After a colorless first half, sophomore forward Ricky Schramm provided a burst of offensive fireworks. Notching a hat trick, Schramm led the Georgetown men’s soccer team to a 3-2 victory over Syracuse Orange (2-7-0, 0-3-0 Big East) on Sunday for the Hoyas’ third consecutive win.

Georgetown (6-5-0, 2-2-0 Big East) pulls to .500 in the Big East with its second straight come-from-behind win as the team sails past the midseason point.

After falling to elite competition in the early part of the season, the Hoyas have hit their stride against the latest opponents.

During the first half, however, Georgetown struggled to develop a rhythm as neither team made headway on offense.

While the Hoyas posted five shots in the first 45 minutes, they only forced Orange junior goalkeeper Alim Karim to make one save. Syracuse was just as ineffective with two shots and one save from sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Keszler.

The Orange have lagged on attack this year, facing shutouts in four of the previous five games, and did little to reverse the trend early in the game. The Hoyas did not take advantage of this lull either, and the game limped to a scoreless close to the first half.

Both teams picked up their attack in the second half to create results. Syracuse broke through first when junior forward Jeff Evans aimed for the goal only to have the ball deflected. Junior defender Pat Gallagher rebounded the loose ball with a shot to the far post for the goal in the 52nd minute.

Georgetown, which faced a goal-down situation against West Virginia earlier in the week, handled the pressure well and kept striking.

Schramm connected in the 60th minute off senior forward Kaiser Chowdhry’s pass to put the team back in contention. Schramm repeated with the go-ahead goal, this time coming from a header on the goal line with Chowdhry and senior midfielder Dan Gargan with the assists in the 70th minute.

Schramm capped off the win and completed the hat trick four minutes later as Gargan fed him a pass, setting up a one-on-one that Schramm rocketed past the goalkeeper into the left corner of the goal.

Syracuse, however, put up a fight to stay in the game, despite the two-goal deficit.

The Orange’s relentless pushing down in the Hoyas’ territory eventually paid dividends at the close of the game when junior defender Alejandro Nuno knocked the ball in off a throw-in play with 45 seconds left on the clock.

Despite moving to within one goal, there was not enough time for Syracuse to press its cause, and the Orange fell to the Hoyas 3-2.

While Georgetown finished with the win, Syracuse put up an equally strong effort. The Orange fired off 11 shots in the second half to the Hoyas’ six, but the home team was kept from scoring by Keszler’s three saves.

Schramm and Gargan dominated the offensive output for Georgetown, contributing four shots each. Evans led his side with a game-high five shots. The game was also fairly physical with the Hoyas committing 16 fouls and the Orange picking up two yellow cards.

Georgetown continues its road trip next Saturday against Providence. The Friars have had a rough season, failing to win a game in seven tries so far this season. During this critical mid-season stretch, the Hoyas need to pick up wins.

Now in a tie for sixth in the Big East, Georgetown can rebound after a rocky start in the upcoming matchups against the teams situated below them in the conference standings, including Pittsburgh and Rutgers.

Both Providence and Pittsburgh, however, defeated Georgetown last year and helped foil the team’s chance to make the postseason.

The Hoyas face the Friars at 1 p.m. on Glay Field in Providence, R.I.