John Tillman glanced down at the final box score on the table in front of him and then looked up while scratching his head.

“I’m shocked,” the Maryland head coach said.

He had just been asked about the final margin after the No. 5 Terrapins’ 16-8 win over No. 2 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. The Terps dominated the Orange at the faceoff X, took 55 shots to SU’s 32 and picked up 19 more ground balls.

But a much more simple statistic caught Tillman’s eye.

“We know this just doesn’t happen,” he said. “A 10-goal quarter and scoring this much against Syracuse is rare.”

But after SU’s 17-16 win over Albany last weekend, it’s the second time in as many games that the Orange has given up 16 goals.

Syracuse jumped out to a 4-2 lead early in the second quarter and its defense was mitigating Maryland’s deliberate attack. But then Charlie Raffa got into a groove at the X against Chris Daddio, and Syracuse wouldn’t find consistent possession until minutes into the third.

That’s when the walls of the defense fell down. An eight-goal run that spanned 4:11 saw the Terrapins take advantage of two of three man-up opportunities, run circles around the SU back line and permanently put the game out of reach.

Twice, Raffa popped a faceoff win out to himself and coasted down the field untouched to score his first and second goals of the season.

“We made a lot of mistakes defensively,” SU head coach John Desko said.

Syracuse’s defense faced a lot of pressure due to its struggles at the X, but that wasn’t an excuse for senior long-stick midfielder Matt Harris.

After Raffa’s first goal, which gave UMD an 8-4 lead, Harris stood in front of the Syracuse net with Brandon Mullins, Sean Young and Todd Grimm. Mullins watched the replay on the video board while the rest of the defenders talked in a circle.

Senior goalie Dominic Lamolinara leaned on his stick and shook his head while staring into the Dome turf.

Then play restarted and it was more of the same.

Said Harris: “We can’t do that. We can’t give up 16 goals again.”

Published on February 22, 2014 at 7:16 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse