Saturday, May 2, 2015

No.1 Orange Survives Colgate Challenge

Story & Photo By Robin Deehan


HAMILTON, N.Y. – In a clash of conference champions, the No. 1 Syracuse men’s lacrosse team held off No. 12 Colgate 9-7 Saturday afternoon at Andy Kerr Stadium to close out regular season play.

ACC winner Syracuse heads into the NCAA tournament with a 12-2 record while Patriot League victor Colgate dropped to 10-5.

“To get a win here today is big for us because it gives us that much more experience,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “It was good to come out with a W and gut it out here today.”

A Close First Half

After Colgate jumped out to an early 3-1 lead, Nicky Galasso and Dylan Donahue netted back-to-back goals less than a minute apart to even the score at three.

Donahue along with Randy Staats and Kevin Rice then went on a three-goal scoring run in the second quarter to give the Orange their first lead of the game at 6-5 with 4:49 left to play before the half.

But with just 14 seconds left on the clock, Anthony Abbadessa made a drive to the cage to thread one past SU goalie Bobby Wardwell and even the score back up and send both teams into the locker room tied at six goals apiece.

Second Half Penalties

Colgate’s best chance to pull ahead of Syracuse came in the third quarter when both Rice and Brandon Mullins were sidelined for penalties forcing the Orange to play two men down on their defensive end. 

But Peter Macartney’s outstanding defense allowed him to get a steal and kill the penalty clock to get the game back at even numbers.

“That was a big stop for us," Desko said.  "They tried to skip pass through our four man zone and Macartney picked it off and that gave us a pretty big possession."

Tied at seven at the start of the fourth quarter, senior Nicky Galasso took matters into his own hands scoring off a Staats pass to put the Orange up by one with 8:47 left to play.

Colgate tried to even the score with five minutes remaining but Wardwell stoned a Chase Wittich shot to preserve the Syracuse lead and clear the ball into the Orange offensive end.

On the next play, Galasso found the back of the cage for the third time to put the Orange up 9-7 with under four minutes to play. That proved to be the final dagger in the Raiders' run at an upset as they couldn’t answer in the final minutes.

“It’s a team game and I think everyone is playing well and if it weren’t for the guys on the attack and the midfield line I wouldn’t be getting these opportunities,” Galasso said.  “You have to give everyone the credit even the guys on the sidelines that aren’t playing you have to give them credit too because they are the ones getting us ready for the games.

Playmakers

Ben Williams was superb at the X for the Orange Saturday afternoon picking up 18-of-20 face-offs.

Rice finished with two goals and three assists and Galasso and Donahue tallied three goals apiece for the Orange.

Matt Clarkson of Colgate recorded four points on two goals and two assists, all of them early in the game, and ‘Gate keeper Brandon Burke was phenomenal in goal, turning away 14 Syracuse shots.

Wardwell finished with eight saves in the Orange victory.

Up Next


Syracuse is headed to the 2015 NCAA tournament, seeding will be announced Sunday night.

No comments:

Post a Comment