After staving off a late comeback attempt by then-No. 14 Virginia in a 14-13 win on Friday, No. 3 Syracuse (4-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) turns its focus to a matchup with St. John’s (1-5) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

As the Orange try to extend its undefeated start to the season, here’s everything you need to know about the Red Storm.

All-time series: SU leads 7-0

Last time they played: St. John’s sunk Syracuse to an early four-goal deficit through nearly all of the first half last year in the Cobb County Lacrosse Classic. Head coach John Desko said after the game he thought his players “were a little bit asleep,” until Randy Staats locked in for two goals in the final 2:15 of the opening half to draw the Orange within two scores.

SU rattled off five unanswered goals from five different players to start the third quarter, and ultimately scored 14 of the game’s final 16 goals in the 14-6 win. Staats led the charge with six points, with Kevin Rice in tow at five.

Jordan Evans, Dylan Donahue and Tim Barber were the only current Orange players to score against the Red Storm last year. Eric DeJohn and Corey Haynes led St. John’s with a pair of goals each, and both return as starters this year. Syracuse faceoff specialist Ben Williams went 13-of-19 from the X, primarily against Justin Corpolongo, who returns as the Red Storm’s go-to option there.

The St. John’s report: Aside from two one-goal games, every other game (all losses) has been decided by five goals or more. The Red Storm’s offense is led by sophomore attack Jason DeBenedictis, who’s accounted for 34 percent of the team’s scoring this year with 17 goals.

The second-most potent option on the offense is DeJohn, who’s nearly taken as many shots as DeBenedictis but converted significantly less often. Otherwise, the Red Storm’s offense is littered with lesser scoring options.

Only seven players have started all six games this season. Goalkeepers Michael O’Keefe and Joseph Danaher have split time the past two games after O’Keefe began the season playing most of the minutes.

Corpolongo is facing off this year at a 49 percent clip to counter Williams’ 68 percent conversion rate. Corpolongo won only two faceoffs in the fourth quarter against No. 4 Yale on Tuesday, in part allowing the Bulldogs to pull away with five unanswered goals in the final stanza.

How St. John’s beats Syracuse: The Red Storm needs to figure out how to pace itself against Syracuse.

Its game last week against Yale played out similarly to last year’s matchup with SU. St. John’s bolted out to a 7-1 lead, only to have Yale score seven unanswered goals in the third quarter and score 12 of the game’s final 13 goals.

Controlling the pace of the game largely rests on the shoulders of Corpolongo at the X and the Red Storm’s defense to keep the Orange at bay. What makes Syracuse so lethal is a balanced attack that gains consecutive possessions won by Williams. It’s practically the go-to recipe for any team to beat SU.

Last week the Cavaliers didn’t completely neutralize Williams, but dominated the groundball margin, allowing UVA several extra possessions. It forced Syracuse into making seven penalties, creating several unbalanced scenarios for Virginia to take advantage of.

St. John’s will be in good shape if it can force that timely turnover or faceoff win that’s been elusive to a team that’s lost because of big runs by opponents.

Numbers to know:

6 – Each member of Syracuse’s starting midfield and attack has at least six goals this year, illustrating the balanced scoring that’s lofted SU to be the third-highest scoring offense in the country.

22 – St. John’s has been outscored 41-19 in the second half of games this year after largely keeping pace with opponents in the opening 30 minutes.

713 – Days since the Red Storm last won a road game, a 14-7 victory over Providence on March 29, 2014.

Player to watch: DeBenedictis is more a sure-fire option to inject life into the Red Storm’s offense, but he can’t push his team alone past SU. DeJohn is going to have to elevate his role from primary assister to scorer for St. John’s to hang with the Orange. Last week he notched five points, but scored only once. He’ll need to team up with DeBenedictis to pepper as many shots past Syracuse goalkeeper Warren Hill as possible.

Published on March 10, 2016 at 6:57 pm

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman