SU MEN'S LACROSSE BLOWS PAST ST. JOHN'S, 14-8

KENNESAW, Ga. – No. 11 Syracuse (3-2) snapped its two-game losing skid and improved to 3-0 in non-conference games this season with a 14-8 triumph against St. John’s (2-3) at the inaugural Cobb County Lacrosse Classic at Fifth Third Bank Stadium. Junior Kevin Rice (Skaneateles, N.Y.) posted his second eight-point game of the season, scoring a career-high four goals and passing out four assists. Senior Derek Maltz (Ashburn, Va.) returned to the starting lineup and contributed five points, including a season-best four goals. Redshirt sophomore Dylan Donahue (Camillus, N.Y.) continued his sizzling start to the season, adding three goals on four shots. Senior goalie Dominic Lamolinara (Arnold, Md.) made 12 saves in three quarters of work, including 11 stops in the first half. Orange head coach John Desko said Lamolinara’s performance was essential to Syracuse building a commanding 11-3 halftime advantage. “He was seeing the ball really well,” Desko said. “I thought he was a big reason why we had the lead going in at halftime. He made some very good saves for us, not only from the outside, but in tight on some of their great attackman.” In addition to Lamolinara’s stellar play, the defenders in front of him were as active as they’ve been all season. Syracuse allowed just four goals in the first three quarters, and the Red Storm turned the ball over 17 times in the game. Orange defensemen directly forced 13 of those miscues, a season high. Redshirt sophomore defender Brandon Mullins (Coppell, Texas) led the charge, setting career highs for both ground balls (6) and caused turnovers (4). Senior Matt Harris (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) also recorded four caused turnovers to equal his personal best. With the score tied 2-2 midway through the first quarter, the Orange used a 10-1 run to break the game open and secure a commanding 12-3 advantage early in the third quarter. Rice had three goals and three assists in the stretch and Donahue bagged all three of his goals in the surge. The Red Storm’s Colin Keegan finally found the cage at the 9:37 mark of the third quarter, ending a 25:21 scoring drought for St. John’s to make the score 12-4. In the fourth quarter, Kieran McArdle scored an extra-man goal one minute into the period to close the gap to 12-5 before consecutive goals by Maltz pushed the SU lead back to nine, 14-5, with 7:21 to play. Three straight Red Storm goals, mainly against the Orange reserves, closed the game’s scoring. McArdle paced St. John’s with three goals and two assists. Keegan and Kevin Cernuto added two goals apiece. Red Storm goalie Joseph Danaher finished with seven saves in a losing effort. The Orange held the advantage in shots (40-35) and ground balls (30-24). SU also successfully killed five of the Red Storm’s six man-up opportunities. Syracuse returns to action Saturday, March 15 against Johns Hopkins. Faceoff is slated for 12 p.m. at Homewood Field in Baltimore. The game will be televised live on ESPNU. Game Notes: Sophomore Ryan Palasek (Rocky Point, N.Y.) earned his first career start on close defense before Harris moved down low and played the majority of the game there … Junior Nicky Galasso (West Islip, N.Y.) scored two goals in the first half. They were his first goals in an Orange uniform after transferring to Syracuse from North Carolina prior to the 2013 season … Freshman Nick Weston (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) was credited with his first career assist in the fourth quarter … With the victory, Syracuse improved to 8-0 all-time against St. John’s and 3-0 all-time in games played in the state of Georgia.