Binghamton was expected to be a tough challenge for Syracuse in the Orange’s season opener.
Early on, it was clear that wasn’t going to be the case.
The Orange just kept scoring and scoring and would go into the 2nd quarter up 8-0. The Bearcats didn’t find the back of the net until three minutes left in the first half when Syracuse was already up 13-0. The Orange would go onto win the game 21-4.
“Well I think it was a terrific start to our 2018 season," head coach John Desko said after the game.
“The guys really came in focused offensively and defensively. I thought Danny did a great job on the face offs to get us all those possessions."
Coach was referring to Danny Varello, who made his first career start today and couldn’t have done better. The sophomore was 15-17 on faceoffs, and was the main reason for the Orange’s electric start.
“I think our wings played really well. I don’t think I can’t recognize my wings today”, Varello said in the post-game press conference.
“If you think about it, there really wasn’t that many clean face offs. I think there was a lot of loose balls and I think our wings did a really good job today,"
After two Binghamton goals at the end of the first half, the Orange went into the locker room with a 13-2 lead. The Syracuse offense picked up where it left off in the 2nd half with a goal by Brendan Bomberry less than a minute into the 3rd quarter. That was just one of Bomberry’s 5 goals on the day.
“Obviously {this game} is a huge confidence booster at the start of the season, especially for our offense”, said Bomberry, who ended the game as SU’s leading scorer. “21 goals for our offense--that’s huge.”
Binghamton was outshot 53-19 by Syracuse, and only won five faceoffs all game.
"We're still trying to figure out who the 2018 Bearcats are going to be”, Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown said after the loss. “This is not who we are so we have a lot of work to do. As a coaching staff we are going to go home, roll up our sleeves and figure out what we need to do to move forward from here."
As for Syracuse, they will quickly go from being a heavy favorite to potentially being an underdog.
SU will play host to Albany on Saturday in the Carrier Dome at 1 p.m.
