Midfielder Jacob Buttermore dodged to his right and barreled down the outside of the alley, bringing his defender with him.

He neared the 20-yard line when Army close defender Griffin Schultz slid, leaving attack Bradley Voigt in space. Voigt caught Buttermore’s feed on his left side, spun to the right and laced a shot between the right post and Black Knight goalie AJ Barretto’s helmet.

Syracuse bled half of the 80 second shot clock on the possession that netted Voigt’s second-quarter goal against Army last Sunday. By opting to maintain possession and attempting to draw slides, rather than rushing offense early in the shot clock, the Orange have generated good shot attempts consistently. Despite having the No. 38 offense (out of 69 teams) and averaging 10.7 goals per game, Syracuse has improved both its shots on goal percentage — 55 percent against the Raiders, 75 percent Sunday — and outright shooting percentage.

The uptick coincides with No. 12 Syracuse (2-1) topping two-straight ranked opponents and one that could continue Saturday when No. 13 Virginia (2-2) visits the Carrier Dome. UVA freshman Patrick Burkinshaw faced 35 shots on goal against Princeton on Feb. 23, saving 24 of them in his first-ever collegiate action.

“I think our shooting can still improve,” Desko said Wednesday. “That being said, everybody’s got a good goalie now.”

As Colgate methodically built a 3-0 lead throughout the first quarter in SU’s season-opener, the Orange responded with rushed shots early in the shot clock.

Trailing, midfielders blindly fired after dodging, not looking to see if a slide had come and opened up a shooter inside. Feeds that reached attacks in front of the cage went straight into the webbing of Raiders goalie Connor Mullen’s stick, when they were on goal at all. In the first three quarters, Syracuse put 12-of-26 shots on target.

“You just get rushed,” SU sophomore Brendan Curry said, “and you just want to take the first shot, even though it might not be the best shot.”

In the following week of practice, Syracuse focused heavily on its shot. Curry and other dodgers looked for slides and open shooters.

Coaches and players also mentioned “changing the plane” as a means to improve shooting numbers. When an attacker catches the ball and looks to shoot, they need to read the goalie for a split second. If the goalie is baiting the shooter high, Curry said, he’ll stare him down and drive a shot low. If he sees a goalie dipping, he’ll lower his eyes while simultaneously aiming for an upper corner.

Against then-No. 15 Albany, the Orange shot on goal 29 times, nearly as many times as the Great Danes shot in total (36). Voigt, in particular, feasted in the middle of the defense.

On the man-up in the second quarter, Curry caught a pass on the left hash mark at the 25 yard line. Albany close defender Sean Gleason hurried to cover Curry, leaving Voigt with five yards of free space in every direction. A calm pass and quick shot put SU up, 3-2, at the time.

As midfielders repeatedly draw slides from Albany’s close defenders, Voigt leaked into the open space created, scoring six goals.

“I think we were definitely more comfortable in the offense that were running right now,” Voigt said after his performance. “And I’m not much of a dodger, so I’m a product of the guys that are dodging around me so all credit to the offensive guys that helped me get open today.”

Most recently against then-No. 13 Army, SU turned in its most efficient performance, shooting wise, to date. The Orange took 37 shots, 28 of which were on target. Ten became goals.

The spacing and tempo lacking against Colgate came in abundance. With Jakob Phaup dominating the faceoff X, Syracuse consistently ran its offense until shooting lanes opened. The only thing keeping the game from turning into a blowout was Barretto, who finished with a career high 18 saves.

Early in the second quarter, Voigt nabbed a ground ball yards from the crease, near Barretto’s left post. Voigt fired low. Barretto dropped to his knees and fended the shot off.

SU attack Stephen Rehfuss picked up the rebound and went high. Barretto sprung up, knocked the shot up with his stick, turned around and caught the rebound, starting up the clear.

After the game, Desko pointed out that shooters can’t change planes up close on the goalie. In the following week, he said, they’d work to fix it in practice.

“I think we can still shoot better,” Desko said.

Published on February 27, 2019 at 10:23 pm

Contact Andrew: [email protected] | @A_E_Graham