No. 10 Syracuse (5-3, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) bested No. 7 Notre Dame (5-3, 1-1 ACC), 10-6, in the Carrier Dome for the 900th win in program history. Only Johns Hopkins (977) has more victories. The win puts the Orange in the driver’s seat for a regular-season conference crown.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Into The Groove

The last shot of the third quarter was a weak saucer towards SU goalie Dom Madonna. The redshirt senior plucked it out of the air with ease and laid it off for the official before jogging to the Orange sidelines. He made it look easy, just as he had all game.

Dom Madonna posted his best conference performance of the year on Saturday. He stopped shots from a variety of angles and prevented a hapless UND offense from gaining momentum. Madonna finished with 13 saves and six goals allowed. He stuffed doorstep strikes and fell to his knees a few times to stop the low scorchers that caused UND goalie Matt Schmidt so many problems.

As the final seconds ticked off, the SU sideline charged Madonna and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Killed off

During Notre Dame’s sixth man-up opportunity, Mikey Wynne heaved a shot towards Madonna and watched it soar wide. As he picked himself off the turf, the official pounded the turf and called a crease violation. The Orange portion of the crowd cheered and Madonna pumped his fist.

The Fighting Irish had eight penalties called in their favor, resulting in 5:30 of man-up time. Syracuse never conceded. SU’s kill unit held strong, limiting UND to tough shots and forcing a handful of turnovers. Aside from Madonna’s dominant performance, the Orange defense clogged up shooting lanes and stifled a Fighting Irish attack that couldn’t buy a goal. The performance comes off the Duke matchup when SU allowed two goals while down a man.

The Fighting Irish entered the game with a stout defense but it was SU’s unit that outshone the visitors and came away with the win.

X-Marked

The first faceoff of the fourth quarter saw Danny Varello and John Travisano Jr. in a deadlock. Varello looked up at his wings and wiggled his stick, unable to pry the ball loose. The ball skirted and it looked like UND had possession before long-stick midfielder Austin Fusco smacked the ball out and up into the air. Fusco leaped and earned SU the first possession of the final frame.

Syracuse has had inconsistencies at the faceoff X this season. It’s resulted in head coach John Desko using a plethora of options. But against the Fighting Irish, and top-20 ranked faceoff man Travisano Jr., the Orange, led by Varello, fared better than usual. Overall, SU had eight wins to UND’s 11, but the timely wins contributed to the historic victory. Varello went 8-for-17 and played a big part in allowing SU’s offense to test Schmidt.

The sophomore was benched in favor of three others in SU’s last game against Duke and earlier this week, Desko said he would have a short leash for the man who many expected to fill the shoes of program standout Ben Williams. Varello didn’t play the whole game. He was spelled by Kevin Hutchings and Nick Martin, but both lost their lone tries at the X.

Both times, Varello was reinserted and, at least for one game, made it clear that he is the number one faceoff option that Syracuse has on its roster.

Published on March 31, 2018 at 7:10 pm

Contact Nick: nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez