Dominic Lamolinara had time to think about his plan.

Trying to preserve a one-goal lead with 18 seconds left, the Syracuse goaltender considered the possibilities during an Army timeout, eventually deciding it was going to come down to a one-on-one with a Black Knights scorer and the game on the line. Once play resumed, the plan materialized just as it had in his mind.

Army junior midfielder Alex Van Krevel approached the crease from the right side, Lamolinara took two steps out of the net and rotated his stick down, and Van Krevel shot high right off the goaltender’s helmet. The game ended in a flash, and the Orange sideline poured onto the field with Lamolinara in the middle of the celebratory scrum.

‘I was looking at the ball the whole time,’ Lamolinara said. ‘I wasn’t really looking away. I wasn’t really directing anybody. I knew that it was going to be me and one other guy, so I just kept my eyes on that the whole time. I got lucky enough to make a good play.’

For the second time in as many games, Syracuse head coach John Desko opted to use two goaltenders, Matt Lerman and Lamolinara, in the Orange’s 10-9 win over Army on Sunday in the Carrier Dome. Lerman was between the pipes for the first half, allowing five goals and making four saves, while Lamolinara surrendered four goals and stopped five in his 30 minutes in net.

Through SU’s first two games, the two-goalie system has helped provide two victories. Against Army and the season opener against Albany, both bent but they didn’t break.

‘Dom and Matt have both been playing pretty well,’ Desko said. ‘I think right through the scrimmages to the games, it’s been a nice combination. What we’re seeing in practice the rest of the week has been pretty consistent to what we’re seeing in games.’

Army took nine shots in the fourth quarter, and Lamolinara turned back four of them. Before making his final save, the transfer from Maryland received a big test with about three minutes remaining in the game.

Army junior attack Andrew Boyd ran toward the goal and sent a low shot into the cage, but Lamolinara dropped down to both knees and stopped it to hold SU’s lead. If it had been split second later, the Black Knights would have tied it up.

Lamolinara said Boyd looked nervous and wanted to pass first, so when he finally did shoot, he didn’t set his feet.

When Lamolinara entered the game after halftime, the Orange was down 5-4.

Army scored with nine seconds left in the half, when attack Conor Hayes ran around the left side of the goal trying to beat SU defender David Hamlin. Hayes stopped quickly in his tracks, forcing Hamlin to do the same, giving the attack just enough time to whip a shot into the lower half of the net on the right side as Lerman tried to drop to make the save.

With the ball in the cage, Lerman stayed down on his side trying to process what happened as the Black Knights went into halftime with the lead.

‘There was nine or 10 seconds left. We expected them to come down and play hard to finish the half, as you would expect from them,’ Lerman said. ‘I thought defensively we played pretty well. A couple goals we probably should’ve had back, myself included.’

Lerman struggled somewhat in the second half, as that final goal was the third goal of a three-goal run for the Black Knights. Army attack Garrett Thul, who finished with three goals on the day, had beat Lerman five minutes earlier with a hard shot from 25 yards out.

At the start of the second half, Lamolinara ran to his goal while Lerman walked to the sideline and got a pat on the back from Desko. With Lerman’s day over, Lamolinara had to try and keep the Orange in it.

And with two game-saving stops, Lamolinara helped Syracuse earn a gritty win. ‘This one definitely felt good because we got a win for the team,’ Lamolinara said. ‘I was able to hold on to what Matt started in the first half, and it felt really good to do that for everybody.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

 

Published on February 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman