Men's Lacrosse

Syracuse midfield provides 1st-half offense while Siena hones in on attack, guides SU to win

Bryan Cereijo | Staff Photographer

Hakeem Lecky makes a move against Siena on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. The senior midfielder led a unit that provided a second offensive dimension too hard for the Saints to defend.

Siena head coach John Svec knew he had to change his approach from last year.

Six of Kevin Rice’s eight assists were to Dylan Donahue in Syracuse’s 2014 season opener against the Saints, so Svec decided to hone in on Rice to try to reverse the 19-7 result from a year ago.

But it didn’t even come close to working on Saturday.

“We wanted to try and take Kevin Rice out of it since he’s clearly their feeder,” Svec said. “But we didn’t quite seem to get that today.”

Instead of the Syracuse attack giving the Orange a sizeable first-half lead, it was SU’s midfield that handled the majority of the scoring load while the visitors tried to shut down Rice, Donahue and Randy Staats up top. Midfielders Hakeem Lecky and Nicky Galasso led a unit that accounted for six of Syracuse’s nine goals in the opening 30 minutes, and one that ultimately provided a second dimension too hard for Siena (0-1) to defend in No. 4 Syracuse’s (1-0) 21-7 win in front of 2,740 in the Carrier Dome.



“We knew after last year, some of the stat lines from last year’s game, they probably would play us a little differently,” Rice said. “They were hesitant to slide from down low and Lecky’s going to draw a slide every time and that left Nicky open.”

With eight minutes left in the opening quarter, Lecky took the ball from midfield and sprinted down the left side before lofting a high pass toward the middle to Galasso, who corralled the ball and scored from 7 yards out. Four minutes later, Lecky darted down the left alley, leaving his defender in his tracks before bouncing one into the back of the net while tripping over himself on the edge of the crease.

“Yeah, I just lost my foot a little bit,” Lecky joked. “I saw the opening so I tried to beat the guy that was supposed to be sliding.”

All half, the speed of Lecky – who tallied three of his four assists in the first two quarters – exposed a Siena defense that was unable to adjust from its original game plan, and one that was ultimately too slow to shift over from covering SU’s attack.

“We needed to slide,” Svec said. “We can’t have a kid like Hakeem Lecky coming flying down at your goalie and shooting from 7 yards and not slide.”

Throughout the first half, Siena defender Pat Killeen bodied Rice around the goal, making Syracuse’s go-to attack fight for every opening as he often stumbled and was pushed off balance when he got the ball.

Rice’s only first-half tally came with significant physical contact, as Killeen threw Rice off balance before falling on top of him while Rice rifled the ball into the back of the net.

And even though SU’s primary goal-scorer – and his two other attacks – were held largely ineffective early on, the Syracuse offense’s depth and versatility still allowed the Orange to jump out to a lead it wouldn’t come close to relinquishing.

“Some of the guys mentioned earlier how focused the Siena defense was on the attack and trying to take Kevin out of the game by shutting him off and really focusing on Randy and Dylan,” SU head coach John Desko said. “We’re just comfortable if they’re going to do that.”

As time ticked on in the second half of a game that was already decided, midfielders Tim Barber, Ryan Simmons and Joe Gillis scored their first career goals for the Orange.

It was a luxury Desko was glad to have, and one that was largely enabled by a midfield unit that made an already potent SU offense that much harder to defend.

Said Rice: “It made (Siena) have to respect the middies and it’s just a good, well-balanced team offense.”





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