ITHACA, N.Y. — Jamie Trimboli held to ball at the top of the box, searching for an option. He flicked a pass to Nate Solomon, his back toward the goal. He spun and let a shot off at point-blank range.

Cornell’s goalkeeper Caelahn Bullen saw Solomon drop his shoulders and knew the junior attack was aiming bottom right. Bullen dove low with Solomon and matched his stick before recovering the loose ball and starting transition. As Cornell pushed upfield, Bullen walked out of his cage, strutting around and fist bumping. Defender Dom Doria turned around and walked over, giving his sophomore goalie a hug.

“Going into this game, I didn’t have the nerves. It was more excitement,” Bullen said. “… I just took this game as another test.”

Syracuse entered Tuesday night on the back of a three-game win streak. Its offense, one that had been inconsistent all year long, finally seemed in a groove. But on the back of Bullen’s career-high 14 saves, No. 9 Cornell (8-3, 3-1 Ivy) stymied No. 7 Syracuse’s (6-4, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) offense, 13-8, at Schoellkopf Field.

“It was a big game to step in,” interim head coach Peter Milliman said of Bullen’s spot start. “He’s got some experience, but not a ton in these situations, but he came to play.”

Cornell’s normal starter, Christian Knight, was not at “100 percent” entering the matchup, Milliman said. Cornell opted for the left-handed Bullen, who played 126 minutes prior to Tuesday. SU head coach John Desko said he wasn’t expecting Bullen to be in goal, and was surprised when he got the start.

There are no left-handed goalies on Syracuse’s roster, but the team focuses on potentially going up against lefties, Desko said. Based on which dominant-handed player is in net, the location of one’s shot needs to differ, Solomon added.

Right away, Bullen was tested by SU’s offense. Tucker Dordevic’s shot went wide before Brendan Curry scooped a loose ball and dove in front of the net with a shot of his own. Bullen didn’t budge, blocking the shot away.

Less than a minute after Bullen’s save, sophomore attack and the nation’s leader in points, Jeff Teat, scored for Cornell.

The Orange had an opportunity to strike back after winning the following, but Brendan Bomberry turned the ball over and Cornell pushed transition, eventually extending its lead to two goals.

Syracuse’s offense has battled inconsistency all season. The offense often forces both passes and shots, which leads to transition opportunities for opponents. That rang true in a 12-point loss to Albany, and again in an 11-point loss to Johns Hopkins. Then SU fell to Rutgers on the back of a season-worst 22 turnovers.

But then things began to click for SU. It downed then-No. 3 Duke and then-No. 7 Notre Dame, taking hold of the driver’s seat in the ACC before breezing by Hobart.

Enter Cornell, which sits first in both goals and assists per game in the nation, as well as shooting percentage. While SU’s defense had performed above expectations all season long, the Orange’s offense needed to put together a near-perfect performance.

As the offense worked the ball around, the penalty clock quickly ticked away. The ball found Bradley Voigt who ripped a shot, but the ball nailed senior attack Brendan Bomberry in what seemed to be his helmet and bounced away. Cornell took possession.

In the second quarter, Syracuse was in the middle of a cold spell. Brendan Curry scored with just over 30 seconds left in the first quarter to tighten the margin to 5-3 in favor of Cornell. The Big Red took possession in the second quarter and held the ball for the majority of the 15 minutes.

When Syracuse had opportunities in that frame, though, shots were on net. And a sophomore making the biggest start of his career stopped all four shots.

“I saw a few of those in the first half where he really robbed us,” Desko said. “We were in tight and had a really high percentage shot, and he was really, really good low tonight.”

The next Orange goal didn’t come until the third quarter, 22 minutes and 22 seconds after SU’s third goal of the game. Nearly 10 minutes would pass by before Syracuse would score again.

Syracuse opened the fourth quarter by scoring back-to-back goals, slowly finding its groove. The defense then forced a turnover and Nick Mellen pushed transition.

Trailing by four and with an opportunity to cut the lead even more with 11 minutes left, Stephen Rehfuss hauled in a pass. But again, Syracuse’s momentum was cut short via a turnover. Twenty-four seconds later, Teat scored to give Cornell another insurance goal.

The teams traded a pair of goals during the final 10:30 of the game as Syracuse played with more urgency, trying to find any way to take its first lead.

That would never come, as Syracuse once again reverted to its old ways. Prior to Tuesday night, it seemed like the Orange had put its offensive struggles in the rearview mirror after back-to-back wins against Top 10 teams.

As the final buzzer sounded, Cornell’s players darted toward Bullen, who jumped around and screamed. They met him just a few yards outside of the cage, where SU was held to single digits for the third time all season.

Against Albany, it was lack of possession. Nearly a month later at Rutgers, it was the excess of turnovers. And on Tuesday night, it was Bullen’s performance in net that made the difference.

Published on April 10, 2018 at 9:07 pm

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