As the final two minutes ticked off the clock, Stephen Keogh’s attention turned away from the field and landed on a young Syracuse fan in the bleachers.

From his perch atop the SU bench Keogh’s day had long since ended with the Orange leading St. John’s by 12 the senior attack inked his autograph onto a ball for small boy who had ventured down to the front row of the Carrier Dome seats.

‘They kind of idolize some kids on the team,’ Keogh said. ‘I think that’s pretty cool. When I was a young kid, I was doing the exact same thing. … Whatever you can do to just make a kid happy.’

The autograph certainly satisfied the child and sent him scampering back to his seat. And the idolization was more than warranted.

Keogh and the SU offense combined for a season-high 20 goals and 50 shots in a 20-6 throttling of St. John’s in front of 4,022 in the Carrier Dome on Saturday. The Orange (14-1, 6-0 Big East) used an 11-goal first half to create an insurmountable lead that sealed the victory and SU’s second consecutive Big East championship. Fifteen different players scored in its highest scoring output since March 29, 2010.

The Syracuse offense flew out of the gates with five goals on its first five possessions. After only 8:13 of play in the first quarter, it led 5-1.

‘To be down 5-1, it’s tough to come back from that,’ SU attack JoJo Marasco said of St. John’s deficit. ‘We opened up real fast and didn’t look back from there.’

Fast seemed to be the optimal word choice to describe the Orange offense. Three of the goals in that opening flurry were scored in unsettled play.

Syracuse got on the board first after midfielder Tim Harder broke loose across midfield following a St. John’s turnover. He dished off to Joel White alone in the middle of the field for an easy one-on-one goal against Red Storm goaltender Jeff Lowman.

Minutes later, Marasco’s relentless riding of SJU defender Joe Addona forced a poor pass that was picked off by Syracuse attack Tom Palasek. He flicked it forward to Marasco, who was alone with a retreating Lowman. The goaltender fell backwards, and Marasco finished easily.

‘I think when we look back at the film, we’re going to realize we were probably OK 6-on-6 wise,’ St. John’s head coach Jason Miller said. ‘We just didn’t play enough of it. We had some really bad substitutions early in the game. Guys came off at the wrong time, and that left Syracuse guys open.’

That was the case when Bobby Eilers scored SU’s fourth goal of the game at the 7:42 mark of the first quarter. He entered the field and immediately received the ball out on top of the Syracuse offense.

A poor substitution by St. John’s defensively left the 6-foot-3, 216-pound Eilers matched up against Ryan Fitzgerald, a 5-foot-10, 168-pound freshman. Eilers took him left down the alley easily and buried a shot.

‘The guys are shooting a lot better now,’ Marasco said. ‘We’re moving a lot better on offense, and we’re playing well together finding the open guys, and we’re finishing. We play with more and more confidence every game, and it’s showing.’

By halftime, SU took an 11-5 lead, and the game was essentially over. It had weathered the mini three-goal run St. John’s put together to open the second quarter, and the Orange defense held the Red Storm scoreless for the final 26:31 of the game.

The 11 first-half goals came without a contribution from Keogh, who said the short-sticks of St. John’s pushed him around a bit early on.

But in the second half, the team’s leading scorer made his presence felt with a typical highlight-reel goal.

With roughly 6:30 remaining in the third quarter, the senior received a pass from Jovan Miller out in front of the goal. He quickly whipped the ball behind his head over his right shoulder, but the shot sailed wide. Seconds later, the ball popped up into the air a few feet off the crease. Keogh snagged it moving away from the goal and flung it behind his back into the goal.

All of the starting seniors were removed from the game by the 10:13 mark of the fourth quarter. Sixteen goals were already on the board for SU. It was a dominating performance that left a few young kids in awe of their idols.

Said Miller: ‘They proved that they’re as good as everybody advertised.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on May 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13