Men's Lacrosse

Loy’s return adds depth, familiarity to Syracuse’s midfield

Allie Berube | Video Edtior

Syracuse midfielder Scott Loy missed two games with a left leg injury. He scored a goal in his first game back against Georgetown on Saturday.

Late in the first quarter, Scott Loy cranked up for his third shot of the day.

His first was saved. His second found the crossbar. Then, with 2:12 remaining in the first quarter, Loy wound up from about 14 yards out. This time, he found twine. The sharpshooting midfielder was back.

“It’s good to have that big shot out there, even though he wasn’t running as well as we like him to,” head coach John Desko said. “He was still able to be effective.”

Loy made his return from a left leg injury and two-game absence Saturday against Georgetown. The junior scored just one goal for Syracuse (10-3, 4-1), but his return after injuring his leg in the first half against Cornell meant the No. 7 Orange’s top midfield line of Loy, JoJo Marasco and Luke Cometti was reunited.

Henry Schoonmaker had filled in admirably on that top line, but with the original first-string unit back intact, Marasco recorded a three-point performance, while Cometti netted a pair of goals.



“We’ve been playing so long as a line, it was tough to get in another groove with Henry in there,” Marasco said, “even though he filled in pretty nicely.”

Loy started slow for SU. His first shot made an easy save for GU goaltender Jake Haley. His next shot was better, but still hit the crossbar. He slipped a few times and turned the ball over once, but the one goal stands out to him.

“It was important to get back in my rhythm, I guess,” Loy said. “It was good for my confidence.”

With Loy sidelined, he was relegated a role of emotional support — “I was more of a cheerleader than an actual player,” he said — but he got to watch as some role players stepped up.

Schoonmaker scored just one point in the two games, but did a bit of everything for Syracuse. He stepped into Loy’s place in the starting lineup while still logging heavy minutes on the wing during faceoffs. He scooped up five ground balls in a loss to Hobart while balancing his time on the first midfield line with his spot on the faceoff team. Loy’s return will only help restore some of that balance.

“We’ve been kind of a little bit out of sync with our second group,” Desko said, “so I think him coming back not only helps our first group, but helps our second group play better, too.”

The Orange’s first midfield line has shouldered the scoring burden for most of the season. Marasco leads the team with 46 points. Cometti’s 24 goals has him tied for the team lead with attack Derek Maltz. Loy’s scored 13.

He’s been a critical piece to the puzzle that is SU’s offense. He shoots the second highest percentage of any starter and the highest of any midfielder. Marasco does most of his scoring as a distributor. Cometti does most of it on cuts to the net. Loy gives them that last piece as an outside shooter.

“He complements off nice from Luke and myself,” Marasco said. “It was nice to have him out there and it shows when he was able to put that one goal in. He was pretty far out, so it adds another element to our midfield line.”

In other ways, though, Syracuse’s off-ball players Loy and Cometti are similar. They both have exceptional chemistry with on-ball linemate Marasco. They both cut as well as anyone, toward or away from the crease. And they both make Marasco’s job a whole lot easier.

“It’s another person I can look to pass it to out there,” Marasco said. “He’s a real smart player. He just kind of follows me around, gets open like Luke and puts the ball in the back of the net.”

It had just been two games, but the Orange sorely missed Loy. Syracuse eked out the first one-goal game, but went 1-1 against a pair of lesser teams without him.

His return was relatively tame, but he wasn’t 100 percent, Desko said. This Saturday, he will be, and that’s what’s important. The Orange travels to East Rutherford, N.J., to face No. 1 Notre Dame in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic. The Fighting Irish boast one of the best goalies in the nation in John Kemp, so Loy’s shot will be as important as ever.

He was merely average against the Hoyas, but it was a step to get back.

“It felt like a lifetime since I’ve been back out there,” Loy said, “so it felt good to be back.”





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