SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The second-ranked Orange men's lacrosse team opened the 2014 season with a pair of scrimmage wins on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse knocked off Hofstra, 12-8, and defeated 2013 Division II national champion Le Moyne, 15-4. The exhibitions featured three regulation quarters and a fourth 15-minute quarter of running time.
The attack duo of junior Kevin Rice (Skaneateles, N.Y.) and redshirt sophomore Dylan Donahue (Camillus, N.Y.) lit up the Dome with an impressive scoring display, combining for 18 points in the two games. Against Hofstra, Rice tallied one goal and four assists, while Donahue put up four goals and passed out one assist. The pair continued to sizzle against Le Moyne in the second game. Rice totaled a game-high five points (two goals, three assists) versus the Dolphins and Donahue bagged three goals.
“They work really well together,” Orange head coach John Desko said of the pair. “They see each other and make the extra pass. They move so well off the ball it really makes them hard to cover. I think it throws teams off defensively with their constant movement.”
In SU’s first game, Hofstra led 2-1 early before Rice and Donahue took over. Rice connected with Donahue for goals twice during a 3-0 Orange run in the middle of the first quarter that resulted in a 4-2 advantage.
The two continued to dominate in the second period. Rice notched one goal and one assist in the stanza and Donahue added another goal as the Orange outscored Hofstra 3-1 to extend the lead to 8-4 at the half.
Hofstra’s Korey Hendrickson trimmed the margin to three (8-5) with an unassisted goal at the 13:07 mark of the third quarter, but that’s as close as the Pride got. Another three-goal SU scoring spurt pushed the Orange advantage to 11-5 with 8:24 to go in the third. The Pride scored three of the game’s last four goals, mainly against SU’s reserves, to produce the 12-8 final.
Goalies Dominic Lamolinara (Arnold, Md.) and Bobby Wardwell (Clifton Park, N.Y.) each played a half for Syracuse. Lamolinara made six saves in the first two periods and Wardwell had eight in the third and fourth quarters.
For Hofstra, Sam Llinares led the way with three goals. Chris Selva started for the pride in the cage and was credited with four saves. Eddie Collins played the second half between the pipes and stopped three shots. The Pride held a 17-6 advantage the faceoff X behind Kris Clark’s 14-for-19 showing, but didn’t have an answer for the combination of Rice and Donahue.
Against Le Moyne, Syracuse opened up a 5-0 advantage on goals by five different players, and the Orange led 5-1 after the first quarter. SU poured in five more goals in the second quarter to push the lead to 10-3 at halftime and cruised to an 11-goal triumph.
In addition to Rice and Donahue’s eight combined points, senior captain Derek Maltz (Ashburn, Va.) had three assists against the Dolphins to pace the Orange offense. Wardwell received the starting nod against Le Moyne and made seven more saves.
In Saturday's opening game, Hofstra defeated Le Moyne, 10-8, behind three points each from Llinares (one goal, two assists) and Torin Varn (three goals).
Syracuse concludes its preseason exhibition schedule on Saturday, Feb. 1 in Towson, Md. with scrimmages against Towson and Bucknell starting at 10 a.m.
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