Kevin Rice said he hadn’t been face guarded since he played high school basketball.

Siena defenders were swarming him the entire game Saturday, looking to contain Syracuse’s most lethal scoring option and his fellow attack, Randy Staats.

But that opened up other spots for the Orange’s offense to exploit Siena’s plan. It was junior Dylan Donahue who did it best, connecting on four goals.

“(Donahue’s) a very cerebral player,” Rice said. “So I’m sure within the first possession he knew exactly what Siena was doing and the best way to exploit it.

“He puts himself in spots where he’s going to succeed.”

No. 8 Cornell may very well apply similar defensive pressure to Rice and Staats in its game on Sunday at No. 4 SU (1-0) in the Carrier Dome at 4 p.m. It was that duo that had big games against the Big Red last year, and the attention they draw could again set up Donahue for a big performance.

At Cornell last year, Staats tied his season-high for goals in a game with five and Rice scored on three of his shots, while Donahue only tallied one goal.

Syracuse head coach John Desko wouldn’t go as far to assume there would be the same extra pressure on Rice and Staats, but he praised Donahue as perhaps SU’s most versatile scoring threat.

“I think of all the attackmen, he’s as good with both hands as any,” Desko said. “He can come up the left side, he can come up the right side and he’s really good off the ball.”

It was Donahue that kicked off the 21-goal dismantling of the Saints on Saturday. He scored from about a foot outside the center of the crease to handle a pass from Hakeem Lecky running full speed down the right side.

With a nine-goal lead in the middle of the third quarter, Donahue again found the perfect placement on a scoring opportunity. He cut across the middle of the field to the center of the crease right in sync with a pass from Staats to convert on the quick-stick score.

Donahue’s made a habit out of knowing where to trail plays and his timeliness hasn’t gone unnoticed by his fellow attack.

“He finds the right spot almost every time he’s on the field,” Staats said. “If me or Kevin or the middies are dodging, he’ll just follow the slide and be wide-open right in the middle for an easy shot.

“His lacrosse IQ is through the roof.”

The Saints’ strategy to pressure Staats and Rice was a peculiar one considering Donahue spearheaded the Orange’s win last year against Siena with an eight-goal performance.

Rice and Staats both said they don’t expect Cornell — which allowed 9.5 goals per game last season, third best in the Ivy League — to take the same approach and press the majority of its defense on them.

“If they do, then we’ll have four other guys out on the field that could be wide-open,” Staats said. “… At the same time I think they’ll be cautious with us.”

Despite the attention to Rice and Staats, it was Donahue that led Syracuse in scoring last season with 37 goals. In the first game of the season, he proved elusive to the Siena defense and had a productive start to defend his scoring crown.

SU’s trio of attack is a lethal force as an entire unit, and it only works to the Orange’s benefit when defenses decide to heavily cover two-thirds of the scoring leaders.

Said Rice of Donahue: “It still sort of blows my mind when people leave him open because he doesn’t really miss much.”

Published on February 12, 2015 at 12:16 am

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