Saturday, March 16, 2013

BIG FIRST QUARTER PROPELS NO. 11 SYRACUSE TO 13-8 WIN OVER NO. 4 JOHNS HOPKINS


SYRACUSE, N.Y. – No. 11 Syracuse (4-1) opened up a 6-1 lead and never looked back in a 13-8 victory against No. 4 Johns Hopkins (5-2) Saturday, March 16 at the Carrier Dome. It was the Orange’s third straight home win against the Blue Jays, and the team’s seventh victory in the last nine series meetings dating back to May 2006.


“Obviously, to have Hopkins come into the Carrier Dome rated where they were (in the polls), I think this win is going to do a lot for us going forward,” SU head coach John Desko said. “I thought we were prepared and our guys knew what they had to do going into the game and it showed today on the scoreboard.”


Junior midfielder Scott Loy (Toledo, Ohio) scored a career-high three goals to lead the SU offense. In addition, redshirt sophomore Henry Schoonmaker (Portland, Ore.) contributed a personal-best three points (two goals, one assist) and senior JoJo Marasco (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) passed out a game-high three assists.


Down 1-0 early, SU reeled off six straight first-quarter goals against a Blue Jay defense that had allowed only seven first-quarter tallies all season. Five goals in the run were scored by midfielders. Schoonmaker had two and Luke Cometti (Syracuse, N.Y.), Hakeem Lecky (Duxbury, Mass.) and Loy each had one. Junior attackman Derek Maltz (Ashburn, Va.) punctuated the scoring spree with 2:41 left in the quarter to push the margin to 6-1 heading into the second period.


The Blue Jays stopped the bleeding with an extra-man goal by Wells Stanwick with 10:32 left in the second quarter. It was the first of three goals for Stanwick in the period as the Blue Jays outscored SU 5-2 in the quarter to close the gap to 8-6 at halftime.


The Hopkins run prompted a goalie change as Desko elected to replace starter Bobby Wardwell (Clifton Park, N.Y.) with junior Dominic Lamolinara (Arnold, Md.) in the second half. Lamolinara gave up an unassisted goal to Ryan Brown at the 12:35 mark of third quarter that got the Blue Jays within one (8-7), but he made three saves in the quarter and shut out Hopkins for the remainder of the period.


Lamolinara and the play of the rest of the Orange defense allowed Lecky, junior Billy Ward (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and Loy to score in succession to extend the SU advantage to 11-7 heading into the last 15 minutes.


Hopkins cut the lead to 11-8 when Brandon Benn picked up a rebound and scored in tight, but the Blue Jays never got any closer.


Lamolinara finished with five saves and he allowed just two goals in 30 minutes to earn his first win of the season.


Junior Chris Daddio (Purcellville, Va.) also contributed significantly to the victory. Daddio won 10-of-24 (.416) faceoffs to neutralize the Blue Jays’ Mike Poppleton (13-23, .565) who entered the game as the NCAA leader in faceoff winning percentage at better than 70 percent.


Stanwick finished with a team-best four points (three goals, one assist) to lead the Blue Jays. No other Hopkins player had more than one point. Goaltender Pierce Bassett totaled 11 saves in the loss.


The Orange returns to BIG EAST play on Tuesday, March 19 when it makes its first-ever trip to Providence to take on the Friars. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Friar Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.


Game Notes: Sophomore Sean Young (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) made his Orange debut, starting on close defense … Young limited Benn, who had been averaging 3.6 goals per game for the Blue Jays, to one goal Saturday … Senior defensive midfielder Matt Pratt (Binghamton, N.Y.) extended his goal-scoring streak to three games … Pratt tallied a fourth-quarter goal that helped seal the win … The victory was SU’s first against a top-five team since April 30, 2011 when the Orange defeated top-ranked Notre Dame, 11-8 … Loy’s hat trick raised his season goals total to seven … Loy had four goals all of last year.
 
 

Winter Clothing Clearance Sale at OneStopFanShop.com! While supplies last!

No comments:

Post a Comment