Kevin Rice flung his head back in frustration.

In the span of one minute and over the course of one possession, he had two golden point-blank scoring opportunities sail past the goal.

But with the score knotted two minutes later early in the third quarter, Rice ran up from behind the goal, did a 360-degree spin move in front of the crease and flipped a shot in to spark an 8-2 run for the current Syracuse team.

“We scored some goals on some one-on-one dodges,” Rice said. “Once you start doing that the defense has to slide, and once they start sliding it starts opening up opportunities.

“After halftime, we showed some character.”

After a sluggish start for the Orange that included a scoreless first quarter and just two goals in the second, the Syracuse Varsity burst open in the second half to defeat the Alumni All-Stars, 11-5, in the Orange Alumni Lacrosse Classic on Saturday in the Carrier Dome.

Rice and Donahue combined for six goals and three assists to give stability to an offense that used a good chunk of its roster.

“They played great defense, it was hard for us to run by them,” SU head coach John Desko said. “We just kind of adjusted as the game went on…to have that group back it should be a strength of the team.”

The second-oldest player on the field, Casey Powell, got the scoring started. Just 4:49 into the first quarter, the Class of 1998 alum put home a running shot past Bobby Wardwell.

Desko used the game as an opportunity to use a lot of different weapons. Seven players took faceoffs and five stood in goal for Syracuse.

Nine different players scored for the current SU players, but it was the tandem of Rice and Dylan Donahue, who combined for 73 goals last season, that pushed the Orange over the edge in the exhibition opener.

“Hopefully it keeps going as it has been,” Rice said. “I’ve been playing with Dylan for a long time. We both enjoy it.”

With the score 4-3 in favor of the varsity squad, Rice and Donahue put the game away. First Rice scored unassisted with 4:40 left in the third. Then he picked up the ball on the ensuing faceoff and fed it to Donahue who scored just seven seconds later.

Just over a minute later, Rice bounced a shot in to make it 7-3, and the once-close, once-hard-hitting battle had become a blowout.

Redshirt junior defender Brandon Mullins said that there was no shortage of competitiveness, although spirits appeared lighthearted after the game.

“Both teams are trying to win, even though we’re both family and friends, it’s still really competitive out there,” Mullins said. “There are penalties all over the place, knocking each other around. I don’t think anybody was holding back.”

Although the current team had won all five previous matchups in the series, Rice said that before the game a lot of the alumni were saying this would be the year they would finally beat the current varsity team.

But that wasn’t the case.

“We wanted it to be a very competitive scrimmage,” Desko said. “(We wanted to) get a run against some very good players, and I think they showed that in the first quarter and the second quarter.

“We were able to adjust and get by that.”

Published on October 4, 2014 at 7:21 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3