ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Eric Schneider knew what Syracuse was capable of. He had seen it when the Orange scored six goals in a five-minute span against Johns Hopkins on March 14.

He knew it from the tape he had watched the week leading up to Sunday. And he knew it from the three-goal stretch for Syracuse that took just 33 seconds before the Blue Jays escaped with a win on Sunday.

“That one minute and a half felt like an eternity,” Schneider, the JHU goalkeeper said. “When the seconds finally dwindled down, it was surreal. I couldn’t believe it.”

Schneider continued his late-season resurgence for Johns Hopkins (11-6, 4-1 Big Ten), collecting 15 saves and frustrating Syracuse for the majority of its 45 shots. Aside from its late run, No. 2 seed Syracuse (13-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) never got in a rhythm, unable to go on more than a two-goal run in an eventual 16-15 loss on Sunday in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

SU attack Kevin Rice said his team was clicking at the end of the game, and still had the confidence that each shot they flung at Schneider would get past him.

“We just needed that urgency earlier in the game,” Rice said.

Syracuse came away with the faceoff after tying the score, 6-6, and fed the ball to attack Randy Staats. He stood nearly adjacent to the right of the goal, but had a good angle. His hard rip was hit up into the air by Schneider’s stick.

On the next possession, Syracuse midfielder Tim Barber made an extra pass to attack Dylan Donahue. But Schneider moved up in the crease and hit Donahue’s shot out of the air. The rebound came out to Nick Weston, who had an open shot, but Schneider adjusted at the last second to prevent the ball from going in.

“At any time their first six or even their second-line midfield can sling the ball. It makes you focus a little more,” Schneider said. “Luckily, my defense gave me shots early on that I felt that I could save and it let me get into a little bit of a rhythm.”

Schneider had been having a difficult season. He had a stretch of seven games in the middle of the year in which he averaged allowing more than 12 goals. But throughout the last five games, Schneider has seen just 6.8 goals get past him per game.

And even though Syracuse inflated the score late, he kept the Orange out of sync for better than 59 minutes.

“Everybody wrote him off,” JHU head coach Dave Pietramala said. “He was as good as good could be today.”

Published on May 17, 2015 at 6:29 pm

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