GENEVA, N.Y. – No one expected this type of ending. Not the way the first half ended. Not with Syracuse holding a commanding six-goal lead along with the confidence of Hobart goaltender Peter Zonino.

Yet the Orange lost all that momentum in the second half and allowed the Statesmen to claw within one goal in the final seconds.

‘Going into the second half there, you didn’t think that was going to turn around like that,’ Tommy Palasek said. ‘They definitely looked like a different team. They didn’t give up, that’s for sure. They had a lot of heart.’

The No. 14 Orange scored 10 first-half goals, including three in a span of 58 seconds. Five of the first-half goals came from attack Derek Maltz, who finished with a career-high six goals. When the second half began, the Statesmen began a valiant comeback that lasted until the end, but failed to come up with the game-tying goal. Syracuse (7-5, 3-1 Big East) held off Hobart (3-8, 1-3 Eastern College Athletic Conference) in a heart-stopping 13-12 win in front of 2,800 at Boswell Field. For the sixth straight year, the Orange took the Krauss-Simmons Trophy against its in-state rivals.

Without its strong first half on Tuesday, though, Syracuse would have been in trouble.

Maltz tore up the Statesmen’s defense. He scored in transition on an assist from close defender Brian Megill at the 8:25 mark of the first quarter. Just less than a minute later, he scored on a feed from JoJo Marasco in a settled situation.

‘I was just able to find lanes, and I have great passers on this team,’ Maltz said. ‘They were able to hit me and find me in the crowd and I stuck them. I was happy with how I was playing, but when our offense moves the ball, we’re pretty dangerous.’

SU’s final goal of the half came when Brian Megill scooped up a ground ball off a Hobart turnover, raced up the field to clear it and found the back of the net from along the left side.

It capped a huge first half for the Orange. It also marked the end of Syracuse’s reign.

Against the top faceoff specialist in the nation in Bobby Dattilo, Syracuse’s struggles at the X returned. The Statesmen won 18-of-28 faceoffs, and each draw they won in the second half added steam to its comeback attempt.

Hobart outscored SU 5-1 in the third quarter to pull to within two going into the final period. Zonino looked like a different goaltender, making six saves to keep the Orange at bay.

‘We were shooting the ball and scoring low on him early. I thought he adjusted in the second half. We tried to shoot high on him,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘Then we come around, he’s making saves one-on-one, and then they’d score a goal and they’d get the possession with their faceoff guy who just did a terrific job.’

With every goal Hobart scored, its fans pounded on the metal bleachers and the thundering noise spilled onto the field, creating what Maltz called an ‘electric’ atmosphere.

Maltz and fellow attack Tim Desko each added a goal in the fourth quarter, and Syracuse restored its lead to three with 6:06 remaining.

The Orange had some more good looks at the goal, but its shots landed right in Zonino’s stick. SU couldn’t gain any more separation from the Statesmen.

Palasek said Hobart was giving his team chances, especially in the third quarter, and the offense was anxious to take them. Most of the time, it was to no avail.

‘I think in the third quarter, that’s what happened,’ Palasek said. ‘I feel like they were almost giving us some things we had to take. We would rather sit back and get the ball around, take some air of it.’

Instead, the game was on the line for the final six minutes.

Sam Miller scored an empty-net goal for Hobart with 3:41 left to get the Statesmen to within two. With Bobby Wardwell sprawled out on the turf after a scramble for the ball near the crease, Hobart played itself back into the game.

The Orange tried to hold possession, even getting called for a stall warning at one point, but it couldn’t play keep-away long enough.

Alex Love scored for Hobart with nine seconds left to make it 13-12, but it was too late. The Statesmen ran out of time.

After a frenetic second half that saw Syracuse nearly collapse while Hobart started taking control, SU could breathe a sigh of relief.

‘Credit them,’ Maltz said. ‘They fought back pretty hard, but we wound up with the win.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on April 17, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman