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When Owen Hiltz received a pass near the cage, his shot was blocked by a Stony Brook defender. David Miele-Estrella scooped up the ground ball, but Hiltz stayed on him, jarring the ball loose. The freshman attack repositioned himself beside the goal and shot again, this time just over the head of Stony Brook goalie Anthony Palma. Syracuse picked up the missed shot again, and Jamie Trimboli found an open Hiltz in the same position he stood twice before.

This time, Hiltz connected. He began his shot motion immediately after catching Trimboli’s pass. He was near the crease, but he fired with the power of a long-range shot, and Palma had no chance as the ball zipped to his left and hit the back of the net to give Syracuse a 5-1 lead just 20 seconds into the second quarter.

Syracuse’s offense has been up-and-down this season. There have been the lulls, such as the 11-goal outing against Army in the season-opener, and the high-points, such as the 20-goal dominant performance against then-No. 2 UVA. But in the Carrier Dome on Friday, the Orange found consistency on offense. In what seemed to be its easiest win this season, No. 6 Syracuse (3-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) tore apart Stony Brook’s defense en route to a 17-9 win over the Seawolves (2-3, 0-1 America East).

“When we share the ball on offense like that, we just play so smart and really well on the offense field,” junior Brendan Curry said.

Syracuse started early, scoring on the first possession of the game. Jakob Phaup went just 6-for-21 on faceoffs last week against Vermont but won the first over Stony Brook’s Austin Deskewicz. After a missed shot by Hiltz, Stephen Rehfuss picked up the ground ball, ran around the net and scored just 29 seconds into the frame. Syracuse scored two more times before Stony Brook’s Dylan Pallonetti broke SU’s run.

The redshirt freshman attack presented the biggest defensive challenge for SU, recording three points on 11 shots. In the second quarter, he dodged three defenders near the right side of the net and fired an off-balance shot right on target. Drake Porter made the save as Pallonetti fell, but seconds later, Matt DeMeo picked up the ball and shot it just past Porter, closing SU’s lead to two goals.

The Seawolves pulled within one goal when it was 5-4 midway through the second quarter, but the Orange responded with a nine-goal run, giving them a 10-goal lead near the end of the third quarter. Pallonetti ended the streak, but by then, the Seawolves were buried. 

“If you mess up on some switches, which we did once, he can really hurt you from the outside,” head coach John Desko said of the Stony Brook redshirt freshman. 

Stephen Rehfuss finished with three goals and an assist against Stony Brook. Courtesy of Rich Barnes | USA Today Sports

Earlier in the season, Syracuse’s offense floundered against Army, one of the nation’s top defenses. Syracuse had only practiced for three weeks and hadn’t played any scrimmages before its first game, which Desko said contributed to the poor outing. 

The following week, Syracuse, who had dropped five spots to No. 9 in Inside Lacrosse’s rankings, showed that the extra week of practice paid off by blowing out then-No. 2 Virginia 20-10, the largest margin of victory over the Cavaliers in program history.

Phaup struggled at the faceoff X last week against Vermont, winning just 6-of-21 faceoffs against Vermont’s Tommy Burke. Prior to that matchup, Phaup was winning 64% of matchups at the X. Syracuse ended up winning 17-13, but a four-goal margin of victory for what may have been one of Syracuse’s easiest matchups in years was largely disappointing.

Phaup recovered against Stony Brook, going 16-for-25 on the faceoff and giving the Orange ample possession time that it lacked against the Catamounts. But even with more possessions, the offense was more effective on those possessions than it had been in past games. Off-ball movement fueled that, Curry said. 

The Seawolves often slid early, and in the second half, Syracuse used that to its advantage, he said. Oftentimes, SU could force the Seawolves to slide and rotate out of position, leading to wide-open shots, Hiltz said.

“They’re sliding really early, it’s really good to throw it through X,” Curry said. “They have to rotate, slide and recover, so the back side, the feed pinches down or goes over the top.”

Syracuse also changed its ride approach, Hiltz said, keeping Stony Brook from clearing on five of its 19 attempts. Chase Scanlan, Rehfuss and Hiltz each had one caused turnover. The Orange’s ride helped offset 15 total turnovers.

In the first quarter, Rehfuss dropped the ball and was unable to beat out a Stony Brook defender for the ground ball. But Syracuse continued to apply pressure as the Seawolves passed down the sideline, and they were unable to complete the clear. In total, Stony Brook only scored once on an SU turnover and failed to clear twice after a caused turnover and ground ball pickup. 

“We kind of just pressed down on the two poles that were deep so they couldn’t get a clear outlet pass,” Hiltz said. “Just made them make a play, which most of the time ended up a caused turnover or bad pass where we could get on it.”

Published on March 12, 2021 at 3:18 pm

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