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Last season Syracuse defeated Virginia — the eventual national champions — twice, dominating offensively, defensively and in the faceoff circle. But this year, the Orange seemingly beat themselves in a 20-11 loss.

Jakob Phaup, who finished 24-of-27 at the faceoff X against Petey LaSalla in the last matchup of 2021, went 11-of-32 on Saturday. Eleven different Virginia players scored as the Orange allowed 20 or more goals for the first time since their loss to Notre Dame last year. Most importantly, SU was only successful on 13-of-18 clears, allowing UVA’s 10-man ride — which involves the goalie leaving the net to guard an attack while the rest of the team moves one spot up — to give it more offensive opportunities that hurt Syracuse.

“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.”

Here’s a look at how Virginia’s ride and second-chance opportunities created problems for SU:

Riders on the storm

Syracuse lost the ground ball battle against Virginia 41-30, but that matchup was fairly even in the first quarter. On this play, Saam Olexo is able to pop the ball out of Evan Zinn’s stick, quickly trying to get it to Tyler Cordes after receiving some pressure. But Cordes looks up the field before securing the ball, turning it back over to Jack Peele.

“They stepped up and made some great plays in the first quarter,” Gait said. “We just made simple mistakes.”

Trying to move fast on the clear attempt, Olexo makes a lazy pass in an attempt to find a teammate. But he has a path on the left side with Nick Fraterrigo freeing up space in the middle of the field. That pass would’ve been easier for Olexo to pull off, instead of forcing the ball to the crowded area where Cordes was.

Then, Grant Murphy tries to check Peele instead of beating him to where he was trying to shoot from. This was something the Orange’s defense did multiple times against the Cavaliers, with UVA players using their strength to maintain paths to easy shots.

Second chance

Before Peele’s goal, Virginia generates another offensive opportunity after goalie Bobby Gavin deflects Connor Shellenberger’s wide-open attempt into the air. This was the first of Gavin’s 12 saves, but he is unable to stop the rebound.

The ball went into the air a lot on Saturday, and this was the first time SU’s defense didn’t react fast enough to grab possession and try to complete a clear. While Fraterrigo and Murphy stay on the ground, Payton Cormier jumps up and snags the ball with one hand.

The check from Murphy comes too late, allowing Cormier to bounce the ball back off the rebound for the Cavaliers’ second goal.

“Bobby Gavin was great,” Gait said. “We hung him out there to dry a little bit. He had some wide-open shots early that were tough to stop.”

Cook left alone

The Cavaliers made sure to not to give up on their ride until the Orange were completely settled into their offense. Here, Griffin Cook is trying to complete the clear all alone, but Virginia knows that if it can pressure Cook, it still has a chance to get the ball back.

UVA waits until Cook is past the midfield line, with Mitchell Whalen taking the first swing at his stick. Cook avoids Whalen, but Cole Kastner successfully throws Cook’s stick to the ground. He’s looking upfield, but no one else on the Orange’s attack is close enough to help Cook since they thought the clear was already completed.

As Cook collects his stick, the Cavaliers pick up the ball and set up their offense on the other end. With Syracuse’s defense still falling into position, Matt Moore was wide open after five passes, and he notched his second goal of the afternoon.

One more time

With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Brandon Aviles tries to complete the clear at the midfield line. Aviles and Kastner fight for the loose ball as UVA goes after another chance to turn an almost successful clear into an extra offensive opportunity.

Kastner knows that Aviles is a short-stick defensive midfielder, and he has the advantage with his long-stick to barrage Aviles and hope that he makes a mistake. Aviles eventually does, trying to flip the ball to a teammate as he’s pushed to the turf. Virginia takes possession, finding Noah Chizmar near the crease for the Cavaliers 20th goal, the 11th and final UVA player to find the back of the net.

But the issue with this play isn’t simply Aviles’ inability to get off Kastner. The key to a successful clear is the ability for those already on the offensive end to assist whoever is bringing the ball up. Owen Seebold comes down to help out, but he’s too late. Carter Rice was the intended target of Aviles’ flip, but he didn’t get any separation from his defender to allow for a clean pass.

Published on February 28, 2022 at 8:40 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu