BALTIMORE — With Randy Staats sidelined due to an injury for the second straight game, senior Derek Maltz was again reinserted into the starting attack alongside Kevin Rice and Dylan Donahue.

But after playing almost all of the game in Staats’ absence against St. John’s, Maltz returned to the bench in spurts against Johns Hopkins on Saturday to give way to his younger brother.

“They had put a short stick on (Dylan’s) brother Derek, so that left just one short stick to attack in the midfield,” SU head coach John Desko said. “So we thought, ‘They probably are not gonna know who Dylan is because he hasn’t played much this year.’”

Sitting two seats down from Desko at the postgame press conference was Dylan Donahue — SU’s leading goal scorer — and his head turned when the head coach said Johns Hopkins probably wouldn’t know who Dylan is.

Desko then quipped that they definitely knew Dylan Donahue before describing the effect that the younger, lesser-known Dylan had on the game.

Maltz turned in the most impressive performance of his short collegiate career that was highlighted by an acrobatic goal late in the first quarter. With Staats out and Jordan Evans still recovering from an ankle injury, there have been opportunities for other players to step in. And in Syracuse’s (4-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) 12-10 win over Johns Hopkins (5-1) at Homewood Field, Maltz seized his.

“Dylan’s a great player,” Donahue said. “I think our offense is a team effort and he brings a new dimension with his dodging. He doesn’t make too many mistakes.”

Along with Maltz, freshman Nick Weston — who scored a pivotal goal in the fourth quarter — junior Nicky Galasso and senior captain Billy Ward all saw a kick in playing time with Desko’s looser rotation.

Maltz was subbed in when Johns Hopkins used a short-stick defender against Derek Maltz in the second quarter. Dylan, the smaller of the two by a good margin, is more of a dodger where Derek thrives off ball, and Dylan used that skill set behind the net which allowed Rice to operate from the wing.

And while he was brought into the game to match up against a short stick, it was against a long-stick defender that he scored his goal.

Maltz came from behind the net with the ball away from his body with his right hand. He then spun back to his left, making the defender fall before slotting a shot past JHU goalie Eric Schneider while falling onto his stomach.

He jumped up and slowly walked toward the midfield before his teammates mobbed him in his tracks. The goal came in the middle of a 3–0 run by the Orange that finished off a strong half that spurred an eventual victory.

And as the Orange moves deeper into its ACC schedule, Maltz proved to be an option that doesn’t just rest legs, but provides a fresh and quick complexion to an already dynamic Syracuse attack.

Said Desko: “It was good to get his feet wet in a game like this.”

Published on March 15, 2014 at 6:21 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse