With a towel draped over his head, Skylar Thomas talked to a small crowd of reporters beneath a drizzle after Syracuse’s loss to No. 4 Notre Dame on Friday.

He mumbled his answers and only looked up to field questions. The enthusiasm that made him SU’s captain and vocal leader was concealed by utter frustration. But it was frustration rooted in something bigger than the Orange’s shutout loss to the Irish.

Thomas left the game with an injury in the 21st minute, a situation with which he is all too familiar. After missing the final 10 games of his sophomore season, the junior center back was once again walked off the field by trainers.

On Tuesday night, when Syracuse (3-2-0, 0-2-0 Atlantic Coast) faces No. 3 Connecticut (2-1-1) at SU Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m., Thomas will be out of the lineup with a hamstring injury. The absence of the 6-foot-3 defender leaves a sizable void on SU’s back line, but it is one head coach Ian McIntyre thinks can be filled.

“He’s a big boy and that’s a big hamstring,” McIntyre said. “I don’t know the degree of it. When he’s ready, he’ll be back in the mix.”

When Thomas sat at the top of the Orange’s box on Friday night, there were obvious flashbacks. Last season, a collision against Cincinnati sent him hobbling off the field. After the game, he was diagnosed with a broken foot and would miss the team’s final six regular-season games, as well as the entirety of the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

But in his postgame comments, he was quick to remedy the question that was on everyone’s mind.

“It’s not my foot. I don’t know what it is, it’s too early to tell, but it’s not my foot,” Thomas said. “My hamstring is tight, and I’m not allowed to play.”

For the Orange, his loss, however long, will be felt. Thomas is a key communicator in the back and, as the last line of defense, uses his deceptive speed and big frame to halt the opposition.

The defensive core of Thomas, Chris Makowski, Oyvind Alseth and Jordan Murrell has been the most reliable unit for Syracuse this season, but sputtered against Notre Dame. SU gave up two corner kick goals, one with Thomas in the game and one with him on the sidelines, and a third on a blatant defensive breakdown in the second half.

“He’s important to us and I say all the time that I love having Skylar in the back,” Makowski said. “But we have guys off the bench who can fill gaps like that and now the older guys will have to start communicating more and more.”

When Thomas went down last season, McIntyre turned to now-sophomore Tyler Hilliard to fill in. Hilliard was a quality replacement but has also been nicked up this season and played just a few minutes in the team’s first five games.

This time, McIntyre first used sophomore Trevor Alexander when Thomas left the game. Alexander played in one game in 2012 and has played sparingly as a wing back this season.

After halftime, big-bodied sophomore Brandon Albert replaced Alexander and earned the temporary spot. Albert looked confident in the center of the defense, winning balls in the air and hastily challenging Notre Dame’s speedy forwards.

After the game, McIntyre called Albert “the team’s best player in the second half.”

“We’ve got Brandon Albert stepping in,” McIntyre said. “He deserves the opportunity and he’s been terrific.”

After starting the season 3-0 the Orange has hit a small wall. Since beginning conference play, SU lost a heartbreaker at Virginia Tech in overtime and was blanked by the Irish on its home field.

And games against former Big East foe Connecticut, and one on the road at Duke later in the week aren’t the best antidotes to the pain.

If Albert is a serviceable stopgap while Thomas heals, then the Orange could slide by. But all efforts will be focused on getting the team’s seasoned leader back on the field, yet again.

“I don’t really have an update,” McIntyre said. “I think, having said that, realistically he’s out for tomorrow. Hopefully it’s not bad, he’s responding well to treatment.”

—Staff writer Josh Hyber contributed reporting to this article

Published on September 17, 2013 at 1:00 am

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse