Cal Paduda gave Syracuse every chance possible. For once, the Orange had a distinct advantage at the faceoff X.

Paduda, the freshman who barely saw action prior to Saturday, was absolutely dominant at the X in Tuesday’s loss to Hobart. SU may have fallen 13-12, but at least one long-standing question appeared answered: Syracuse has its faceoff man.

“Some of it’s a matchup thing,” SU head coach John Desko said. “I think Cal’s been doing a great job for us, especially in the game tonight.”

Paduda won 20-of-28 faceoffs he took Tuesday night as the No. 3 Orange (9-3, 3-1 Big East) won 20-of-29 as a team. For the fourth time this season, Syracuse won the majority of the faceoffs. Paduda had played just five games all season, and more than doubled his total faceoff wins on this night alone.

From the opening whistle, Paduda set the tone. He tied up Hobart (6-6, 2-3 Eastern College Athletic) midfielder Gryphin Kelly at the X for nearly 10 seconds on the opening draw before winning the faceoff to himself.

Three days earlier, in a win over Rutgers, Paduda won just six faceoffs, but frequently tied up the Scarlet Knights’ faceoff men at the X to create 50-50 opportunities. On Tuesday, he created consistent wins.

“Last game, he did a good job of mucking it up on the faceoff and turned a few of them into ground balls and didn’t get anything out the front,” Desko said, “and tonight, I just thought he did a good job in all ways.”

It allowed Syracuse to reel off four straight goals and surge to an 8-4 lead late in the first half. Paduda won 8-of-11 faceoffs in the second quarter, including 3-of-4 during the Orange’s 4-0 run.

“Hats off to him. He dominated,” said Hobart midfielder Charles Sipe, who went a paltry 2-for-13 at the X. “We didn’t have any film on him. We were scouting (Brendan Conroy and Chris Daddio), so they kind of threw us a curveball there.”

Paduda arrived at SU hoping to become the solution to the problem that so frequently plagued Syracuse. He spent a gap year training with Long Island Lizards faceoff specialist Peter Vlahakis of Major League Lacrosse to shore up his ability at the X.

He wasn’t able to overcome Daddio on the depth chart early in the season, but as the junior has struggled, Paduda has carved out a role. He kept the Orange in the game against RU, then essentially ran Kelly from Tuesday’s game — the same Kelly who won 14-of-21 at the X in the Statesmen’s previous game, a win over then-No. 20 Bellarmine.

But Paduda deflected all individual credit after the game, instead crediting SU’s stable of capable faceoff men.

“We have four really good faceoff guys,” Paduda said. “Brendan Conroy, Elliott Burr and Chris Daddio — we all challenge each other every day in practice, so it creates a really healthy environment for us to grow and get better at the X. So today was an accumulation of all of our efforts.”

Even as Syracuse was unraveling in the fourth quarter, Paduda did all he could.

After Hobart midfielder Derek Akner scored to even the score at 12 with 2:21 remaining, Paduda settled in at the X to face Kelly. Paduda knocked the ball backward to the edge of the Orange’s defensive zone, where Drew Jenkins sat all alone. But the SU midfielder botched the ground ball and Hobart attack Alex Love came away with the possession to fire the game-winner past Syracuse goaltender Dominic Lamolinara.

Paduda won the next faceoff, but the Orange couldn’t capitalize. For the day, Paduda’s career effort was squandered, but he’s given SU a long-term revelation.

“We’ll sit down and watch film and look at the Georgetown guys and see what they do and see which is the best way to counter it,” Desko said, “but no reason not to go.”

Published on April 17, 2013 at 12:55 am

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