biglidde's Blog

It was a close game for the first half of the Big East Tournament semifinal, but the back-and-forth game didn't last for long. The Orange led 6-4 at the half but a nine goal second half and a scoreless fourth quarter for the Wildcats gave Syracuse a 15-6 victory. 

Here are three thoughts from the game:

1. Bobby Eilers is dangerous against a short-stick... 

As a coach looking at a defensive scheme against the Orange, there are a couple options. You could either put a long-pole on JoJo Marasco or Bobby Eilers. Villanova chose to keep the long-pole on Marasco and Eilers punished them. He scored four goals against the Wildcats. So, it's simple, move the long-pole to Eilers and have a short-stick on Marasco. Wrong. If you open up Marasco then he will be the one to punish you. Syracuse's offensive weapons have started to cause a defensive nightmare for opponents and they will continue to haunt the dreams of coaches as long as Eilers and Marasco stay strong. 

2. Is Wardwell the difference?

Earlier this season at the Carrier Dome, the Orange fell to the Wildcats by one goal. One major change since the last match-up is between the pipes. The goalkeeper is no longer Dominic Lamolinara. Freshman Bobby Wardwell has stood tall in net and he made a huge difference against Villanova the second time around. His 12 saves were a huge reason the Orange went on such long runs. When a goalie lets in goals, the momentum goes away. Wardwell kept the momentum going. Of course, he isn't the only difference between the games. Syracuse picked up 41 ground balls to Villanova's 22 and held the advantage at the face-off X. But Wardwell standing strong in the goal certainly helped the Orange's cause. 

3. St. John's did the Orange a favor...

This thought isn't even about the Syracuse-Villanova game, but the one right before it. Unranked St. John's took down the No. 2 team in the country. Notre Dame had just beaten Syracuse last week and it would have been a tough championship match-up for the Orange. Now, Syracuse faces a team it beat earlier in the year. St. John's struggles in two areas. One major problem for the Red Storm all year has been face-offs. Sound familiar? Since St. John's wont be too competative at the X, it gives Syracuse more chances to pick up more possesions. The other area where the Johnnies struggle is clearing the ball. The team was exceptional today, but with a hard ride from Syracuse, expect a lot of Red Storm turnovers. 

The Hobart-Syracuse rivalry dates back to 1916. The Orange lost that first game almost 100 years ago, but have controlled the series ever since. Syracuse took home the Kraus-Simmons trophy for the 71st time tonight with a 13-12 victory that came down to the final seconds. The Orange dominated the first half, taking a 10-4 lead into halftime. But a series of mistakes and some great play from the Statesmen resulted in one goal game with just nine seconds to go. The Orange won the face-off due to a Hobart violation and held on for the win.

Here are three thoughts:

1. Brian Megill isn't the savior after all...

I had a feeling Brian Megill wouldn't have the game he had against Rutgers today at the X. Especially because he was facing one of the best face-off guys in the country, Hobart's Bobby Dattilo. Megill won just 3-of-8 face-offs while Dattilo won 18 of his 28 tries. Megill is going to do fairly well against most teams but he didn't have much of a chance against Dattilo, who has won 67% of his face-offs this year. Many expected Megill to be the savior to all the Syracuse face-off problems, but he simply isn't going to be. It's all about who steps up on any given day. Chris Daddio might have a great game one week and then Ricky Buhr might have a great game the next. The Orange still don't have that go-to guy. That's not to say Megill isn't a great close defender, because he is. He picked up nine ground balls tonight and is still huge for the Orange around the crease. Megill also scored his first career goal tonight. 

2. Derek Maltz and Tommy Palasek are the keys of the offense...

Derek Maltz scored six goals tonight and seems to have broken out of the mid-season slump he was having. Maltz and Tommy Palasek seem to be firing on all cylinders right now, which is why offensive production hasn't really been a problem lately. Palasek finished the day with a goal and 3 assists. It seems like JoJo Marasco hasn't been producing and Maltz and Palasek have stepped up in his place, but that isn't really the case. Marasco has been more productive than it seems. With an assist on a Matlz goal tonight, Marasco extended is point-streak to 20-straight games. People just expect more out of him because of the number 22 on his back. 

3. The extra man opportunities are coming together for the Orange...

The Orange struggled early on this season with the extra-man opportunities. Coach John Desko and staff have worked hard to fix the bugs and it seems like the kinks have been worked out. Against Rutgers, Syracuse scored on three extra-man opportunities, which was a season-high. The team did the same tonight, scoring on 3-of-5 extra-man chances. A lot of things that weren't working out well early on in the season are starting to come together. Is this Orange team poised to make an NCAA tournament run? The Notre Dame game on April 28th should give Orange fans a better idea of what to expect come post-season play. 

Syracuse (5-5) couldn't handle Cornell (9-1) on a cold Tuesday night in Ithaca. The teams were tied 3-3 at the half after a hard-fought battle by both teams, but Cornell took over in the third quarter, scoring 5 goals and eventually blowing past the Orange 12-6. 

Here are three thoughts from the game:

1. Syracuse's success relies on possession...

When Syracuse has the ball, the team usually gets a good shot off or puts together a nice offensive possession. But the Orange struggle to get those possessions for a number of different reasons. The main reason being the lack of ability to grab face-offs. Today, the Orange grabbed just one face-off in the first half and took 8-for-22 overall. This created more possessions for Cornell and more opportunities to score. The Big Red outshot Syracuse 46-24 because of the control Cornell had over the ball.

Another factor that plays into possession is ground balls. Cornell picked up 39 ground balls in the game while the Orange picked up 23. Often times, a Syracuse defender would force the ball loose, but others couldn't capitalize and swipe up the ball. There were even times when the face-off player would move the ball to one of his teammates, and wouldn't be able to pick up the ground ball. When Syracuse takes possession of the ball, they can be dangerous, but they simply haven't been able to do that.

2. Consistency is key...

If Syracuse plays a consistent 60 minutes of lacrosse, I don't think there are many teams in the country who can beat the Orange. The problem with this is that the Orange have only put together a solid 60 once, maybe twice, this season. Today, the Orange were playing well against Cornell in the first half. It was an extremely entertaining game for the first two quarters. The Orange forced six first-half turnovers and gave up just four. The team had also failed to clear just one time. Then the second-half came along and everything changed. The Orange couldn't stop coughing up the ball and Cornell capitalized, taking a commanding lead. Syracuse turned the ball over 14 times in the second half and failed to clear the ball three times - after having a pretty successful season doing so. The team gave the game away, which has been a theme all season. The Orange have hints of greatness, but they can't seem to put together 60 minutes of quality lacrosse. 

3. There is no real solution in net...

It's time for Orange fans to face the reality that John Galloway isn't going to step back between the pipes for the Orange anytime soon. Bobby Wardwell got his second NCAA start tonight and didn't impress many people. On a couple occassions, he made some terrible mistakes that resulted in easy Cornell goals, and he didn't get saves when the team needed stops. Wardwell made 12 saves, which isn't terrible. None of the three goalies who have played this season have really had a terrible performance. They are all just mediocre, which is what Orange fans are going to have to deal with in the net this season. There was a point in the game when Matt Lerman started warming up behind the Syracuse bench, which could suggest that he is next in line to get another crack at the starting position. Regardless of who is in the net, the Orange are going to have to rely heavily on its defense if it wants to find success throughout the rest of the season. 

Syracuse (4-3, 2-1) fell to Villanova (5-3, 1-0) at the Carrier Dome on Sunday night 11-10. It was a slugfest between the two teams. The game was very physical and went back and forth. The Orange led for the majority of the first half but came out of the locker room sluggish and Villanova capitalized.

The game was still tied after the third quarter but the Wildcats took a two-goal lead in the fourth that the Orange couldn't surmount. In the final minutes, Syracuse had a few chances to score but Villanova goalie Dan Gutierrez stood tall at the net and let nothing by. Dominic Lamolinara made a save with five seconds left and bombed the ball downfield in one last effort to tie the game, but it was too late. 

Here are three thoughts from the game:

1. The team showed signs of life.

The first half was one of the best halfs of lacrosse this team has played in a while. Syracuse was out shooting Villanova 24 to 19, picking up more ground balls, clearing the ball well and even winning faceoffs. The Orange haven't been winning faceoffs all year, even against a team like Providence. But in the first half of today's game, Syracuse won 9-of-14 at the X. The offense looked really good. They were changing planes on their shots and getting to the net a lot. Had this play continued, the Orange easily would have come away with a win. But when Syracuse trotted out onto the field for the second half, something changed. The team won just 2-for-11 faceoffs, 0-for-4 in the fourth quarter. Coach John Desko said after the game that he was dissapointed in the teams offensive performance in the second half. He said they've worked on a lot of things all week in practice and he didn't see what they worked on out on the field today.

2. Dominic Lamolinara is the guy.

It has finally been decided, for real this time. Lamolinara is the goalie and he is in the cage to stay. He came out strong today. He had five solid saves in the first half and three in the second half. Unlike last week, there weren't any goals this week that made me question Lamolinara's ability. Everything he let by would have been very tough to save. But what impressed me the most about Lamolinara was his ability to clear. Today, he was making deep passes like John Galloway made last year. He also has a good eye for the open man. On multiple occasions, Lamolinara would find someone up field that would set up a wide open transition chance. Kevin Drew scored both of his goals today on long clear passes from Lamolinara and having that weapon is huge for this team. 

3. The Orange need to take advantage of the extra man opportunities.

The Orange were 0-for-5 today while being a man up. On Wednesday, Syracuse had two different two-man advantages and couldn't capitalize on either. Coach Desko went to work and designed a play for the extra man opportunities. He said in the press conference that the team didn't run the play during the first two man-ups today, which resulted in no good shots. During the final three man-ups, the team did run the play and it resulted in some good shots at the goal but they were saved. The game would have been a different story had the team been more successful on the extra man advantages and Desko admitted that after the game.