When Syracuse has sufficient time with the ball, it’s proven that both its attacks and midfielders can find the back of the net. It’s not easy for other defenses to game plan against.

“Depending on which poison the opposing team’s defense picks,” SU head coach John Desko said, “you’re going to see some games where we have a little bit of scoring from the attack and a lot from the middies and vice versa like today.”

With Syracuse winning more than 50 percent of the faceoffs in a game for the first time since Feb. 16, its attack had plenty of chances Saturday and made the most of them. In the No. 9 Orange’s (5-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) 11-10 triumph over No. 7 Notre Dame (4-3, 2-1), the SU attack accounted for 10 of the team’s 11 goals.

For Syracuse, it’s been a season in which the scoring load started mostly on the shoulders of the attacks, but has since swayed back and forth between the midfield and attacking unit.

Junior Kevin Rice netted four goals — the last one proving to be the difference in the game — while Dylan Donahue and Derek Maltz registered a hat trick each. Aside from the three starting attacks, redshirt junior Nicky Galasso, part of the second-line midfield, was the only other SU player to net a goal.

“We just have a lot of threats coming in,” Rice said. “Randy (Staats) played some midfield today, which made matchup problems for them, and Derek was huge inside. I thought we had a pretty good team effort offensively.”

The Fighting Irish came into the game allowing just 8.5 goals per game. The UND defense forced the Orange into committing 15 turnovers, including 10 in the second half, and denied Syracuse on four clearing attempts as SU looked to set up its attack.

But after clearing, the Orange was methodical against Notre Dame’s air-tight defense.

“They pack it in tight and you have to be really patient against them,” Rice said. “You can’t take that first dodge, that first look. You’ve got to work your offense.”

Each starting attack scored a goal in the first quarter, and Galasso’s sidewinding rip capped off a 3-0 string for the Orange to go up 6-3 in the second frame. Maltz logged all three of his scores in the first half, the last of which put SU up by two before the buzzer.

Donahue drilled a shot past UND goalie Shane Doss for a two-goal lead in the fourth quarter, but it was Rice who spearheaded Syracuse’s second-half offense.

Rice notched a hat trick to extend SU’s lead to three. Then, after the Irish fought back, he buried the game-winner with two minutes left.

Said Rice: “We were able to wear them down by the end of the game.”

Published on March 29, 2014 at 6:57 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb