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Men's Lacrosse

Brown scores 8 goals, helps Johns Hopkins hang around against Orange

BALTIMORE — Syracuse held a comfortable four-goal lead heading into halftime but it was quickly erased by a one-man machine.

Sophomore attack Ryan Brown spearheaded a second-half charge by the Blue Jays, after the Syracuse defense stymied Johns Hopkins in the first frame.

A running goal 52 seconds into the third quarter gave him a hat trick for the day and cut into the Orange’s lead, but Brown was far from done. He’d go on to score two more in a five-minute span and then three more in the fourth before his valiant output fell short in a losing effort.

“Offensively, we had one guy with eight goals and that’s great,” JHU head coach Dave Pietramala said. “But where was everybody else?”

Brown accounted for eight of No. 3 Johns Hopkins’ (5-1) 10 goals in its 12-10 loss to No. 10 Syracuse (4-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) at Homewood Stadium on Saturday. He also netted six of the Blue Jays’ seven second-half goals and put a damper on what could have been the Syracuse defense’s first complete performance against a top-flight team this season.



“He’s got such a quick release on his shot and he places it really well,” SU head coach John Desko said. “He really finds the space within their offense and obviously the guys look to him because he finishes well.

“I think he played really well and is a really smart player.”

While Syracuse’s offense has frequently been touted as the team’s strongest area, its back line is undoubtedly it’s most experienced. With redshirt sophomore Brandon Mullins, junior Sean Young and seniors Dominic Lamolinara and Matt Harris — Desko shifted Harris to close defender against the Blue Jays — the unit has the makeup to anchor the team but had underachieved in the Orange’s first five games.

That includes yielding 16 goals to then-No. 11 Albany and then-No. 5 Maryland in back-to-back games, and 17 to then-No. 4 Virginia. But after giving up just three in the first half against JHU, it looked like the defense was turning the corner.

But while the back line did rectify some of its recent struggles, Brown’s performance left a stain on the progress.

“Ryan Brown just took great shots,” Lamolinara said.

In the 60-minute contest, Brown scored in all kinds of ways.

He beat Lamolinara near side. Over his opposite shoulder. Through his legs. Once in a man-up situation. Twice when he wasn’t in the net. And on two occasions, started personal 3–0 runs — once in the third and again in the fourth.

And while it was enough to place another mile marker on what has been an early-season marathon for the Syracuse defense, it didn’t provide any tangible results.

Said Brown: “It’s great but at the end of the day, we still didn’t get the job done.”





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