Tom Palasek tried to downplay the personal significance of Syracuse’s win over Johns Hopkins.

At first, the junior transfer from JHU said it was just another game on the schedule. He said it was nice to remain undefeated and get the close win.

But then his true feelings came out.

‘But to be honest, it’s even nicer to win because now it’s behind me,’ Palasek said. ‘I play for the Orange now. And it’s nice to have that win already and move on.’

Palasek played a major role in Syracuse’s 5-4 win over the Blue Jays on Friday. The Orange’s fourth attack assisted on two of SU’s five goals, sparking an offense that struggled throughout the game. He didn’t play until late in the second quarter but ended up starting the second half to help create some different matchups for Syracuse.

‘My confidence is coming from practice, just doing that every day with these other guys,’ Palasek said. ‘I think it builds character for our team just to win these close games.’

When Syracuse and Hopkins played last year, Palasek was wearing a Blue Jays jersey and causing problems for the Orange defense. He scored two goals and had an assist to lead the JHU offense, but Syracuse left Baltimore with the 10-7 win.

The junior watched the first 25 minutes of this year’s contest from the sideline. But when he finally stepped onto the field, he took full advantage of his first shot at his former team. SU’s offense had sputtered to that point, but Palasek needed just two minutes to provide a spark.

On his first touch of the game, he hit senior attack Stephen Keogh with a pass on the crease for an easy finish in front. It pulled SU within 3-2 after being held scoreless for 27 minutes.

The junior was rewarded by starting the second half.

Palasek made that decision look good with his second assist. Again, he sent a pass straight into his teammate’s stick from behind the goal. This time, senior midfielder Josh Amidon was the beneficiary, finishing from right in front to even the score at 3-3.

Palasek continued to play for much of the second half and both overtimes. It was the most playing time he has had this season.

Dolente dominates SU at the X

With the way the contest had gone, Syracuse’s game-winning goal came as an aberration.

Stephen Keogh’s score in double overtime came directly off a faceoff win by Jeremy Thompson. And although that win at the X put Thompson at 50 percent for the game, any draw that went Syracuse’s way was a rarity Saturday night.

Johns Hopkins faceoff specialist Matt Dolente won 10-of-14 faceoffs, right on par with his 70 percent season average. Syracuse used five different players to take faceoffs. Other than Thompson, the Orange won just 1-of-8.

‘Their faceoff guy gave them so many possessions off the faceoff,’ head coach John Desko said. ‘I think their wings did a really good job with loose balls and taking away our transition off the faceoff.’

Thompson won the first draw of the game for SU, but Dolente won the next six in the first half. The senior Blue Jay won many of his draws with ease, pushing the ball just in front of or behind him to scoop it up himself.

And with Johns Hopkins’ keep-away style of offense, winning those faceoffs was crucial.

‘We gave up five goals to a team that’s averaging (11 per game),’ Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said. ‘We held Syracuse to 33 shots. I think we had a great game plan.’

Unfortunately for Dolente, the last faceoff of the match may be the lasting memory. After the game, he only talked about that final faceoff loss in double overtime.

‘It was a tough ground ball for us that we didn’t come up with,’ Dolente said. ‘We just sent two guys to the ball when we really shouldn’t have.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

 

Published on March 22, 2011 at 12:00 pm