The team that prides itself as “New York’s College Team” faced off against a team that plays its home games in the heart of New York City at the Cobb County Lacrosse Classic in Kennesaw, Ga., on Saturday.

No. 9 Syracuse and No. 20 St. John’s, former Big East rivals, traveled south to play in a small town 30 minutes northwest of Atlanta. Syracuse (3-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast), playing in its first game in the state of Georgia in 87 years, defeated St. John’s (2-3) 14-8 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium.

Attack Kevin Rice led the Orange with eight points, netting four goals and four assists. Derek Maltz, who rejoined the first-line attack in place of Randy Staats, who sat out with a leg injury, recorded five points with four goals and one assist. Attack Dylan Donahue also added three goals.

Looking to avenge its loss to then-No. 4 Virginia last weekend, the Orange came out with a vengeance. SU scored eight of its 14 goals in the first quarter, building a lead it didn’t relinquish for the final 50 minutes.

Rice scored three goals in the opening frame, including the game’s first just 57 seconds in. The junior also scored to put the Orange ahead 3-2, giving SU the lead for good.

Nicky Galasso scored in a man-up advantage on a feed from Maltz to give the Orange a 7-3 lead. It was the first goal in a Syracuse uniform for the North Carolina transfer.

Donahue scored with 34 seconds left in the opening quarter to put SU in front 8-3.

The redshirt sophomore started the second quarter where he left off in the first, scoring a goal to give the Orange a 9-3 advantage. Galasso scored his second goal quickly after to extend the lead to 10-3.

Donahue scored again before the half, giving Syracuse an 11-3 lead at the midway point.

St. John’s broke an eight-goal run when Colin Keegan scored at the 9:37 mark of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 12-4 going into the fourth quarter.

The Red Storm scored four of the six goals that were scored in the fourth and final quarter. The Red Storm scored the first goal of the fourth, cutting the deficit to 12-5. But Maltz scored two goals in less than a minute to extend SU’s lead to 14-5.

The Red Storm scored the game’s final three goals, but it wasn’t enough.

Syracuse goalkeeper Dominic Lamolinara played the first three quarters and had 12 saves. Bobby Wardwell played the fourth quarter and had just one save.

The win ends SU’s two-game losing streak and also makes Syracuse 8-0 all-time against St. John’s, including a 3-0 record in neutral-site games.
Syracuse continues its nonconference break from ACC play when it travels to Baltimore to face Johns Hopkins on Saturday at noon.

Published on March 8, 2014 at 9:13 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu