Bobby Wardwell finally stopped the shot that had been eluding him all afternoon. With just under eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter, a Ryan Brown attempt bounced off the goalkeeper’s shin.

Tom Grimm lifted the ground ball out to Mike Messina, who dumped it off to Kevin Rice in the offensive zone. His pass to Dylan Donahue was immediately placed in the back of the net just 10 seconds after Wardwell’s crucial save.

“We knew that coming in, that they definitely had guys that could shoot the ball,” Wardwell said. “I just had to get into a rhythm there and it took a little bit.”

But it took Wardwell 45 minutes to find that rhythm during No. 1 Syracuse’s (6-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) 13-10 win over Johns Hopkins (3-4) on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. Eight of the Blue Jays’ first 10 shots on goal found the back of the net, and Wardwell couldn’t do his part in limiting an opponent that got out to a 5-1 lead against the Orange.

But in the fourth quarter — when Syracuse needed to make its push after seeing two leads evaporate — the senior rose to the occasion, recording three saves, including one with 4:04 left to preserve a two-goal lead.

“I thought he played well and I thought he saw the ball well,” SU head coach John Desko said, “especially going down the stretch.”

Wardwell made his first save on his first attempt off a backhanded bouncer from Brown to get Syracuse possession, but came up empty on his next three. After Wardwell guessed wrong on a John Crawley shot that put JHU up 5-1 late in the first quarter, he stumbled before he stood up and looked away from the Syracuse bench.

He had allowed just six total first-quarter goals in the Orange’s first five games, but that number nearly doubled in just over 10 minutes Saturday.

“I obviously struggled a little early on, thankfully the defense played really, really well and limited the shots,” Wardwell said. “… Toward the end of the game, I was seeing it a little bit better.”

Desko admitted his biggest fear, considering the capability of Johns Hopkins’ outside shooters, was going a man down. In the fourth quarter, when JHU had two advantages, it was able to convert both times to tie the game after Syracuse had made it 10-8. Desko said he was waiting for one team to go on a small run — two or three goals was all it would take — to pull away and get a win.

And in part thanks to Wardwell, Syracuse was the team that made that run. With the score tied at 10 and 10:28 left to play, Blue Jays midfielder Holden Cattoni had a point-blank look to give JHU its first lead of the second half.

Instead it hit Wardwell’s stick before Syracuse controlled and cleared the ball a few seconds later.

Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said he’s seen a noticeable rise in play from Syracuse in the net this season, and wasn’t surprised when Wardwell turned things on late to help get the win. Rather, he said, it was just what he expected.

“We’ve got some pretty good shooters here,” Pietramala said, “and we’ve got some guys that can put the ball in the back of the net … He’s a very good goalie.”

Published on March 14, 2015 at 6:45 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3