SYRACUSE, N.Y. – No. 15 Syracuse (7-6, 3-2 BIG EAST) rallied late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t overtake Georgetown (6-6, 2-3 BIG EAST), losing to the Hoyas, 10-8, on Saturday, April 21 at the Carrier Dome. The loss snapped Syracuse’s six-game winning streak against the Hoyas and spoiled the team’s Senior Day, as the Orange’s Class of 2012 was recognized prior to faceoff. Redshirt senior Tim Desko (Syracuse, N.Y.) and senior Bobby Eilers (Simsbury, Conn.) led the Orange with two goals each. Eilers added an assist to finish with team-high three points in his final regular-season game at the Dome. Brian Casey totaled a game-high four points, including three goals, for Georgetown. Travis Comeau and Dan McKinney added two goals each for the Hoyas. Georgetown notched eight of its 10 goals in the second half, and led 10-6 with less than five minutes to play when Syracuse made its run. Junior JoJo Marasco (Yorktown Height, N.Y.) scored with 4:31 left, then assisted on a goal by freshman Matt Walters (Villanova, Pa.) with 3:05 remaining to close the gap to 10-8. Syracuse had two chances late to make it a one-goal game, however, Georgetown goalie Matt Winters came up with crucial saves on good looks by Desko and senior Tommy Palasek (Rocky Point, N.Y.) in the final 30 seconds to stymie the rally. Winters stuffed Desko in tight with 26 seconds left, and deflected away a Palasek shot with three seconds to go to hold off the Orange. “They went ahead and made us play catch-up,” SU head coach John Desko said. “I thought they did a good job of that and their goalie made some pretty big saves in the cage for them.” Winters totaled 12 saves in the contest, including four in the fourth quarter. At the other end of the field, freshman goalie Bobby Wardwell (Clifton Park, N.Y.) registered seven stops for Syracuse before being replaced by sophomore Dominic Lamolinara (Arnold, Md.) late in the game. Thirteen of the combined 18 goals in the contest came after intermission as neither team generated much offense in the first half. The two sides were tied, 2-2, after the first quarter, and Desko notched the only goal of the second quarter when he fired a left-handed shot from 15 yards past Winter to give the Orange a 3-2 halftime lead. The action picked up after the break as the Hoyas evened the score at the 9:20 mark of the third period on an extra-man goal by McKinney. Desko answered for Syracuse less than a minute later, getting inside and flipping a low shot into the cage to put the Orange back up one, 4-3. Following Desko’s goal, Georgetown used a 4-0 run to take a 7-4 advantage in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Goals by Eilers and redshirt junior Pete Coleman (Madison, N.J.) cut the Hoya margin to one (7-6) with 11:23 left, but three straight unassisted goals, including two by Casey, proved too much for the Orange to overcome. Syracuse outshot the Hoyas in the game, 33-24. Georgetown held the advantage in ground balls (33-29) and faceoffs (12-9). The Hoyas won 7-of-8 (.875) faceoffs in the fourth quarter and 10-of-14 (.714) overall in the second half to help spark their offense. Syracuse concludes the regular season Saturday, April 28 at Notre Dame. Faceoff is slated for 5 p.m. on ESPNU. Game Notes: Palasek recorded his 100th career point with an assist on the game’s first goal … Eilers has four straight two-goal games dating back to April 10 at Cornell … Marasco extended his point streak to 21 games with his goal in the fourth quarter … Sophomore Scott Loy (Toledo, Ohio) was credited with his first assist of the year on Desko’s second-quarter goal … Walters finished with personal-best two points (1g, 1a) against the Hoyas … His assist on Marasco’s goal was the first of his college career.
Press release courtesy of SU Athletics
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