GENEVA, N.Y. — After Syracuse’s victory over Hobart on Saturday, SU head coach John Desko confirmed that right now his team doesn’t have a starting midfield unit.

It has two.

“I’m not so sure we call one our first line or second line right now,” Desko said. “Call them ‘Orange’ and ‘Blue.’ Whatever you want to call them, they’re playing great at the right time of the year.”

Just like it did in Syracuse’s dramatic, double-overtime win over No. 6 North Carolina last weekend, the reserve midfield unit of Billy Ward, Nicky Galasso and Derek Maltz played more possessions than the starting unit of Hakeem Lecky, Scott Loy and Henry Schoonmaker against the Statesmen.

Ward and Galasso each scored a crucial fourth-quarter goal, and the No. 4 Orange (9-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) beat Hobart (4-8, 3-2 Northeast) 15-9 at Boswell Field in Geneva, N.Y.

“It’s terrifying,” Hobart head coach Greg Raymond said. “You look at the first midfield and you look at the second midfield and you’ve got to have the same game plan set for all those guys.”

Ward finished with two goals and two assists on four shots, while Galasso finished with a goal and an assist on three shots. The six points from Ward and Galasso tripled the combined two points from the starting unit — a goal from Lecky and an assist from Schoonmaker.

It’s been a stellar stretch for the Ward-Galasso-Maltz unit. Ward scored the double-overtime game-winner to propel the Orange into the ACC tournament, and Galasso scored midway through the fourth quarter against UNC to give the Orange a 9-8 lead — its first of the day.

While on Saturday against Hobart, the stage belonged to attacks Randy Staats and Kevin Rice — who combined for nine goals — it was once again Ward and Galasso who stepped up in crunch time.

Ward buried home a pass from Galasso three minutes into the fourth quarter to give the Orange a 10-8 lead. The goal came in the middle of a 5-0 Syracuse run in which the Orange went from trailing 8-7 to leading 12-8.

It was Galasso who scored SU’s 12th goal with 9:22 left in the game, an unassisted rifle from 15 yards out. The Orange had trailed 6-2 midway through the second quarter, but Galasso’s goal completed an eight-goal swing.

Ward then put the game out of reach, scoring an unassisted goal to give the Orange a 13-9 lead with 3:43 remaining.

With Staats’ stellar play to start the season earning him a starting spot with the first-line attack, Maltz has slid down to the second-line midfield, where he has meshed well with Ward and Galasso — former attacks themselves.

“Nicky and Derek are so easy to play with, they’ve both got their heads up,” Ward said. “I’ve been playing with Derek since we came in freshman year, and Nicky’s really come in and gelled well. We kind of joke around, we’ve got six attackmen out there when we’re in there.”

Desko said that balance is the key. With the ACC tournament coming next weekend — the Orange will play Duke at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., on Friday — Desko said it’s a positive that all of SU’s units see the field to keep themselves fresh.

With Hobart starting goalkeeper Peter Zonino ruled out for Saturday’s game with a head injury, freshman Jackson Brown, who had just played eight minutes all year, started in the cage.

In his first collegiate game, the firepower of Syracuse was too much to handle.

Said Raymond: “The depth was a concern. You always go into a ‘Cuse game knowing that everybody that’s on the field, all six guys playing offense at once, are great offensive players.”

Published on April 19, 2014 at 8:54 pm

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