ITHACA, N.Y. — Syracuse dropped its fourth game of the season and its fourth in the last five with a 10-9 overtime loss to Cornell on Tuesday at Schoellkopf Field. The No. 9 Orange (6-4, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) leaned on its typical contributors — most notably faceoff specialist Ben Williams and midfielder Nick Mariano — but the Big Red (5-5, 1-3 Ivy) stayed in the game and eventually pulled it out in overtime on a Ryan Matthews goal.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

X-man

Williams again had a strong performance from the faceoff X. After winning just 49-of-97 in the past four games, one of the most valuable players for SU came through. While Syracuse’s offense converted just five times in the first half, he won 7-of-9 in the opening 30 minutes. The only ones he didn’t win was the half’s first and last.

Williams finished last season second in the country in faceoff win percentage at 67.4 but entering Tuesday he only had won faceoffs at a 60.8 percent clip this season.

In the second half, Williams asserted himself by continuing to give the Orange possession after possession. But on a couple occasions, he couldn’t come through, most notably after Mariano gave Syracuse a 9-8 lead. Cornell won the faceoff and 15 seconds later tied the game up at nine.

His biggest faceoff win, though, came at the start of overtime as Syracuse had a chance to win on its first offensive possession.

The closer

Mariano scored a season-high four goals on Tuesday and three of them came on shots in which he wound up from 10-plus yards with his dominant left hand. The natural attack played his best game of the season and scored several goals throughout the game to break ties: his goals gave SU a 4-3 lead, and an 8-7 lead. But none was bigger than SU’s ninth goal which gave the Orange the lead. Though Cornell tied it up at nine, Mariano was Syracuse’s best scorer.

But with two minutes left in the game, Mariano’s shot was saved by Cornell goalie Brennan Donville as he dropped his stick and stuffed a potential game-winner.

Earning the spot?

Evan Molloy started at goalie for the second straight game since replacing previous first-stringer, Warren Hill. The junior made six saves in the game, three of which came in the first half. The lack of early saves came in part due to the high number of shots that went wide of the net.

His biggest gaffe of the night came at the end of the first quarter when he and other SU defenders ran to retrieve the ball from the end line after a Cornell shot went long. But the ref awarded the back up to the Big Red and with Molloy behind the net, Cornell scored on an empty net right before the buzzer went off.

At the end of the fourth quarter, Molloy made the biggest save of his career right as time expired to send the game to overtime.

Molloy allowed 10 goals on 30 shots in total and Cornell canned its shots in the second half and overtime to stay in the game and eventually win it.

Whether or not it will be Molloy’s job going forward is still yet to be determined.

Published on April 12, 2016 at 9:01 pm

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