As Randy Staats sprinted toward the Army goal, he was guarded at the hip by Reaves Klipstein and only had one option to get the ball to a trailing Dylan Donahue as he approached the crease.

Staats whipped his stick behind his head and Donahue received the short pass like he knew it was coming, spun off a defender and shot top-shelf past Army goalkeeper Sam Somers.

Donahue said Syracuse’s experienced attacks always know where one another is going to be, and it couldn’t have been better displayed by the redshirt junior when he collected the second of his five goals on the night to provide scoring for No. 3 Syracuse (3-0) in its 12-9 win over No. 15 Army (3-1) in the Carrier Dome on Sunday night.

“He’s always been happy watching Randy or Kevin (Rice) go,” SU head coach John Desko said. “He’s always been one to take what’s given.”

He was able to weave his way through an Army defense that Somers said was trying to force only low-angle shots.

The Black Knights’ defense played a tight man-to-man coverage on the Orange attack. Donahue was first able to exploit that as he appeared to harmlessly walk away from the crease as Rice held the ball behind the net.

Donahue then sprinted three steps in, catching the defense by surprise and poached a goal by catching Somers off guard to give SU an early 3-1 lead. With Army’s Austin Schultz succeeding against Rice by pushing him away from the goal on the run, Donahue found success with short, quick movements.

“They were definitely letting us dodge one-on-one,” Donahue said. “They weren’t sliding too early in the game. They were letting us go and making us prove it first.”

Donahue stepped up in place of Rice, who became a near non-factor for the Orange with the stifling pressure from Schultz, and was able to incorporate a midfield line for SU that’s contributed significantly on the offensive end through the Orange’s first three games.

Midfielder Nicky Galasso snuck out from the side of the crease to receive from Donahue, who drew two defenders with his three goals through the second quarter, and Galasso connected from 3 feet outside of the crease with only the goalie to beat.

“What we just needed to do was to get our hands on them a little more,” Army head coach Joe Alberici said. “… You put the ball in really good player’s hands for that much, things are going to generally happen.”

Desko called Donahue a little too unselfish at times, but he ultimately wore down an Army defense that began to fade from its intense, physical start.

Army wasn’t sliding off attacks as the Syracuse defense so often does and Donahue was able to exploit that with his versatility, often dishing passes off both sides of his body in a fashion that caught the Black Knights off guard.

“We were talking too, you can’t decipher if he’s a lefty or a righty,” Army attack John Glesener said. “He’s definitely developed his game, at least with the physical piece.”

The 5-foot-9 attack is already leading the Orange with 11 goals this season after he led SU with 37 goals in 2014. In the three-headed attack of Rice, Donahue and Staats, so far it’s Donahue that’s stepped up in the trio that combined for 190 points last season.

“He’s a junior now and he works well with the group,” Desko said. “We needed him to come through with some points tonight and he did.”

Published on February 22, 2015 at 11:47 pm

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman