No. 8 Syracuse (8-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) cruised past Binghamton (4-8, 2-2 America East) with a 13-5 win at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday night.

The Orange ended the first half with a 9-0 lead and even had three different goalies see time during the game.

SU wrapped up its last game before the ACC tournament and will have more than a week off before it faces North Carolina on April 29 in Kennesaw, Georgia in the semifinals.

Here are three observations from the game.

Spreading the wealth

The Orange had plenty of goals to go around on Wednesday night. By halftime, seven different players had already scored for Syracuse with Nick Mariano and Dylan Donahue the only ones with more than one goal.

Faceoff specialist Ben Williams scored his first goal of the season, winning a faceoff cleanly, faking a pass and bouncing a shot into the net. Second-line midfielder Matt Lane scored for just the fifth time all season.

Syracuse players were dodging with ease past the Binghamton defenders and slides left Orange attackers consistently open in front of the crease.

Mariano pulled away from the pack scoring two goals in the second half to finish with a team-high of four. Graduate transfer Nick Piroli scored in the fourth quarter for his first goal since the season opener against Sienna.

Broad side of a barn

Aside from the seven first-quarter turnovers — many of which came in the offensive zone — and inability to win faceoffs, one of Binghamton’s biggest problems was finding the net with its shots. The Bearcats finished with 30 shots and only 12 went on goal.

On one play, Bearcats midfielder Ben Kocis wound up for a shot and pelted it off the leg of his teammate, freshman attack Jake Nelson, who was standing several feet wide of the crease and behind the net. Nelson spent the rest of the possession limping.

It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter that SU goalie Evan Molloy had to make his first save. He stopped a shot as soon as it came out of Kocis’ stick near the crease. The only other save he was credited with in the first half actually bounced near the crease and over the net without him touching it.

The Bearcats first goal didn’t come until midway through the third quarter. Four of their scores game against SU’s backup goalies.

Playing it safe

Williams won a faceoff and was crashing toward the net for the last shot of the third quarter when a Binghamton defender stepped up and sent him to the ground. Williams initially grabbed his left hand and wrist — which were bandaged on Wednesday — as he crumpled to the ground. His helmet rolled off in front of him as Williams lay face down on the Carrier Dome turf.

As Williams walked off the field with a trainer he seemed dazed. After winning 12-of-15 faceoffs through the first three quarters, Williams did not appear the rest of the game.

Backup faceoff man Cal Paduda entered in relief and went 2-for-3 while Nate Farrell also took two faceoffs and won one.

Published on April 20, 2016 at 9:12 pm

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