Syracuse finished its exhibition season undefeated after a pair of scrimmage victories in Columbus, Ohio.

The No. 13 Orange defeated No. 19 Ohio State 8-7 and Robert Morris 18-10 to cap a 4-0 preseason.

SU held a 6-3 lead against the Buckeyes at the half, but OSU charged back in the second before falling by a single goal. Seven different players scored for Syracuse in the opener, with attack Billy Ward the only multi-goal scorer. He led the team with three points.

The second game was all Orange, all the way.

SU raced out to a 7-1 lead and held an 11-2 advantage at the half before head coach John Desko put in his reserves. Attack Kevin Rice was the star for Syracuse in the second game, tallying five assists in the win against the Colonials. Attack Pat Powderly added four more assists, while fellow attacks Derek Maltz and Dylan Donahue each scored at least three goals.

Dominic Lamolinara got the start in goal in the second game after coming in to relieve Bobby Wardwell in the opener. Lamolinara made four saves in each game, while Wardwell made seven in the first game. Ben Romagnoli finished up the RMU game and tallied six saves.

The Orange now has two weeks off before it begins the regular season Feb. 17 against Albany in the Carrier Dome.

Ice hockey

The Orange extended its four-game winning streak to six this weekend, sweeping conference foe Robert Morris in a crucial series for the College Hockey America standings.

SU managed to build an early 3-1 lead against Robert Morris on Friday, which it held for a 3-2 win. Saturday’s game was a much bigger struggle. With a little more than five minutes to play, the Orange was down 1-0. Syracuse ultimately pulled off a 2-1 win, thanks to a last minute goal by Nicole Ferrara.

Ferrara started off her successful weekend 8:33 into the first period of the series as she buried a rebound off of line mate Holly Carrie-Mattimoe’s missed shot. Thea Imbrogno answered with a score of her own 13:05 into the first period, scoring a rebound off of her own missed shot.

The Orange got off to a quick start in the second period with goals by Melissa Piacentini and Ferrara within three minutes. Cobina Delaney got Robert Morris within a score at 14:44 into the second period, but the Orange’s defense would hold for a 3-2 win.

In Saturday’s game, the teams went into the third period tied at zero. Kelsey Thomas was able to break the deadlock with a score on a power play 9:48 into the period, giving Robert Morris a 1-0 lead.

At 14:56, the Orange tied the game with Margot Scharfe putting in a rebound off of a missed shot by Carrie-Mattimoe. With a minute left, Carrie-Mattimoe got a pass through to Ferrara, who scored the game-winning goal for the second straight game.

The Orange play a home-and-home series against conference foe RIT this weekend, traveling to RIT on Friday at 7 p.m. before hosting RIT at Tennity Ice Pavilion on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Track and field

The Syracuse track and field team was split between two different meets this weekend. The hurlers, sprinters and field competitors participated in the New Balance Collegiate at The Armory in New York City while the distance runners competed at the USA Junior Cross Country Championships at Forest Park in St. Louis, Mo.

In New York, nine Syracuse athletes made it to the finals in their respective events, including senior Colin Reno, who finished sixth in the 60-meter dash (6.98). Freshman Shania Harrison finished 10thin the women’s final (7.43).

In the 60-meter hurdles, junior Donald Pollitt ran a time of 8.00, placing 11^th.

In the long jump event, Mikayla Pearce took 17th with a jump of 5.50 meters. In the men’s event, Will Watson finished in 11thplace with a mark of 6.8 meters.

At the USA Junior Cross Country Championships, five Syracuse runners competed. The only woman, freshman Emily Nist, had a solid outing, a 13thplace finish in the 6K race (21:55.6)

In the men’s 8K race, Dan Lennon led the way for the team, finishing in 11th(25:07.9), while MJ Erb, Joel Hubbard and Kevyn Hoyos finished in 23rd, 26th and 45th place, respectively. A total of 73 athletes competed in the event.

—Compiled by The Daily Orange sports staff, sports@dailyorange.com

Published on February 4, 2013 at 12:59 am