Men's Lacrosse

When it matters most, No. 1 Syracuse defense buckles down late

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

Tom Moore caused problems for SU on defense, scoring five goals by himself. But when it mattered most, the attack couldn't break through.

Evan Molloy flashed his stick high enough, slightly below the height of the crossbar. It redirected Griffin Konen’s shot in the final seconds, representing the latest way in which No. 1 Syracuse held on to another win.

“I tried to pivot, get as big as I could in net and then kind of match the stick and kick my leg out,” Molloy said, “and I got a piece of it.”

Syracuse’s (11-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast) second 9-8 win over an unranked team this year came the same way as its first. On March 11, the SU defense stopped St. John’s in the final seconds, winning 9-8. And three Saturdays ago, SU held then-No. 1 Notre Dame’s deadly attack to nothing during its final possession. On Saturday in the Carrier Dome, the top-ranked Orange edged Binghamton (9-4, 3-2 America East), 9-8, for its ninth straight victory. A last-second stop kept SU from suffering its first loss in nearly two months.

SU improved to 8-1 in one-goal games ahead of next week’s ACC tournament, which begins Friday night against North Carolina. A week ago, Syracuse held the Tar Heels to one goal in the final 20 minutes. On Senior Day, SU limited Binghamton to one score and only three shots in the final frame.

Over its last two fourth quarters, the Syracuse has allowed a grand total of two goals.



“Hats off to the defense,” SU head coach John Desko said. “For the amount of time they had to play, they really gutted it out. Especially at the end of the game to get those stops.”

Molloy’s save followed a rather sloppy game at the other end. Syracuse committed 13 turnovers, senior faceoff specialist Ben Williams struggled at the X (he did win three of his last four) and neither Sergio Salcido nor Nate Solomon scored a goal.

From the start, Binghamton inverted behind the cage, forcing SU to adjust after the break. Invert schemes are designed to force the defense to play behind the cage, prevent fast breaks and slow down pace of game. The Bearcats did just about all of that, methodically whipping the ball around. They looked for cutters inside. They didn’t settle for outside shots.

Binghamton senior attack Tom Moore scored five of his team’s eight goals, including one with his left hand. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder worked on senior defender Scott Firman to tie the Binghamton single-season goals record (39). Most of his damage came inside, where he flashed to open spaces and converted. He had a hat trick in the first half alone.

“I tried to play more off-ball today, help my teammates out, be in the right spot at the right time,” Moore said. “When I got the ball in my stick, I finished.”

In the second quarter, Firman sagged off Moore and turned his body to force him right. The Bearcats’ leading scorer complied, taking a few hard steps right and bouncing in his third goal of the day past Molloy, giving Binghamton a 5-4 lead.

“We got off of him and put him in a position where Scott (Firman) had to slide to the invert,” Desko said, “and we didn’t get to No. 10 quick enough and they jam it in to him. Sometimes it appears he’s covered, but they jam it in and there’s a reason he’s got all those points. He’s a heck of a player.”

Out of the last timeout, Binghamton prepared for man or zone. Syracuse flashed the latter, so Binghamton inverted and worked from behind the cage as it had much of the second half. Konen pounced on a slight opening right in front of the crease, to Molloy’s right.

“We wanted to keep the ball moving, have some carries, let our offense do the work,” Binghamton first-year head coach Kevin McKeown said. “We didn’t get too anxious. We had a great look at it.”

Konen’s shot went high, and Molloy’s stick followed, preserving Syracuse’s longest winning-streak in six years.





Top Stories