No. 1 Syracuse Men's Lacrosse Team Manhandles No. 20 Marist 20-8 to Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals

Story & Photo By Robin Deehan

SYRACUSE, N.Y. --It was a stormy Sunday night in Syracuse but that didn’t stop 2,555 fans from coming to the Carrier Dome to watch the No. 1 Syracuse men’s lacrosse team manhandle No. 20 Marist 20-6 in the first round of the 2015 NCAA tournament.

“First I want to congratulate Marist on their season," Syracuse head coach John Desko said.  "To win their conference and the first round of the play in games, I thought they did a great job.

"We watched them on film for most of the week and I thought they really put ten players out there and they were going to be all we could handle.  I’m happy we understood our matchups and who they were and we had a lot of respect for them and we got those ten goals in the first half and kept them down.  It was great to get started like that.”

The Orange (13-2) were lead by career high performances from both Kevin Rice and Jordan Evans to sail to an easy first round victory and end the Red Foxes (14-4) 2015 campaign.

"We have a lot to be proud of this year," Marist head coach Keegan Wilkinson said.  "We took the program to new heights."

A Ten-Goal Run

Marist quickly jumped out in front taking a 1-0 lead 1:43 into the game on a goal from Drew Nesmith.

But it was the only time the Red Foxes would find themselves on top all game as the Orange went on a ten-goal scoring run led by midfielder Evans' three goals in the opening 15 minutes.

After Hakeem Lecky knotted the game back at 1-1 at 11:02 in the first quarter, Randy Staats made a beautiful behind the back pass to Evans who was cutting down the middle to put the Orange ahead 2-1.

Less than a minute later, Henry Schoonmaker unleashed a shot from 12 yards out and the Orange never looked back.

Evans found the back of the cage again at 6:43 in the first quarter to give the Orange 4-1 lead.

On the next play, Marist keeper Dave Scarcello stoned a Nicky Galasso shot but on the clear Dylan Donahue intercepted the pass and found Staats for the easy score.

32 seconds later, a Kevin Rice shot rebounded out in front of the cage and Evans was there for clean up, scooping it up and slipping it past Scarcello to close out first quarter scoring at 6-1.

“I think my confidence is back and I think my teammates on the attack are looking for the middies all the time,” Evans said.  “We are just trying to fill in and slide and they [the attack] are finding us.”

The Orange would go on to score four more goals in the second quarter from Rice, Donahue and Tom Grimm to extend the score 10-1.

The Red Foxes finally found the back of the cage again with 5:36 to go before the half on a Dillon Walker goal.

Joe Radin followed up Walker with a goal of his own to close out first half scoring, 10-3.

Second Half Runaway

Marist opened up the second half scoring back-to-back goals from J.D. Recor and Radin to cut the Syracuse lead to five at 11:52 in the third quarter.

But the Orange answered Marist's four straight goals with four of their own from Donahue, Rice and Staats to put the Orange back up 14-5 with at 5:02.

Another Radin goal would make it 14-6, but the Orange attack was too much to handle as they scored another six unanswered goals, the final two coming from Evans just 61 seconds apart for the 19^th and 20^th team goals.

“I’ve been waiting for him [Evans] to break out so it’s perfect timing,” Desko said. “I think teams scouting us are going to have to pay a lot of attention to that second midfield group.”

Playmakers

The Orange outshot the Red Foxes 47 to 29, won face-offs 21 to 9 and picked up more than double the ground balls, 46 to 17.

Rice finished with a career high nine points on four goals and five assists and Evans, who had four goals all season, finished with five tallies.

Donahue also stepped up big with three goals and two assists while Staats recorded two goals and two assists and Lecky had two goals and one assist.

Galasso, Schoonmaker, Barber and Grimm each chipped in with one.

Face-off specialist Ben Williams won 15-of-22 face-offs including all eight in the first quarter. 

“When Ben gets on a roll it’s hard to stop him and for us we just need to make sure we put the ball in the net and take advantage of the opportunities that he gives us,” Rice said.

Cal Paduda stepped in for Williams late in the second half and went 6-for-8 at the X.

Orange keeper Bobby Wardwell recorded six saves.

Marist’s Joe Radin put up five points on four goals and one assist and J.D. Recor netted one and dished out three assists.

Scarcello made 14 stops for the Red Foxes.

Up Next

The Orange will head down to Annapolis, Maryland to play Johns Hopkins at Navy's Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Sunday May, 17 at noon in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Johns Hopkins advanced to the quarterfinal after a crushing 19-7 win over No. 7 Virginia on Sunday afternoon.

Syracuse and Johns Hopkins met earlier this season on March 14^th in the Carrier Dome; the Orange won that matchup up 13-10.

“It looks like they’ve [Johns Hopkins] hit their stride and are playing pretty well on both ends of the field,” Desko said.  “We’ve got to be prepared, it’s never easy to try to beat somebody twice in one year, so we know they’re going to be fired up and the game’s in their backyard.”