As Stephen Keogh caught a pass from Jeremy Thompson moments into the second overtime, Matt Lerman’s words flashed through his head.

Syracuse’s backup goaltender had given the Orange attack some advice earlier in the game. Seeing that Johns Hopkins goalie Pierce Bassett made some incredible saves on low shots throughout the match, Lerman told the SU offense to shoot high for a change.

And when Keogh got his chance in double overtime, that’s exactly what he did.

‘I kind of just fired it blindly,’ Keogh said. ‘But I was aiming for that area.’

Keogh’s shot, 15 seconds into the second overtime, sailed straight into the top corner of the goal to give No. 1 Syracuse (6-0) a 5-4 win over No. 13 Johns Hopkins (5-2) Saturday in front of 8,241 in the Carrier Dome. The Blue Jays turned the game into a defensive slugfest, and SU couldn’t find a way to score for most of the game. Johns Hopkins held the ball for long, drawn-out possessions and dominated the faceoff X to control the pace of the game.

It was the first time since a 1982 win over Rutgers that the Orange won a game despite scoring only five goals.

‘I think they wanted to come in and play a certain tempo in the Carrier Dome, not let us get in an up-and-down game,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said.

Keogh’s heroics came off a rare faceoff win for the Orange on Saturday.

Thompson, a senior, popped the ball up in the air, and long-stick midfielder Joel White caught it off one bounce. Two Blue Jays came to him, so he passed it up to Thompson in the offensive zone. Two more defenders came at Thompson, and he dished it to Keogh on his left.

The senior attack then wound up and fired from eight yards out. The momentum from Keogh’s shot carried him to the Dome turf as the ball connected with the top corner of the net.

And for the second time in three games, his Syracuse teammates stormed out to pile on the senior attack in celebration.

‘We talked all week about avoiding giving Syracuse faceoff transition,’ JHU faceoff specialist Matt Dolente said. ‘They generate a lot of shots and goals, especially when (Thompson) is out there off the faceoff.’

But prior to that goal, the Blue Jays shut down SU’s transition game and controlled the pace of play. Dolente went 6-of-7 at the faceoff X in the first half for JHU. The referees constantly implemented stall warnings during long Blue Jay possessions that lasted minutes at a time.

And when SU did get the ball early, it couldn’t capitalize. The Orange went into the half with more turnovers (7) than shots on goal (4) and trailed 3-2 at the break.

‘One thing I won’t do is apologize for the way we played,’ Blue Jays head coach Dave Pietramala said. ‘We did what we needed to do tonight to put our team in position to win.’

Though Syracuse’s offense improved in the second half, Bassett was phenomenal in goal. He made 14 of his 16 saves after halftime. Whether the shots were high or low, he adjusted to keep them out of and away from the cage.

‘The defense was giving me some pretty nice low angle shots from outside,’ Bassett said. ‘They were sticking (Syracuse’s) hands, so we can pressure the ball, which really helps.’

Keogh finally pulled Syracuse even with 1:40 left in regulation, but he almost didn’t get the chance for his game-winner.

After Orange midfielder Jovan Miller lost the ball with about 20 seconds left in the first overtime, Hopkins senior Kyle Wharton took possession on the right side of the Syracuse goal. He dove toward the crease with four seconds left and sent the ball over Galloway into the back of the net.

The Blue Jays stormed the field, but the referees waved off the goal, saying Wharton stepped in the crease before he scored.

‘I was going to try to plead as long as I could to the referee that he jumped in the crease,’ Miller said. ‘Luckily, they called the proper call for us.’

Shortly after, Keogh beat Bassett for the third time to give SU the win.

‘They played a great game all together,’ Keogh said. ‘It’s a good win. We’ll take it.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

 

Published on March 18, 2011 at 12:00 pm