Syracuse is striving for perfection in its first-round NCAA tournament game.

At least that’s what senior attack Kevin Rice acknowledged on Thursday, justifying that with the exceptional play the Orange has shown from all facets of the game during points in the season.

He’s seen the lethal force his team can execute on under-prepared teams.

“When we put it all together,” Rice said, “we’re dangerous…This time of year you’re trying to play the perfect game.”

Second-seeded SU (12-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) will attempt to package its potent offense, ACC-best faceoff unit and stingy defense on Marist (14-3, 6-0 Metro Atlantic) in its first-round NCAA tournament game on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Having never squared off against the Red Foxes before, Syracuse will need to hone in on Marist’s wealth of scoring options and a particularly successful faceoff unit to move into the second round of the tournament.

Taming the Foxes

The Red Foxes paced the MAAC with 12.12 goals per game, more than two goals ahead of the next closest team in the conference.

Attacks Joseph Radin, Colin Joka and J.D. Record will be focal points for the Orange defense. Radin and Joka paced Marist’s offense with 51 and 40 goals, respectively, and Record dished off 40 assists. Junior defender Jay McDermott is likely to draw one of the trio in a one-on-one matchup, said it’s tough to prepare for an opponent in just four days, noting he had not watched much tape as of Thursday afternoon.

“It’s tough,” McDermott said. “When you get the two-seed and you get to play the winner of that play-in game you don’t want to assume anything or jump to any conclusions.”

The Orange defense will have its hands full with the Red Foxes’ offense that includes five players with more than 25 goals, while SU only boasts three such players.

“I thought their attack was all terrific,” head coach John Desko said. “They’ve got a nice combination of players. Someone who distributes the ball pretty well, someone that dodges, somebody that finishes.

“They’ve got a three-headed monster at the attack end of the field.”

Facing the best

Both teams’ faceoff units collected top honors in their respective conferences. Ben Williams emerged this season to lead Syracuse to a 66 percent clip at the X. Midfielder Dominic Montemurro took the reigns for the Red Foxes on their way leading the MAAC with a 54.6 faceoff winning-percentage.

Williams said he enjoys the challenge of going up against a new faceoff man. He’ll spend the majority of his time watching film to see how Montemurro reacts to losing faceoffs and if it has a snowballing effect throughout the game.

“You go down there, nothing’s new,” Williams said of the benefits of studying an unknown faceoff man. “You know exactly what he’s trying to do to you and I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Montemurro has been paramount to his team’s success just as Williams has for the Orange. The Red Foxes’ specialist has taken 97 percent of his team’s faceoffs this year and is exactly 50 percent from the X in his last two games.

SU’s sophomore specialist hasn’t missed a beat since his 17-for-20 opening act in Syracuse’s 21-7 win over Siena in February. Having been plagued in recent years with inconsistencies in faceoffs, the Orange went only 9-for-23 from the X in last year’s NCAA tournament loss.

Williams said he’s got a revamped energy going into his first postseason.

“This year with Ben, he’s a stud,” Rice said. “We know we’re going to get the ball a lot more than the other team in most games.

“After the Siena game we saw how good he really was and sort of wanted to wrap him in bubble wrap until now.”

Published on May 9, 2015 at 12:15 pm

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