No. 6 Syracuse lost to No. 17 Johns Hopkins 18-7 at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. A week after defeating then-No. 4 Virginia by one goal, SU’s offense faltered, firing just 25 shots to JHU’s 46.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Problems at the X

After one of Danny Varello’s best performances of the season, the sophomore couldn’t get anything going from the faceoff X, losing 13 of his 22 attempts. Against Virginia, SU’s top faceoff option won 16-26 of his opportunities, edging the Cavaliers’ Justin Schwenk in the battle, who going into the game was seventh in the nation in faceoff percentage. But Varello couldn’t ride that momentum into the game against the Blue Jays as he appeared constantly frustrated, wondering if the ball would eventually bounce in his favor.

At one point Varello sidestepped and burst off the field. It had been a rough going but he had his fourth faceoff win of the game. As he turned his back an SU player had the ball and he had done his job. When he checked back at the action, the ball was on the ground with a Johns Hopkins player scooping it up, starting a break that ended in a score.

Varello turned back around, away from the celebrating Blue Jays players, held his stick on top of his helmet and pulled it down in frustration. Even when he did right, things still continued to go horribly wrong.

Trouble keeping up

Syracuse was dominated on the offensive end on Saturday. The Blue Jays fired 46 shots to the Orange’s 25 and SU couldn’t score more than two goals in a row without being interrupted by a Johns Hopkins goal. Dom Madonna faced heavy pressure the entire game, with many of the goals he allowed as a result of being trapped alone with a JHU player directly in front of the goal.

Voigt comes up empty

Bradley Voigt, who replaced the suspended Nate Solomon in the starting lineup, didn’t provide anything for Syracuse. All season long, Solomon had served as a reliable scoring option for the Orange, netting five goals on the year and taking the fourth-most shots on the team. But, Voigt couldn’t provide that same firepower for Syracuse as the Junior fired one shot, while recording an assist for the silent Orange offense.

Published on March 10, 2018 at 3:19 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary