Bradley Voigt’s first goal of the season ended with a stomp. In the postgame press conference, Voigt cracked a grin. With No. 20 Syracuse in desperate need of a bounceback following last week’s loss to unranked Colgate, Voigt delivered a shot off the right side of the crease that found a hole to the right of Albany goalkeeper Nate Siekierski. Voigt turned and pumped his fist. For the first time this season — in a new role — SU’s “big and crafty guy” delivered.

Last weekend offered Voigt a similar spot, one that sent line drives into the chest of Colgate’s goalkeeper. He waited, as always, and fired, as always. But Saturday was different, and the shots kept coming.

Behind a career-high six goals from Voigt,  No. 20 Syracuse (1-1) dominated No. 15 Albany (0-1) 13-5. Coming off their first season-opening loss since 2013, and up against the same team that beat them 15-3 a season ago, the Orange were boosted by an unlikely top-option in Voigt, who has never scored more than two goals in a game in his entire four-year Syracuse career.

“We were just moving good off ball,” Voigt said. “I think we were definitely more comfortable in the offense that were running right now.”

Coming into the season, there was uncertainty as to who will see a majority of the minutes as the third member of SU’s attack line. As early as the Orange’s fall intra-squad scrimmage, Voigt ran with the first line. Come the week leading up to SU’s season-opener against Colgate, Syracuse attack Stephen Rehfuss said he’d “earned it.”

But with the loss of Brendan Bomberry, the Orange were hard-pressed to find a piece that would fill the void. Voigt contributed sporadically in his three year career prior to the 2019 season, scoring 19 goals. Minus Bomberry, SU was in need to a player who could set in the right spots in front of the net and receive short passes on the interior for doorstep deliveries. Thrice Voigt got that shot against Colgate and it didn’t find the back of the net. 

But against Albany, the senior started about five feet further out. His first shot went through the right side, then he hit another from the same spot. In the second quarter, he hit one from the left side. Brendan Curry brought shifts each time he took the ball down the field and Nate Solomon worked as the Orange’s primary dodger around the crease, but the opportunities kept coming to Voigt.

After the Orange were dominated on possessions a week ago, SU head coach John Desko ran a number of ground ball drills in practice to help fix the problem. After numerous one-on-one, two-on-one and three-on-two drills, the Orange responded by outpacing the Great Danes 44-24 on ground balls. Whenever the ball was knocked loose, SU was there to scoop it up and start up the offense again.

“We kicked ourselves,” Desko said of the ground balls. “We’ve always been a pretty good ground ball team and Colgate just kind of woke us up.”

The increased possession found Voigt in spots teammates said he excels in. Last season, Bomberry earned a lot of his points by hanging around the crease to the left or right flank of the goalposts. Multiple times, SU found him in that exact spot, and all he needed to do was finish.

He found the goal, then again, then again, then again. Prior to his fifth goal of the contest, Voigt spied Solomon as he made a run around the crease and fired a shot around the corner of the goal. The ball deflected off the leg of Siekerski, and Voigt — continuing the trend the Orange set all game, just cleaned up.

Though Desko has said the role is one Voigt was prepared to fill, after the game he conceded he couldn’t envision a game of this magnitude, and so quickly. But at the postgame press conference, Voigt said his performance wasn’t about what he could do on the field, it was about what he couldn’t. He’s not a dodger. He doesn’t make things happen behind the net. That’s not his game, and it doesn’t have to be.

In the final quarter, when SU pulled Porter and the game was already decided, Rehfuss found Voigt streaking to the net. Open again. Voigt put in the shot and raised his stick in the air and finished his historic day with skip behind the goal as he gazed towards the Carrier Dome ceiling. Nothing was different about Saturday, he said. The opportunities just came, and he finished.

“I guess I just felt better during the game today,” Voigt said. “The shots were just going.”

Published on February 16, 2019 at 8:33 pm

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