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Griffin Cook bolted down the left side of the field to try and complete the ride in the final four minutes of the first period for the Orange. He was surrounded by UVA defenders once he reached the midfield line, and Cole Kastner smashed Cook’s stick to the turf from behind.

As Cook picked up his stick, the Cavaliers picked up the ball and set up their offense on the other end. In five passes, Matt Moore settled at the left side, 15 yards out of the cage. With the Orange’s defense still falling into position, Moore was wide-open, and he notched his second goal of the afternoon.

“We can’t clear the ball,” head coach Gary Gait said postgame. “We didn’t stay with our plan. We didn’t look up the field and move the ball.”

Moore’s score gave Virginia a 5-1 lead, one it would extend 30 seconds later. And when it was over, the second-ranked Cavaliers had avenged the two upset losses to Syracuse last season, dominating from start to finish in a 20-11 win. Though Bobby Gavin finished with 12 saves, the Orange struggled in the ride and continued to make defensive errors to allow 11 different UVA players to score.

Virginia quickly took the ball in the ride after Tucker Dordevic missed, finding Moore at the left side for an easy score. Petey LaSalla won the ensuing faceoff, giving Connor Shellenberger a shot opportunity. Gavin was able to make the save, but the ball deflected up into the extended stick of Payton Cormier, who put the rebound past the goalie.

“It was a tough start with eight goals in the first quarter, and that was the game right there,” Gait said.

At the start of the third period, the Cavaliers scored on a second chance opportunity again after George Fulton turned the ball over trying to shoot but was able to get it back. The ball almost went out of bounds, but a Syracuse player tipped it back into Shellenberger’s stick. He rounded behind the cage, eventually finding Griffin Schutz cutting at the crease for the goal.

Still, the Orange made some defensive improvements in the first period, leading to a tough shot from Evan Zinn that went wide. But they started to get troubles in the ride, with Virginia keeping short-stick defensive midfielders on the offensive end. Jack Peele secured a ground ball after a mistake from SU, shooting immediately to give UVA a 3-0 lead. The same thing happened again a few minutes later, with Grant Murphy turning the ball over and allowing Schutz to score. In the first period alone, SU had six turnovers.

Last Sunday, Maryland was able to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first period, but the Orange allowed eight Virginia goals in the same amount of time. Gait said the reason for the Orange’s slow start was a lack of execution on the offensive end, but it was the defense that created the issues on Saturday. Schutz and Will Cory worked from behind the cage in the final minutes of the first period, easily dodging SU defenders for two more goals.

With Dordevic and Brendan Curry drawing double teams on almost every possession, Owen Seebold was the only SU player to find any offensive success early. After UVA’s fifth score, Seebold had his back turned toward one defender near the crease before two more long sticks came to pressure him. While all three defenders checked Seebold’s stick, he squeezed between the bunch and scored in the top left of the net.

The success early in the second period matched SU’s comeback attempt against Maryland, where six goals put it back into the game. But Sunday, LaSalla continued to win at the X, and Jakob Phaup even picked up his third faceoff violation later in the period. The Orange continued to make defensive mistakes, this time messing up with slides like they did against Maryland.

Cormier was the first to take advantage of this mishap, scoring after SU tried to double team Xander Dickson, leaving Cormier wide open at the crease. Then, Syracuse double teamed Jack Simmons, with Brett Kennedy leaving Shellenberger open on the left side. Shellenberger found the top right corner of the net to give UVA an 11-3 lead.

The Orange notched two more goals by the halftime break, and opened the third period with two more to cap a 4-0 run. Cook made up for his earlier mistakes with two of those scores, the latter coming off an inverted shot from the left side of the field to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to four.

Lucas Quinn continued the late offensive start, catching the ball before finding the top right corner of the net in one motion. Then Quinn set a screen for Curry, allowing him to drift from the center to the left for a bouncer that went past Matthew Nunes, finishing a 6-1 Syracuse run.

Syracuse made up for its earlier defensive issues, staying as close as possible to UVA’s top players to force turnovers. A double team against Dickson worked, which caused him to drop the ball twice with the latter giving Syracuse the space for a clear.

But Cook faltered on a behind-the-back pass on the other end, allowing Simmons to score twice. His first came off after one pump fake at the center of the field, finding the back of the net with his left hand. Then, Simmons went behind the cage, making Carter Rice trip over the net as he cut back for the second score of 7-0 UVA run.

With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Brandon Aviles tried to complete the clear at the midfield line, but as he tried to flip the ball to a teammate, he was thrown to the turf. Virginia took possession, finding Noah Chizmar near the crease for the Cavaliers 20th score while also making Chizmar the 11th and final UVA player to find the back of the net.

“We have to play 60 minutes and we weren’t close to that today,” Gait said.

Published on February 26, 2022 at 2:32 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu