No. 2 Syracuse Holds Off No. 9 Albany 17-12 in Battle of In-State Rivals

Story & Post Game Video By Robin Deehan

Photo By Michael Castellano

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 2 Syracuse Orange held off the No. 9 Albany Great Danes 17-12 Thursday night in the Carrier Dome in a battle of in-state rivals.

Despite still being without one of their best players, Randy Staats, for the third consecutive game the Orange men (8-1, 2-1 ACC) were looking to rebound against the Great Danes (7-2, 3-0 AE) after their perfect season came to an end last weekend in a 13-12 double overtime loss to Notre Dame.

“We worked the kinks out from Notre Dame Tuesday and Wednesday then pregame yesterday,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said.  “Our game plan going in was to win face-offs and be efficient offensively with the ball, try to score and just make them play a lot of defense. I think we pretty much did that.”

“We can take something from every game, especially this game.” Albany attacker Lyle Thompson said.  “In my eyes Syracuse is the best team in the country and they are without Randy Staats, who in my eyes is their best player, so we can take a lot from this game.”

X Marks the Spot

The Syracuse defense led by goal keeper Bobby Wardwell and Brandon Mullins faced an Albany attack that leads the nation in scoring averaging 18.38 goals per game thanks in part to 2014 Tewaraaton Award Winner and fourth-leading NCAA career points record holder Thompson.

Mullins was tasked with face-guarding Thompson who entered the match with 60 points (27 goals & 33 assists) in only nine games.

Although Mullins played him tough, Thompson was still kept up with his points average, scoring four goals and dishing out three assists.

“He [Thompson] is a tremendous player,” Desko said.

“I think Mullins did a really good job on me, pressuring down and staying on my hands especially in the first half,” Thompson said.  “He was on me pretty good and I adjusted in the second half but unfortunately we didn’t have the ball too much in the second half.”

Thompson’s limited looks at the goal were thanks to face-off specialist Ben Williams.

Williams was outstanding at the X winning 24 of 27 face-offs including all nine in the first quarter.

“I’ve never seen a face-off performance like that.” Albany Head Coach Scott Marr said. “That kid was unbelievable at the X and that’s what ultimately won the game.”
 

But Williams’ competition was a little lighter than it should have been.

Albany’s primary face-off specialist Connor Russell tore his ACL last week during the Great Danes 25-0 shutout of UMass Lowell and was replaced by freshman Cason Liles.

“We knew what we were going to see,” Williams said. “Our wings did a good job talking to me and it was a fun game, it was a complete game I thought.”

Offensive Play-Makers

Despite Williams’ dominance at the face-off the first quarter was evenly matched with Syracuse and Albany tied at four apiece.

But the Orange finally warmed up and started to pull away in the second quarter when Tim Barber and Kevin Rice scored back-to-back goals in the first five minutes of play. 

With 5:08 left to play before the half the Great Danes had a chance to even the score when Syracuse went man-down for one minute on a slashing penalty.

But the Orange defense killed Albany’s extra man opportunity by forcing a turnover and getting it to midfielder Henry Schoonmaker who scored on the fast break.

17 seconds before the half, Nicky Galasso netted one from a Dylan Donahue feed giving the Orange the 8-5 advantage at halftime.

The first play of the second half saw Schoonmaker strike again on a bouncer past Albany goalkeeper Blaze Riorden.

And Schoonmaker wasn’t done yet, he would go on to score a second man-down goal with 8:03 left in the third quarter when Jay McDermott was called for slashing.

“Once you get a couple in you start getting in the zone and that’s what happened,” Schoonmaker said. “Once I got a few in I knew I might have some luck shooting some longer range ones.”

Rice would follow suit scoring on an open cage after Riorden left his post trying to run the ball down field himself.

Barber forced Riorden to turn the ball over at half field and chucked the ball down to a wide-open Rice who rolled it in to give the Orange a five goal advantage.

The fourth quarter saw both the Orange and the Great Danes score four goals, but the five goal lead the Orange gained in the third quarter was enough to coast Syracuse to a 17-12 victory.

Rice finished with seven points on three goals and four assists while Schoonmaker scored a career-high five goals.

“Albany was really focusing on our attack and when our attack are that good it just helps us and gives us [the midfield] more opportunity,” Schoonmaker said. “So we have to score.”

Nicky Galasso chipped in with four goals and Donahue, Jordan Evans, Barber, Nick Weston and Ryan Simmons each had one.

Wardwell finished with 12 saves on the day while Riorden stopped 15. 

Not to be out done by the attack, the Syracuse man-down defensive unit held Albany’s attack to zero goals on five extra-man opportunities.

“Unfortunately our man-up team didn’t have a good night and that could’ve made a difference in the second quarter,” Marr said.

Up Next

The Orange returns to the field Saturday, April 11 in its final regular season ACC game against No. 4 North Carolina (10-1, 1-0 ACC).

Face-off is scheduled for 4pm in Chapel Hill.

Post Game Press Conference