Syracuse wasn’t prepared to see what it did from the Cornell defense.

SU was only held scoreless for two minutes in its season opener against Siena, but it went almost an entire opening quarter without a goal against Cornell because of the Big Red’s stifling near-man defensive style.

“They were sort of locking up with an attack when a midfielder was dodging,” attack Kevin Rice said, “and so I think it took us a little while to readjust and not really go with what we had been practicing.”

The No. 4 Orange (2-0) eventually took off against No. 10 Cornell (0-1) and collected 11 goals in the second and third quarters combined en route to a 14-6 win. The Syracuse starting attack of Rice, Dylan Donahue and Randy Staats totaled half of SU’s goal production, with Hakeem Lecky and Nicky Galasso continuing the midfielders’ early-season success by collecting five goals together.

Cornell’s defense posted a stiff perimeter around the crease that Syracuse had been unable to penetrate for much of the opening stanza. The perimeter often pushed out and Cornell defenders were physically willing the ball away from SU’s attack, taking six of the first 10 ground balls from Syracuse.

The Orange was very deliberate with its attack once it realized the troubles it was having with the near-man defense.

“They did some different things against us early in the game defensively that took us a little while to figure it out,” head coach John Desko said.

The CU defense had milked away much of the time in the first quarter before SU’s highly-touted attack finally began to find the cracks in the perimeter.

After Staats delivered a goal off a string of four passes around the crease to give SU a 1-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, it was Donahue who took advantage of a handicapped Big Red defense that was playing a man down.

With a man on his back and his body facing away from the goal, Donahue did it all himself as he shoveled the ball to the left of Cornell goalie Christian Knight and into the net. He fell to the ground as he was sandwiched in between three defenders.

The Big Red defense did all it could to keep SU’s persistent attack away from the crease, but was unable to get as much contact on the Orange sticks as it did at the onset of the game.

“We liked some of our matchups and tried to make them do it on their own as much as possible,” Cornell midfielder Connor Buczek said. “They do a great job and are very patient with it. They get the right shot, not just the first shot.”

Galasso often slowly trotted behind Cornell’s goal, surveying his options on offense. He was able to dish a pass to Lecky over the top of the goal that he promptly fired into the net to give SU a 9-3 advantage.

Galasso was able to make the dangerous pass and several others because of the short stick defender he drew on Cornell. His speedy linemates created a beneficial mismatch that he hopes the Orange can continue to take advantage of all season long.

“With Henry (Schoonmaker) and Lecky on the line with me, they’re going to draw the pole because they’re faster than me,”Galasso said. “I think it gives me a little bit of an advantage because I’m getting the short stick and I’ve been against a pole my whole life.”

Published on February 15, 2015 at 6:27 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @connorgrossman