ITHACA, N.Y. — Evan Molloy had never been on this stage in college. Standing in the crease with the clock ticking down. The last player separating Syracuse from its most surprising loss of the season.

He prolonged it for a couple minutes with a full-body stop on a point-blank shot. Molloy jumped off the turf at Schoellkopf Field, punched his right fist into the air and chest-bumped defender Nick Mellen with Syracuse and Cornell heading to overtime on Tuesday night.

The next shot he faced was also at point-blank range. But after the ball flew by him, he let his stick hang from his hand as he walked toward SU’s sideline. Another shot to make his mark but the opposite happened: a goal and a loss.

“No,” Molloy said when asked if he was content with his play. “I got to make some more saves there.”

Molloy is at the crux of the No. 9 Orange’s (6-4, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) intriguing goalie situation. He allowed all 10 goals in SU’s overtime loss to Cornell in just his second career start. After senior Warren Hill started the first eight games of the season, Molloy has filled in and could start again when Syracuse takes on No. 11 North Carolina (7-4, 2-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Before SU got thumped by then-No. 2 Notre Dame on April 2, the junior goalie had only made two garbage-time appearances. In the 17-7 loss to the Fighting Irish, Molloy played 11 minutes, 14 seconds and hasn’t subbed out since. He’s allowed 8 goals per game over his two starts and has a 48.6 save percentage since the UND game, compared to Hill’s 10.1 goals allowed average and a 42.6 save percentage.

“I was happy with (Molloy’s) play,” Orange head coach John Desko said after the loss to Cornell. “He turned away some big shots.”

But Molloy’s big stops were met by big mishaps. He only tallied two saves in the second half against the Big Red and SU squandered a second-half lead four times. Cornell repeatedly snuck the ball into the far bottom corner, and Molloy couldn’t catch up.

 

Logan Reidsma | Senior Staff Photographer

 

Desko said he would watch the game on the ride from Ithaca back to Syracuse to better evaluate Molloy. The inability to hold the Big Red off can’t be pinned entirely on him, and Desko said the goalie spot is “going to be the same for now.”

But how long “now” lasts remains to be seen. Hill lost his starting spot during a defensive meltdown, and so could Molloy now that there’s a precedent for it. North Carolina boasts the fourth best scoring offense in the nation with 13.55 goals per game, and is coming off a 16-8 home win over Virginia.

“(Molloy) did a good job getting in front of it,” Desko said. “I thought he did a good job communicating with his defense. He had some nice outlet passes that we got some nice fast-break goals out of.”

With just seconds remaining in the first quarter, though, a Cornell shot went out of bounds. Molloy “could have sworn” the ref pointed Syracuse ball and he went behind the net to create a passing option. But it was actually the Big Red’s ball and a quick pass resulted in an easy goal with the net empty.

“Clearly I was wrong and it ended up costing us,” Molloy said.

The Orange currently ranks 29th out of 68 Division I teams in scoring defense with 9.7 goals allowed per game. After losing four of its last five, it’s an average mark for a team slipping toward a .500 record and into a murky NCAA tournament picture.

And the most notable coaching adjustment in the middle of that stretch has been at goalie.

“I have to be better,” Molloy said. “And I believe I will be better with more experience and more time.”

Published on April 14, 2016 at 12:19 am

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds