The Syracuse Orange returned home on Sunday for their first game in the JMA Dome in 37 days, emerging with a noisy, 18-12 victory over the No. 13 Georgetown Hoyas to improve to 8-2 with their fifth straight win.
For much of the afternoon, the Orange (and Hoyas) seemed hell-bent on cramming 37 days worth of action into the first live lacrosse local fans had seen from the men’s team in over a month.
Ultimately, it was worth the wait for the home fans as they were treated to some frantic up-and-down the field
action, an explosion of ‘Cuse’s offense in the mid-game, and the unfortunate flurry of Orange penalties that once again created some chaos late.
The catalyst for the victory was an 11-1 run from the 2:38 mark of the first quarter to the 3:37 mark of the second quarter, and incendiary sequence of events in which the Orange lit up the Dome with 11 goals in 14 minutes to take complete control of the game at 12-4. While Georgetown would fight back and SU would get screwy with the mental mistakes and penalties, the Hoyas never got closer than five goals the rest of the day.
‘Cuse looked to push the pace whenever they got the chance. They initiated early in the half-field, and attacked in transition when they saw open space. With both Jimmy McCool and Anderson Moore feeling it between the pipes, the result was a fast-paced game that saw the teams combine for 87 shots, 61 shots on goal, and 31 saves between the goalies. The shots on goal were by far the most in a Syracuse game this season, surpassing the previous high of 52 in the Harvard game, while the saves tied the Princeton game for most.
The offense was on a heater in this one. They shot 40 percent (18-of-45) and had nine assists, with 11 players recording a point and nine scoring a goal. Michael Leo cashed in the most with a career-high tying five goals, while Joey Spallina was spinning things, both literally and figuratively, with four assists plus a pair of goals.
Finn Thomson had a hat trick with an assist, the seventh straight game he’s scored multiple goals, and Payton Anderson started the game on the bench and came in to pick up two goals and an assist. Wyatt Hottle had a pair of goals, while Charlie Kraftson scored twice as many points as he had in his entire career with a goal and an assist.
Even before ‘Cuse started lighting up the score board, the game got off to a chaotic start. In the early going, the Orange took a handful of bad shots from distance early in possessions which were comfortably saved by Anderson Moore. The Hoyas were able to take advantage on the other end, jumping out to a 3-1 lead halfway through the first quarter with all three goals being scored after questionable shot choices.
Thank goodness for Jimmy McCool, who had another outstanding game in a season full of them with 17 saves and a .586 save percentage, and came up with six huge saves in the first quarter to hold Georgetown’s lead to just two goals at a point when the Orange were struggling to generate offense. McCool bailed out his defense a bunch of times in this one, both early and late, and this game looks a lot different without his efforts.
Late in the first, SU lit the fuse on offense when Wyatt Hottle dodged a shortie down the right alley and scored on-the-run with an excellent shot off-stick side low to beat Moore. 35 seconds later, Finn found Greg Elijah-Brown open on the edge of the crease for a simple finish on the man-up to the tie game at 2-2.
With 27 seconds left in the quarter, an aggressive ride caused a Georgetown player to lose his balance and the ball, which Finn picked up and scored with Moore scrambling to get back in position, giving ‘Cuse a lead they would never surrender and ending the quarter with a 4-3 lead despite a mistake-filled first 15 minutes.
The second quarter is where SU really separated. Payton Anderson didn’t play in the first quarter, but came off the bench and immediately scored on a simple face dodge up top where he beat a shortie and scored ahead of an on-rushing pole slide on his first scoring chance of the game.
A few minutes later, Georgetown ended the four-goal run after a pass trickled through the defense and was fired past McCool from the far side to make it 5-4 ‘Cuse.
14 seconds later, Spallina fired one home on the tail end of a face-off scrum that was picked-up by Leo and swung around to Joey by way of Johnny Mullen. Finn followed less than a minute and a half later on an X dodge in which he curled around the crease and nailed a beautiful jump shot in the far upper corner before the defender could get to him from the other side of the crease.
Just under a minute after that, Spallina kept the eye candy going with a gorgeous inside roll dodge coming up from GLE that he finished with a dive and finish while jumping over the crease.
One minute later, the Orange scored a perfectly-executed transition goal in which Riley Figueiras ran the ball up the field and held it just long enough to draw the defense and hit Dante Bowen, who dumped it down to Michael Leo to finish it off.
35 more seconds, and Anderson scored his second goal on-the-run against a shortie with his right hand, this time dodging down the left alley as he deposited the ball in the near upper corner. 30 seconds after that, Charlie Kraftson rolled away from his shortie matchup and dodged straight across the top before firing back across his body to beat Moore for his second goal of the season.
One minute later, possibly the most up-and-down the field sequence of the game ended the extended ‘Cuse run. It started with an Anderson Moore save before the Hoyas pushed the ball up in transition and took a shot that McCool saved. Jimmy threw a beautiful, looping outlet pass to Vincent Bolognino, who ran up and found Spallina, who hit Leo for the goal. The whole sequence was old school from start to finish, as the ball went from GU’s goal to SU’s goal and back in roughly 20 seconds, and Leo’s goal ended the 11-1, 14-minute run where the Orange looked unstoppable and took a commanding, 12-4 lead with 3:37 to play in the half.
Georgetown ended the half with a flurry of their own, scoring two goals in eight seconds to get within six and bring us a halftime score of 12-6.
Coming out of the break, the Hoyas decided to mix some zone looks into their defense. It certainly worked to slow SU’s torrid pace from the first half, but it didn’t stop the Orange from scoring straight out of the gates on their first possession. 44 seconds into the third, Spallina threw a simple pass from X to Finn in space for a slick finish near the crease to open the second half proceedings.
Michael Leo would follow with his third and fourth goals of the game, both late in the shot clock, to give ‘Cuse their biggest lead of the game at 15-6 midway through the third quarter. The first of those goals was assisted beautifully by Bear on a cross-defense skip pass that found Leo for a shot-clock-beating goal.
With a nine-goal lead and the final 20 minutes approaching, sloppiness started to set in for the Orange for the second straight game. The defense got a little out of sorts and started losing their marks, helping to fuel a 4-0 Georgetown run late in the third that made it a 15-10 game, the closest the Hoyas would get the rest of the way.
SU would finish the quarter strong, with Luke Rhoa finally getting on the board with a nice shot from distance on a man-up chance, and Hottle making a smooth catch and finish on the edge of the crease for his second of the game that sent ‘Cuse to the fourth quarter with a 17-10 advantage. Both goals were assisted by Spallina on his third and fourth helpers of the day.
The fourth quarter was a bit of a disaster from a penalty perspective for SU, who committed six on the day, all in the second half. Jake Spallina picked up a flag right at the end of the third, which of course was served to start the fourth. That was followed by four more penalties in the fourth as the Orange tried to invite the Hoyas back into the game as they had done for Denver last Monday.
The worst of the bunch was committed by Chuck Kuczynski halfway through the quarter, when he made an egregiously bad hit up to both the head and neck of a Georgetown player. He launched himself into him, using both his helmet and shoving his forearm up into his neck. The play was reviewed and given a three-minute unreleasable penalty with an ejection for Kuczynski.
The M.O. of the Syracuse defense is physicality. They’re not afraid to announce themselves to you through force, and it very often is effective for them, but the rate they’ve been picking up penalties this year is not sustainable for a run through May.
Kuczynski’s poor decision put SU in a tough spot, even with a 17-11 lead at the time. The Hoyas had the ball with three minutes of an extra player, which they ultimately turned into one man-up goal and a 17-12 score. Despite playing most of those three minutes on defense, the Orange were thankfully able to limit the damage thanks to a couple more clutch saves by McCool.
Jimmy also made one final save on another man-up chance later when Figueiras picked up two penalties (questionably) on the same play.
With Georgetown still on the man-up but no longer in possession, Leo scored his fifth of the day on the very rare open-net, man-down goal with the Hoyas pressing out with Moore even with an extra man on the field; being down by five goals with only two minutes left will put you under that kind of pressure to go get the ball back. Leo was the beneficiary, and he brought us to our final score of 18-12.
Overall, it wasn’t the perfect performance, but it was an electrifying game that reinforced how great it is to have ‘Cuse back home in the Dome.
And that’s exactly where they’ll be for their next game, which will open up ACC play against undefeated Duke on Saturday at 2 PM on ESPN U.
