No. 1 Syracuse men's lacrosse pulls away for victory over Cornell

The Cornell men’s lacrosse team (3-7, 2-2 Ivy) and No. 1 Syracuse (9-1, 3-0 ACC) aren't necessarily friends, and it showed Tuesday night at the Carrier Dome in front of almost 3,000 fans.

Thirteen penalties in total were called, something Cornell head coach Matt Kerwick says was just another day in the office for these two teams.

"I think the tradition of this game and the history of this game, you look back in time, 13 penalties is nothing," Kerwick said. "We have to be more disciplined. You can't give up man advantages...you're going to be battling and you're going to be scrapping, tempers can get going. I would expect nothing less in a Cornell-Syracuse game than to see tempers get out there and guys going after each other. It's the way it should be played."

Photo: Codie Yan

Ben Williams faces off with a Cornell player during Tuesday night's game in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse won 15-8.

Cornell got off to a quick start early, scoring the first goal of the game and leading the Orange 4-2 deep into the first quarter. But with 2:53 remaining in the first, a scrum broke out in front of the Cornell net, resulting in three penalties, two of which went to Cornell. The Orange scored nine seconds later to pull within one.

That was the first of ten goals in a row scored by the Orange, who went on to lead the Big Red 12-4 midway through the third quarter.

Cornell had chances to stop the run, but unlucky shots off the post and wide prevented it from gaining momentum.

Attack Jordan Evans was a big part of the win, netting three goals and adding two assists on the night.

"I'd say Cornell got tired", Evans said. "You can't really rely on one guy to focus on. You have Sergio [Salcido] and [Nick] Mariano to go to...it really takes a lot of pressure off of our offense as a whole when you have that many guys that can score. I think that leads to their team not knowing when to slide, or sliding too late, and that's when we took advantage of our opportunities."

Syracuse head coach John Desko echoed Evans's statement. He said it's hard for the defense to rest and slow things down when Syracuse would score a goal and then get the ball right back off a faceoff, an area Syracuse dominated. The Orange won 20 of 26 faceoffs in the game.

Goalie Evan Molloy made some key saves for the Orange, stopping 9 of 16 shots on goal. Dom Madonna was inserted into the game late in the fourth quarter, and he allowed a goal on the only shot on target. Drake Porter also made an appearance, clocking 1:14 and making two saves. This was the freshman's collegiate debut.

The Orange travels to North Carolina to face the Tarheels (6-5, 1-1 ACC) on Friday. First faceoff is set for 4 p.m. at Fetzer Field.