The stretch of games where Syracuse’s offense came alive to score at will is in the past. The last time SU played, its offense was sloppy, scorers took ill-advised shots and the unit as a whole looked off.

Heading into arguably its biggest game of the season, the Syracuse attack needs to find its rhythm again.

‘Obviously, when you lose a game, no one really cares about those games anymore because it becomes: ‘What have you done lately?” SU attack Tommy Palasek said. ‘We’ve just got to go back to what we were doing before and have a short memory.’

The Orange’s offense has been inconsistent all year, clicking on all cylinders at times while revealing its inexperience at others. It has made goaltenders look elite and clueless. When No. 17 Syracuse (7-6, 3-2 Big East) plays No. 4 Notre Dame (10-1, 5-0 Big East) on Saturday at 5 p.m. in South Bend, Ind., it will need to limit its turnovers and take the high-percentage shots to break through against the top defense in the nation.

Notre Dame’s defense allows only 5.73 goals per game, good for first in college lacrosse. Fighting Irish goaltender John Kemp has a goals-against average of 5.67. As a team, Notre Dame hasn’t allowed double-digit goals to any opponent this season and hasn’t allowed more than seven since March 25.

It could be a recipe for disaster for an SU team in desperate need of a win to boost its NCAA tournament resume. The Orange’s tendency to take long shots from the outside straight into the goalie’s stick will only make the game easier for Kemp.

‘They do play such good defense, and they have such a great goaltender that you really want to try to work for high-percentage shots,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘Especially early in the game, the last thing you want is for that goalie to get comfortable, and they do play very good team defense and force a lot of shots from the outside.’

Syracuse’s offense comes alive when Palasek and fellow attack Derek Maltz are finding the back of the net. In SU’s 19-6 rout of Rutgers, Maltz finished with four goals and Palasek had three. Maltz followed up with a six-goal performance in a 13-12 win over Hobart, with Palasek adding one.

In the Orange’s upset loss to Georgetown, neither scored. The Hoyas’ defense took them out of the game completely, and the Syracuse offense struggled. Averaging the second-most goals per game in the Big East with two per game, Maltz’s role in SU’s offense is critical.

He also has a target on his back. Opposing defenses focus on him, but he has to make adjustments to make plays to counter that attention.

‘I see it every game,’ Maltz said. ‘I just try to do the best I can to get open or set picks for my teammates, or move as much as I can to create as much havoc for the defense as possible.’

Overall, Syracuse’s offense was ugly against Georgetown. Desko said 22 turnovers this late in the season is never something he wants to see. Against the Irish, the Orange will need to make the most out of every opportunity it has to score. If that means holding onto the ball longer than it normally would without stalling, then the Orange will execute that game plan.

But to do that, SU needs to hold on to the ball.

‘You turn the ball over more than 20 times, you can be prepared that the team’s probably going to beat up on you pretty good,’ Palasek said, ‘especially if they’ve got an offense that can create off those turnovers.’

If Syracuse manages to take down Notre Dame, it’ll have a top-10 win on its schedule that could be enough to impress the NCAA selection committee when it gives out at-large bids. The Orange will need one if it doesn’t win the Big East tournament next week.

Against the country’s best defense, a clean, complete performance from Syracuse’s offense is needed more than ever.

What SU has done in previous games is irrelevant. All that matters now is its performance Saturday.

‘As long as we execute, play better and do the things we’re supposed to do,’ Palasek said, ‘it’ll take care of itself.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on April 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman