Seniors Power Syracuse to Rout Hobart On Senior Night

Story and Photos by Thomas Zhou 

Syracuse, N. Y, -- The Syracuse men's lacrosse senior group lined up in the middle of the Carrier Dome with their parents or siblings. They accepted the ovation and applause before the final game of the regular season on Senior Night. When the Kraus-Simmons Trophy battle began, those Syracuse seniors became Hobart's nightmare.

Six seniors combined for 13 goals as Syracuse (9-2) defeated Hobart (7-4), 18-5, on Tuesday evening in front of an audience of 2,477. The senior attack trio contributed half of the Orange goals, helping Syracuse retain the trophy: Randy Staats had four goals and two assists. Dylan Donahue contributed three goals. Kevin Rice had two goals and two assists.

"We got through a little bit of senioritis in the first part of the first quarter," SU head coach John Desko said, "I think our guys came alive and did what we wanted to do tonight in all facets of the game."

Syracuse doubled Hobart in shots, 52-26, and had 30 ground balls compared to Hobart's 18. The Orange had a 17-8 advantage in faceoffs. Ben Williams finished 8-of-9 at the "X."


First Half: Seniors Attack

Eleven of Syracuse's 12 half-time goals came from seniors. Sophomore midfielder Nick Weston scored the only goal that was not scored by a senior.

Donahue scored on his first shot, putting the Orange on the board 73 seconds into the game. The goal marked his 100th career goal, making him the 23rd SU player to reach the milestone. Donahue said after the game that he didn't realize it until the record was announced on the public address system.

After Hakeem Lecky and Weston each found the back of the cage once, Donahue scored his second goal to give the Orange a 4-0 lead near the end of the first quarter.

Hobart goalie Jackson Brown had five of his 14 saves in the first quarter, only to have six Syracuse seniors beat him a total of eight times in the next quarter.

Lecky's one-on-one and Rice's sniper extended Syracuse's lead to six, before Donahue scored an unassisted goal to reach a hat-trick.

When Brenny Daly escaped the defense and scored his second career goal, with 4.1 seconds left in the first half, the Orange led the Statesmen, 12-0.


Second Half: Different Players See More Time

Staats scored two quick goals in the beginning of the third quarter, reaching his hat-trick. Ryan Simmons's goal at the 9:20 mark extended Syracuse's cushion to 15. Simmons is the great grandson of Coach Roy Simmons, Sr. for whom the trophy is named along with Hobart Coach "Babe" Kraus.

Staats, who played his second game after recovering from a leg injury, said he felt healthy and scoring goals helped a lot for future games.

Hobart, playing without its leading scorer Alex Love, finally ended its 37-minute drought on a Gavin Llewellyn's unassisted goal. The Statesmen fans rose and cheered. They erupted again three minutes later as Matt Opsahl beat Warren Hill, Syracuse's backup goalie.

The goal was the first ball Hill saw after he replaced senior goalie Bobby Wardwell, who finished the game with four saves. Hill then responded with three saves before Simmons scored for the Orange again.

In the fourth quarter, J.T. Forkin and Tim Barber, who started in place of the injured Henry Schoonmaker, scored for the Orange while Frank Brown, Sam Washburne, and Spencer Passmore for the Statesmen. Washburne and Passmore both scored for the first time in the season.

Desko started to rest some starters and put on more backup players in the middle of the third quarter. "It was a reward for their had work," he said of the starters. "...They are going to be healthy going to the ACC, well rested. For these other guys, getting sometime was really icing on the cake."


Up next

Syracuse has little time to reminisce about the regular season. The Orange will face the loser of this Saturday's matchup between No.1 Notre Dame and  No. 2 North Carolina in the ACC Tournament semifinal round on Friday, April 24 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. Those two teams handed Syracuse its only two losses in the regular season.