Dylan Donahue wasted no time in pointing toward the person responsible for his second goal Sunday afternoon.

After finishing a point-blank shot in front of the net, the Syracuse attack turned to faceoff specialist Ben Williams, whose momentum from his sharp pass to Donahue caused him to hit the ground.

Williams promptly got up and joined a smattering of teammates in front of the goal.

“To have him be such a threat with the ball,” SU head coach John Desko said, “… and make decisions after he comes up with the ball is a bonus in that position.”

Williams didn’t live up to his 17-of-20, season-opening performance at the X a week ago, but he continued to show his overall athleticism and scoring capability as Syracuse’s primary faceoff specialist. He finished 9-of-22 at the X in No. 4 Syracuse’s (2-0) win over No. 10 Cornell (0-1) in the Carrier Dome, and scored a goal to go along with his assist to Donahue.

Williams helped SU win the first faceoff, but was overmatched after that by Big Red faceoff specialist Domenic Massimilian for the better part of the afternoon.
“I think they’re similar players, Dom and Williams,” Cornell head coach Matt Kerwick said. “They’re both pretty big, athletic guys, maybe a little different look at the faceoff X in terms of what you’re seeing out there around the country. These guys can play.”

After Syracuse defeated Siena, 21-7 on Feb. 7, there was a feeling that Syracuse — after two seasons of losing the majority of its faceoff chances — had finally found its specialist. Williams dominated the X, and after the game, he and Desko got questions that would have made Williams out to be SU’s savior.

On Sunday, though he lacked the same dominance, he showed flashes of being the breakout player that he’s being proclaimed to be.

Just minutes after his impressive pass to Donahue, he scored again in similar fashion after taking the faceoff all the way to his second goal of the season just 13 seconds later.

The Orange didn’t receive any scoring at all from its regular faceoff specialists the past two seasons. It won’t be relying on Williams to put the ball in the net, but his ability to do so offers another dimension to SU’s high-powered offense.

“We knew that with Williams, that he could go to the goal. And we tried to take that away,” Kerwick said. “… He’s a handful.”

Published on February 17, 2015 at 12:14 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3