Jordan Evans was starting to have some fun. After two years of frustration at a position he wasn’t used to, he scored two flashy goals in a preseason scrimmage against Brown.

But two months later, Evans still isn’t at the point he wants to be.

“I think I could probably be helping out a little more than I have been,” Evans said.

He flashed his potential with a three-goal performance in a blowout loss to No. 2 Notre Dame on Saturday. But Evans still leads No. 9 Syracuse (5-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) in turnovers and is feeling his way through a season that started with excitement for his move to his more natural attack position. Evans and the Orange will get a chance to end its three-game losing streak at Hobart (5-4, 1-1 Northeast) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

At the start of the season, Evans was enthusiastic for his return to attack, where he played as the No. 1 recruit in the country. Through the first seven games of the season, before this past weekend, he had only scored 10 goals and was merely a cog in the ninth-best scoring offense in the country.

“We’re getting some points out of him, we’re getting some production,” SU head coach John Desko said. “We’d like some more, I think he’d like some more, too. We’re just hoping he’s getting more comfortable with the unit as the year goes on.”

Against Notre Dame, Evans noticed his defender was ignoring him when he didn’t have the ball. He scored his three third-quarter goals, by far his best quarter of the season, because of his off-ball movement.

That’s what he can do to compensate when he isn’t dodging effectively and creating his own shot. And when he’s not scoring, Evans embraces doing the dirty work and making the plays most fans won’t notice.

But generating offense on his own is the part of Evans’ game he said is most lacking.

“I think I can assert myself as a dodger a little bit more,” Evans said, “and produce for myself a little bit more.”

Evans has stayed after practice to work on his shooting, senior attack Dylan Donahue said. He’s still the same player that scored five goals in an NCAA tournament game last season.

But so far this year, he hasn’t found the groove he’s looking for.

“I think that goes with his mindset, too,” Donahue said. “He works hard and he’s never happy no matter how well he plays.”

In five games this season, Evans has committed at least two turnovers. Not only was Saturday his best goal-scoring game of the season, but he also only committed a single turnover.

Instead of forcing the ball and trying to make something happen, Evans said he “probably should” settle the ball and pass it off to teammates when the pace of the game increases.

“I think it’s limiting turnovers and mistakes within the offense and finishing the ball a little bit better,” Desko said of what Evans can improve on.

There have been opportunities for Evans to score, but he hasn’t as much as he could. His 35.1 shooting percentage is slightly less than it was last season at 36 percent, but that was in a limited midfield role.

Before facing Notre Dame, Evans said he hadn’t had the game where he feels 100 percent comfortable.

“We still have a lot of season left,” Evans said, “so that’s not a bad thing.”

Published on April 6, 2016 at 1:24 am

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