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One of Holy Cross’s only goals of the afternoon was fittingly scrappy. Konrad Knaus scooped up a loose ball when Mitch Wykoff couldn’t get there in time for Syracuse, and Cameron Magalotti collected the ball and shoveled it in. But beyond that, Holy Cross couldn’t get much going against SU until garbage time. The Crusaders were outshot 34-11 in shots on goal and 65-20 overall.

In many ways, Saturday afternoon’s game was simply a tune-up ahead of the Orange’s Thursday matchup against No. 2 Duke. Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s (4-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) 15-6 win over Holy Cross (1-3, 0-2 Patriot):

Mixing it up

Up a man early in the second quarter, Tucker Dordevic wound up to rip one. But moments later, he changed his mind, picking out Stephen Rehfuss along the right side. Rehfuss found Owen Hiltz along the goal line extended, and Hiltz flipped one more smooth pass.

Chase Scanlan was waiting. Camped out near the right post with his toes on the edge of the crease, Scanlan received the pass unmarked and dispatched the chance to put SU up 2-0. Scanlan scored again in a similar fashion when Hiltz picked out another smooth pass minutes later. He was wide-open for a pass from Owen Seebold in the second half, too. When necessary, SU waited for Holy Cross’s defense to blow a coverage assignment.

It was still a quiet afternoon for the Orange, who didn’t score until 14 minutes into the first quarter against an unranked opponent, but Syracuse did enough to take advantage of its individual talent. Jamie Trimboli started at the X and fired home for a solo effort in the third quarter. The midfielder unleashed another cannon of a shot to put SU up 9-0 a few minutes later. Hiltz trickled from the X to the face of goal and used his quick-release shot to connect with the top left corner before A.J. Fox could even react. Syracuse mixed it up, balancing quick passes with individual one-on-one battles to fuel the offense.

Fox keeps the score respectable

Syracuse unleashed 65 total shots, 34 of which were on goal, but Fox frustrated the Orange. The Holy Cross goalie finished with a career-high 18 saves and held the No. 5 Orange scoreless for the first 14 minutes with six saves.

In the first quarter, Fox stood tall, snagging shots to either side of him that were destined for the top corners. Syracuse’s offense started out shooting weak, with shots from Hiltz and Dordevic trickling in instead of being fired with their usual power. Scanlan and Seebold both rattled efforts off the posts, but Fox showed that he wasn’t intimidated by Syracuse’s offensive firepower.

In the second quarter, Scanlan tried to dive and dunk another effort from just off the left post, but Fox denied No. 22 from point-blank range and scrambled to fall on the rebound before Scanlan could shovel it in.

Scanlan ties career-high

For Scanlan, it looked easy. He tied his career-high with seven goals by the third quarter and didn’t seem to celebrate many of his scores beyond brief embraces and high fives with teammates.

With seven seconds left in the first half, Scanlan faked to one side before sharply cutting to the other to beat Holy Cross’ Hayes Reding. The clock kept winding, but Scanlan kept sprinting. He faked right and cut left as he ran parallel with the goal line, creating space with likely his best dodge of the season. The dodge created space, and out in front of two defenders, Scanlan dove at the top of the crease. When the ball hit the back of the net, there was just one second remaining, and Scanlan’s goal put SU up 6-0.

Scanlan’s other goals were largely a product of smooth ball movement. ACC Network commentator and former SU midfielder Paul Carcaterra emphasized that if the matchup had taken place on grass instead of turf, Scanlan’s jersey would be still clean white even after his seventh goal — without any grass stains that attacks normally accumulate when driving through contact for goals.

The Loyola transfer camped out by the goalpost frequently, waiting for teammates such as Rehfuss and Hiltz to connect with him. Scanlan finished with 11 shots on goal, as many as the Crusaders entire team.

Published on March 20, 2021 at 2:34 pm

Contact Roshan: [email protected] | @Roshan_f16