The blowout had already been set in motion. Syracuse entered the second quarter already holding a four-goal lead. But in the blink of an eye, any remaining hope for Canisius vanished.

The No. 9 Orange (6-2, 2-1 Big East) scored four goals from the 11:43 mark to the 7:42 mark of the second quarter to jump-start a seven-goal frame and propel SU to a 17-5 blowout victory over the Griffins (1-7, 1-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic) on Friday in front of 2,209 in the Carrier Dome — the program’s 200th win in the building. Less than halfway through the second quarter, the game was already decided.

“When a team comes in, you want to jump on them early and put any hope they have out early,” Syracuse attack Kevin Rice said.

After a pair of goals from midfielder Scott Loy paced the Orange in the first quarter en route to a 5-1 lead, Derek Maltz started things off in the second with a quick-stick goal off of a feed from Rice behind the net to stretch SU’s lead to 6-1. Canisius held Syracuse scoreless for the next two minutes, but then the Orange exploded for three goals in less than two minutes.

Rice set up on the left wing and cut to the middle before spinning back toward the goal line to score with 9:33 remaining. Less than a minute later, Ryan Barber charged down the left side of the field and bounced a shot off of the far post and in. Matt Walters capped the run another minute later with a half-shot from 10 yards out that found the back of the net. In a matter of minutes, any hope the Griffins had of coming back had been extinguished.

“We were pretty efficient. We ran well, we moved well,” SU head coach John Desko said. “I think we were shooting about 50 percent going in at halftime, so I think any coach that shoots 50 percent is pretty happy with how the guys are shooting.”

By the break, Syracuse had built a 12-1 lead and made Canisius look perhaps even worse than its 1-7 record suggested.

The second half was merely a formality.

Though the final 30 minutes began with the Orange executing its system and Maltz scoring a hat trick in the third quarter alone because of it, the offensive fluidity quickly gave way to patience. On two separate stall warnings, SU simply laid the ball down when the 30 seconds expired, instead of working for a shot.

“Canisius is a young team and we didn’t want to rub things in,” Desko said, “so I thought the offense took good care of the ball and did what we wanted to do.”

Maltz wouldn’t say whether he thought the offense executed as well as it had all season, but even against a one-win opponent, it was undeniably smooth. The 17 goals were its second most of the season, and its 12 in the first half were a season-high for a half. When the starters were in, the Orange was simply unstoppable, scoring on more than half of its shots in the first three quarters.

“We take good shots,” Rice said. “Shot selection is really important, and I think with the way our offense is structured and the way we move off ball, we’re creating a lot of easy opportunities for ourselves which helps the shooting percentage.”

A week ago, SU faced a struggling Wildcats team in Villanova, Pa. VU entered that game with just one win, but Syracuse handed its opponent a victory on Villanova’s home field.

But a week later in the Dome, the Orange wouldn’t be caught off guard. Maltz has helped his team to bigger wins this season — victories over Virginia and Johns Hopkins stand out — but in terms of offensive execution, Friday’s showing was just about as good as it gets.

“We did a pretty good job moving off ball and creating good shot opportunities as an offense,” Maltz said, “but obviously, the scoreboard says what it says.”

Published on March 29, 2013 at 9:08 pm

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