Ben Polk’s first touch helped him decide to take his next against Clemson. The ball landed on his chest, and he turned and booted the ball toward the net. As soon as he struck it, he knew it would go in.

The ball curved perfectly past Clemson goalie Andrew Tarbell, who hardly lifted his hand to the shot, hit the post and dropped in the net. He ran around as his teammates chased him and “stirred the pot,” circling his wrist.

“Three very important goals on the road,” SU head coach Ian McIntyre said. “That allowed us to dig deep and protect the lead.”

It was Polk’s first highlight in a No. 13 Syracuse (13-5-3, 3-4-1 Atlantic Coast) ACC tournament run that was full of them. He carried SU with three total goals in the ACC semifinal and final, and subsequently was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

The Orange rode its most potent striking threat to a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament and will play the winner of Dartmouth and Hartwick on Sunday. Polk rode hot streaks throughout the season and another one would help the Orange advance through the NCAA tournament.

“It seems to be I have a little drought and, when it rains, it pours,” Polk said.

The first goal against then-No. 2 Clemson was just the start. He scored another in the matchup with the Tigers after a few SU shots on net squirted out to him and he put away his first shot on a mostly empty net.

Tarbell was named All-ACC first team and led the conference in most key goalkeeping stats, including saves (60), shutouts (eight) and goals-against average (0.60). Yet, Polk managed two goals.

Against then-No. 9 Notre Dame, Julian Buescher, who is tied with Polk for the team lead in points, hit his teammate with a pass as he streaked through the 18-yard box. Polk slipped the ball past Notre Dame goalie Chris Hubbard.

Hubbard is also in the top five in most ACC goalkeeping stats with 53 saves, seven shutouts and 0.79 goals allowed per game.

“Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s important that he gets his chances,” Buescher said. “… I’m pretty sure he’s not done yet.”

In a seven-game stretch through the middle of SU’s season, Polk racked up six goals and two assists, but they came against some of SU’s weakest competition. He scored against Pittsburgh, the worst team in the ACC, Colgate, Albany and Bowling Green.

That likely led to being left off the All-ACC teams despite being top 10 in points per game in the ACC.

“I don’t know getting snubbed motivates him,” McIntyre said and went on to list a number of players who could have been honored, including Liam Callahan, Juuso Pasanen and Louis Cross.

For a player that wasn’t at SU a year ago, he’s become one of SU’s most important now. From time to time he has come up from slide tackles limping late in the season and against Notre Dame on Sunday.

To make a deep run, SU will likely need to keep him healthy, so that even if he’s on one leg, he can keep himself on the scoresheet.

“Hopefully,” McIntyre said, “he’s got a couple more left in him.”

Published on November 16, 2015 at 9:14 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati