One loss two and a half weeks ago cost Syracuse its No. 1 ranking. Now the Orange finally gets the chance to take out its frustration on the team that replaced it.

To say there’s something to prove against Notre Dame is an understatement.

‘It’s a lot of motivation for us,’ SU defender Brian Megill said. ‘We got knocked down a couple weeks ago when we lost to Cornell. We dropped a couple more spots than I thought we should’ve. Coming in to play No. 1 Notre Dame, we really have a statement to make.’

Syracuse will try to make that statement Saturday when it goes up against the Fighting Irish (7 p.m., ESPNU) inside the Carrier Dome. Not only will the Orange (12-1, 4-0 Big East) look to take down the team that took over as the nation’s No. 1, but it will also try to beat the lone undefeated team in the country. And that team also happens to be in its conference. In essence, this game will unofficially decide a Big East champion in the conference’s second season.

Led by its stifling defense, Notre Dame (10-0, 5-0) has managed to remain unbeaten despite several flirtations with defeat. Trying to break through the Irish’s wall of defense is the challenge that’s in store for the Orange.

The Orange is averaging almost 13 goals in its last three games. The Irish yields fewer than six goals per game. Syracuse head coach John Desko said his team has been working on its six-on-six game in practice, but it still has a ‘long way to go.’ Even if SU manages to get past the Irish’s defense, it still has to beat John Kemp, who will be standing in net. Kemp is second in the nation in goals-against average with 5.96.

‘We just have to work on our offense and move the ball and shoot well on this goaltender,’ SU attack Stephen Keogh said. ‘We watched some film, and he’s kind of a hot and cold goalie, so you don’t want to give him too much confidence.’

Keogh and the rest of Syracuse’s offense are looking to do something they have tried to do all year — stay patient when going to the goal. That’s especially true if SU finds it’s having trouble getting the ball past Kemp. Keogh said the Orange offense has a tendency to take long shots from outside the zone when frustrated. Sometimes the team settles for shots with no angle, costing it possession.

Against a goalie like Kemp, Syracuse is going to have to work for high-quality opportunities.

Notre Dame typically plays a man-to-man defense, but when opposing offenses begin to slide, it switches to a zone. Zone defenses have been a nemesis of SU’s offense all year, causing frustrations and poor shots. To combat that, SU has worked to get the ball to the inside and shoot from the crease or right outside of it. But the Irish’s ability to switch up defenses on the fly makes that a challenge in itself.

‘They don’t give up a lot of goals, especially on the inside,’ Desko said. ‘Everybody talks about their man-to-man defense, and it is man-to-man, but as soon as you start to slide, they almost drop into a zone. They really cover the inside very well.’

For the fifth straight game, the Orange will be without its third attack, Tim Desko, who’s still recovering from a knee injury that has sidelined him since he left SU’s game at Princeton on April 9. John Desko said there’s now an infection in the knee and that Tim is on antibiotics to treat it.

Tom Palasek, who has eight goals in his last five games, will likely get the start in Tim Desko’s place once again.

Syracuse is now in the position Cornell was in about two weeks ago when it beat SU. The Orange has an opportunity to knock off the No. 1 team in the country. This will be the eighth currently ranked team SU has faced this season.

For Desko, it seems like Syracuse is playing one of the nation’s best every week. That in itself could be enough to give the Orange enough experience and confidence in trying to beat Notre Dame.

‘It seems like many weeks this year, we’ve played No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 in the country,’ Desko said. ‘So we’ve had a very good schedule to prepare us for games like this and hopefully the playoffs.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

 

Published on April 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman