All of last season, the topic of who would take reps at the faceoff X was a tenuous one. And on Saturday, Syracuse did well in that category against the man that struggled in the same role last season.

Chris Daddio, who graduated last season, was back in a Syracuse uniform at the X, but he couldn’t find a rhythm going up against the five players who are auditioning to replace him.

“There’s obviously a lot of new faces,” said Daddio, who finished 8-of-17 in faceoffs. “There’s three guys from last year that I played with and know from practice.”

Sophomore Joe DeMarco and a pair of new transfers, Ben Williams and Zach Vehar, won 11 of the first 15 faceoffs of the game for SU’s current team. Although the final tally at the X was 11-for-19, the early dominance in faceoffs helped boost the Syracuse Varsity to an 11-5 win over the Alumni All-Stars at the Orange Alumni Lacrosse Classic in the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon.

SU head coach John Desko said that there’s an open competition to find the new faceoff specialist and that it probably won’t be decided until the spring.

“We have a battle there,” Desko said. “We have guys that have returned to us, freshmen that have come in and then transfers. I think the transfers have a little bit of the edge because of their experience, but we’ll wait and see how the fall goes.”

Desko said he wants to let the younger guys “catch up” and find new techniques, but gave the bulk of the opportunities to Williams, a Holy Cross transfer.

Williams finished 4-of-7, and then gave way to Vehar, a Quinnipiac transfer, who won 3-of-4. After SU won 11 of the first 15, it gave way to returners Mike Iacono and Austin Wentworth, who finished a combined 0-for-4.

The only returning player who made a dent at the X was DeMarco, who won all four of his opportunities against his old teammate.

“He did well, and I’m happy to see that,” Daddio said. “He’s definitely one of the kids that I want to see rise to the top. I was joking around with him on the field. We were laughing out there. I try not to take it too seriously.”

Published on October 4, 2014 at 7:35 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3