Kevin Rice walked off the field as the third quarter ended and looked up at the scoreboard. Syracuse had a 22-5 advantage at the faceoff X. In his first three seasons with the Orange, success at that position was few and far between.

But to start the 2015 season, that inconsistency was nowhere to be seen.

“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Rice said. “I think you saw what our offense can do when they get possession, and it’s exciting.”

Ben Williams, Syracuse’s new faceoff specialist, dominated at the X, helped keep the ball in the SU sticks and was the main catalyst in the No. 4 Orange’s (1-0) 21-7 blowout win over Siena (0-1) on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. Williams corralled 17 of his 20 faceoffs, including the first six, as the Saints — and faceoff specialist Casey Dowd — could never find any sustained momentum on offense. And the 2,740 in attendance were treated to the first game in a long time in which Syracuse gaining possession was almost a virtual certainty.

“Now I think we have a chance of getting the ball back after a goal, you play differently,” SU head coach John Desko said. “It’s an entirely differently psyche when you’re playing lacrosse out there having possessions.“

Williams captured the first faceoff in a matter of seconds. And after attack Dylan Donahue scored the first goal, Williams’ second scoop looked effortless as well. With the Orange leading 2-1 and 5:39 left in the first quarter, Williams picked up the ball, raced to the right of the goal and whipped a shot past goalkeeper Tommy Cordts with just eight seconds coming off the clock.

Syracuse picked up 7-of-8 faceoffs in the first quarter, and in turn, led 6-1. But when the second half started, Dowd started to find a rhythm. After Dowd’s second faceoff, Richie Hurley swung around the goal and put it in the net. Dowd once again got his team possession and Nate Barry shoveled a shot in to cut the deficit to three.

But Siena couldn’t sustain any momentum. Williams won the next four faceoffs and the Orange ended the half on a 3-0 run.

“I’m just getting on the ball, bringing it out front, trying to get the ground ball to these guys as fast as I could,” Williams said. “I don’t think too much about the other guy when I’m out there. My wings did an awesome job communicating with me.”

Williams said he spent a lot of time in practice working on exploding on the ball after the whistle. On Saturday, many of the faceoffs made Dowd look clueless.

Siena head coach John Svec admitted that he expected for his team to do better gaining possession, but that he had no real idea what he’d be getting from Williams, the Holy Cross transfer.

“I’d like to say I felt sorry for the other guy,” Desko said, chuckling. “But not really.”

In previous seasons, poor performance at the X has been the talking point of the end to two disappointing campaigns. In 2013, Chris Daddio picked up just 45.3 percent of his faceoffs, including 0-of-4 in the NCAA tournament final. Despite his resurgence midway through last year, Syracuse finished 44th out of 61 teams, and won 46.7 of its faceoffs.

Saturday, though, provided Syracuse with cautious optimism. It was just one game against a mediocre opponent. But it gave the Orange reason to think it may have solved its greatest Achilles’ heel.

“In the past, we’ve had to look up at the scoreboard,” Desko said, “and we’ve had chances at the offensive end of the field, we may have to take a little more time and work to be really efficient.

“We’ve been on the other side of the fence.”

Published on February 7, 2015 at 6:44 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3