Nate Solomon drew a slashing penalty as he ran near the left sideline. After a Tim Barber shot hit the turf, the possession ended and Syracuse’s man-up opportunity was set to begin. But a scrum broke out in front of Colgate’s net and Solomon pushed a Raiders player back to the ground as he tried to get up.

Ten seconds later, Jordan Evans scored to put Syracuse up by six. No matter how hard Colgate scrapped, it couldn’t stop Syracuse on Saturday.

No. 5 SU (11-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) pushed Colgate (4-10, 2-6 Patriot) around even while holding a substantial lead throughout much of the game and defeated the Raiders, 18-3, in the Carrier Dome. After Senior Day festivities honored players in Syracuse’s last regular season home game, Syracuse got down to business and showed why it was worthy of an ACC title a week ago.

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Earlier in the season, the Orange failed to bury then-unranked in-state opponents Army and Cornell and ended up in tense battles. But against Colgate, another unranked in-state opponent, SU built a comfortable cushion and never let up.

Even as Syracuse cycled through its bench players as soon as the first quarter, its typical stalwarts got the job done. The Orange’s leading goal-scorer, Nick Mariano, scored his 33rd and 34th goals of the season in the first half. Senior Dylan Donahue needed just 20 minutes to record his ninth multi-goal game of the season. Goalie Evan Molloy only had to make one first-quarter save, a testament to SU’s defense and ability to value possessions.

And while Syracuse’s typical stars did their job, so did the backups. Second-line midfielder Nick Weston scored twice, defensive midfielder Joe Gillis scored once and backup midfielder Matt Lane added another.

The Orange’s starting defense of Brandon Mullins, Jay McDermott and Nick Mellen stayed in the game until late in the second half. And with that trio on the field, SU had nothing to worry about as its offense scored and scored again.

The barrage continued throughout the fourth quarter as backups Devin Shewell and Pat Carlin each added two of their own.

SU tied its season-high 18 goals, which it scored in the season opener. And it ended the regular season ranked as the fifth best team in the country, the same ranking it had at the start. Three overtime losses were cancelled out by an ACC championship. And on Saturday, the regular season ended with Syracuse playing as well as it could.

Published on May 7, 2016 at 3:12 pm

Contact Paul: [email protected] | @pschweds