cornell is a tough draw for McIntyre’s team. SU has won seven of the last nine games against the Big Red, but McIntyre called his team’s next opponent “our toughest test yet.”

The Big Red won 15 games behind a high-octane attack led by forward Daniel Haber, who leads the nation in points per game (2.69) and goals per game (1.13). He also ranks third nationally with 43 total points and 18 total goals, and Cornell is ranked fourth nationally in scoring offense.

Even before the tournament selection show, Alex Bono said he would cherish such an opportunity. Syracuse’s last tournament appearance in 1984 came well before the freshman goalkeeper and Baldwinsville, N.Y., native was even born.

“If you told me before this year that in my first season, we’d win 12 games, make the Big East tournament and now get a shot at the NCAA, I would’ve thought you were crazy,” Bono said. “But there are guys on this team who haven’t gotten to this point during their whole career, so you learn to take advantage when these chances come your way.”

Those two words — “something special” — sum up this season best. Syracuse was picked to finish last in the Big East in the league’s preseason poll. Now, the Orange is NCAA-tournament bound.

But before his excited players filed out of the Melo Center viewing party, McIntyre made sure they appreciated their second chance at postseason play — and an extension of this year’s improbable turnaround.

“There’s no denying (Cornell is) talented,” McIntyre said. “We’ve celebrated already and now it’s time to get to work. We want to make some noise in this tournament.”

Published on November 13, 2012 at 2:25 am

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets