BALTIMORE — In almost every way possible, Syracuse’s early-season struggles persisted.

The Orange won just four faceoffs in 25 tries, was consequently outshot and collected seven fewer groundballs than Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays exploited the visitor’s glaring weakness at the faceoff X and, for most of the game, seemed to be running away with their sixth straight win to start the season unscathed.

Yet Syracuse never relinquished a lead salvaged early in the first quarter, and edged Johns Hopkins in the category with the biggest effect on the Orange’s psyche and standing.

“It wasn’t easy,” SU head coach John Desko said. “I wasn’t feeling too good at the time with the way we were doing on faceoffs and they played well.

“We were able to hold them off and score some big goals in the second half.”

Despite another digression from Chris Daddio and the rest of Syracuse’s faceoff specialists, the No. 10 Orange (4-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) snuck by No. 3 Johns Hopkins (5-1) 12-10 in front of 4,337 at Homewood Stadium. SU leaned on its attack to do so, as the Orange’s front line was careful with the ball and made the most of its opportunities with possessions at a premium.

Johns Hopkins’ Ryan Brown netted eight goals — including six in the second half — and was prolific throughout. But sophomore Dylan Donahue countered Brown’s day with a hat trick punctuated by a goal with 2:13 left in the game that put the Blue Jays permanently out of reach.

“Every possession becomes important to us when the other team is winning faceoffs like that,” Desko said.

What the Orange lacked at the X, it made up for with ball security and shot selection.

Johns Hopkins scored its first goal of the game after a possession that nearly spanned three minutes. Then Drew Kennedy — who came into the contest winning faceoffs at a 65 percent clip and stuck true to form — started to win faceoffs one after another.

The stocky FOGO won 3-of-5 in the first quarter then 5-of-6 in the second, but Syracuse didn’t appear handcuffed like it has so often this season.

Johns Hopkins was careless with the ball, the Orange was pesky in the midfield and senior goalie Dominic Lamolinara yielded just three first-half goals. And when Syracuse did have the ball, it was methodical in making the most of each trip into the attacking third.

Not one Blue Jays player was credited with a forced turnover in the final box score, and only three SU players took more than three shots.

“We had a game plan coming in on that goalie,” Donahue said. “We don’t like looking into it too much, but really it was all about placement.”

While Donahue paced the Orange, midfielders Scott Loy and Billy Ward each added two goals each — and the Orange would need every bit of the collective offensive effort to stave off a late push led by Brown.

The sophomore attack scored three quick goals to start the second half, and after SU entered the fourth with a four-goal lead, three more goals by Brown trimmed the deficit to one at 10-9.

But freshman Nick Weston, who has played sparingly this season and notched just one goal in the Orange’s previous five contests, fired a shot past JHU goalie Eric Schneider from 15 yards out.

As Syracuse celebrated around Weston, a game that was once dominated by the Blue Jays at the X and the Orange on the scoreboard had turned from confusing to climactic. The teams had twice traded 3-0 runs, and it came down to one possession after an SU timeout with two and change on the clock.

Donahue freed himself on the right side of the goal and fired a shot past Schneider’s right shoulder and into the top of the cage. An emphatic fist pump followed.

And when the Orange ran out the clock, the bench stormed the field while the Blue Jays limped off it.

“It’s a huge win for us as a team. It means a lot,” senior long-stick midfielder Matt Harris said. “We were all kind of jumping around and having fun.”

Four faceoff wins doesn’t usually call for a celebration, and with a date with Duke eight days ahead, the problem is as magnified as it will be all season.

But sometimes there are just other ways to win.

Said JHU head coach Dave Pietramala: “You learned today that faceoffs aren’t the be-all and end-all.”

Published on March 15, 2014 at 2:19 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse