The Syracuse men’s soccer team relies on Nick Roydhouse for half of its offensive production. So when Roydhouse couldn’t even get a single shot off Wednesday, it meant the Orange’s season-long offensive struggles continued.

Roydhouse is SU’s undisputed offensive leader with 40 shots, four of which have resulted in goals. But in Wednesday’s game against St. John’s, Roydhouse didn’t have even one. In the 0-0 tie with the Red Storm, the dominant midfielder was cut off, further complicating the troubles of the SU offense.

‘I think their defense definitely focused on him and then collapsing on him and not letting him shoot,’ forward Brett Jankouskas said. ‘So when they did and they got in front of him, he would pass it off and other people would shoot.’

But the others were only able to shoot seven times, and just two of those shots were on goal. SU (2-5-5, 0-1-3 Big East) will face Marquette (4-4-4, 1-1-2 Big East) Saturday, another Big East opponent. The Golden Eagles give up an average of 1.25 goals a game, but Syracuse’s average goals scored is less than half that. The Orange has scored more than one goal in a game only on one occasion, in its 3-2 win against Colgate.

Roydhouse has not scored since Sept. 28 against Canisius; and with no shots on Wednesday, the burden fell on the rest of the offense.

Head coach Ian McIntyre often plays a 4-5-1 formation, and recently Jankouskas has been that one up top. Of the players who could step up to the scoring role, he is the most obvious choice. He has become more of a presence on the field, scrappily taking on defenders. But the freshman has not developed the maturity that could eventually lead to more scoring chances.

In Wednesday’s game, he said he made a few technical mistakes, passing when he should have held the ball and shooting when he could have passed. Nonetheless, he was the closest to scoring with a shot that went inches over the crossbar.

‘Brett played really well,’ Roydhouse said. ‘He had a couple good chances. He came really close. The keeper made a couple of good saves, and he just put one over the top.’

As the rookie continues to improve — he has nine shots in the last three games — the team is still struggling to find the back of the net. The win against then-No. 24 Colgate is starting to look more and more like an aberration.

Formation has an effect on how the team is shooting, Roydhouse said. Toward the end of the St. John’s game, McIntyre switched to a 4-4-2 and moved Roydhouse up top. This move put more pressure on the Red Storm, instead of letting the SU defense fend off repeated attacks.

Having more players up front also helped the Orange keep possession, which Jankouskas said is a key in getting more shots. But because of the formations of other teams and how a specific opponent defends, the Orange is unable to always keep those two forwards. McIntyre will not decide until closer to the Marquette game what formation will be played on Saturday.

‘The days when we have more shots are the games when we win the ball back on their half and we have less distance to travel,’ Jankouskas said. ‘When you win it in their half, you don’t really need to kick it up because you already have it up. So you just kind of keep it until you find a hole and then get a shot.’

When the shots do come, the major issue is getting them on goal. So Roydhouse and the rest of the offense have to now put their energy into taking shots that matter.

As Roydhouse said, the shot statistic means much less than the shots-on-goal statistic does. Less than 40 percent of Syracuse’s shots this season have been on goal. Only two were on goal against St. John’s.

Said McIntyre: ‘Twenty shots (sic) and no goals and seven shots and no goals — there’s not a lot of difference really.’

alguggen@syr.edu