Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our sports newsletter here

Charles Leonard scrambled past Syracuse faceoff man Jack Savage, scooped up the ground ball and kept running. Leonard absorbed multiple whacks from Brandon Aviles before shaking the SU short-stick defensive midfielder about 5 yards away from the cage. 

Leonard fired and scored, and Syracuse goalie Drake Porter could only swat in his net in disbelief for a few moments afterward. It was Notre Dame’s seventh unanswered goal, and the Orange trailed 14-8 because of it. 

Saturday afternoon, Syracuse cycled through three different players at the faceoff X, went 9-of-32 and lost the possession battle 47-34, per Lacrosse Reference. But it wasn’t just on faceoffs that Syracuse (4-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) was “outworked” in an 18-11 loss to Notre Dame (5-1, 1-1), long-stick midfielder Brett Kennedy said. Syracuse lost the ground-ball battle 45-20 and lost the possession battle by more than it has in any other game this season. Notre Dame had 16 turnovers, but SU didn’t capitalize.

“It’s one of those things where, if you don’t have the ball, you’re not going to score,” Desko said. “And we just gave them too many opportunities, and they really came alive in the second quarter.”

Late in the first half, with UND up 10-8, Daniel Cassidy lost the ball at midfield on a clear. Kennedy grabbed onto it for a second before a Notre Dame player forced another loose-ball scramble. The refs called a slash on Chase Scanlan during the ensuing scrum, and the Fighting Irish soon scored again to take a three-goal lead into halftime.

Again in the third quarter, Notre Dame goalie Liam Entenmann strolled past midfield and threw a bad pass, which dropped to the Carrier Dome turf. Nick DiPietro, Kennedy and Tucker Dordevic all surrounded the ball. There was a chance for the Orange in transition with Entenmann out of position, but Griffin Westlin and Cassidy combined to retain possession for UND’s offense.

The Fighting Irish consistently reacted first to the ball popping free, either picking the loose ball up or forcing a violation on SU, and for a second straight week, the Orange handily lost the ground-ball battle. Last week, the Blue Devils had 16 more ground balls than SU, too. 

“All around, we have to be faster, bigger, stronger,” Kennedy said. “They outworked us every time the ball was on the ground, even, forget the faceoffs, you know, just on defense and offense, they were out-hustling us, and we can’t allow that.” 

Mitch Wykoff attempts to scoop up a ground ball, a battle SU lost 45-20 on Saturday. Courtesy of Rich Barnes | USA Today Sports

The faceoff woes continued, too, compounding Syracuse’s possession issues. Jakob Phaup entered Saturday’s matchup having won under 50% of faceoffs in back-to-back games just once in his career. He lost seven of his first eight, with the only win coming on a UND violation, to partner his 1-for-10 performance against Duke.

Danny Varello came on to start the second quarter, winning the first two and losing the ensuing five, which led to his benching by the midpoint of the second period. Notre Dame stormed back from a first-quarter deficit to take a 7-6 lead, and Syracuse turned to the freshman Savage.

Savage matched up better with the quickness of Notre Dame’s faceoff stars, Kyle Gallagher and Charles Leonard, Desko said. 

Savage split the remaining faceoffs in the first half 3-3, but UND’s lead still blossomed to 11-8 at halftime. And in the third quarter, Savage went 3-for-7 before losing all four in the final frame. SU considered redshirting Savage earlier in the year, Desko said, but decided against it. 

“We felt that, if we’re going to get into some games like this, we’re going to have to use him,” Desko said. “So the redshirt came off, and you’ll see him more as the year goes on.” 

The lack of ball-control bled into other parts of SU’s game. Notre Dame ground down the Orange defense for nine goals in the second quarter and another seven after halftime. Syracuse’s midfield lines went long stretches without even touching the field, and the offense as a whole grew “stiff,” attack Stephen Rehfuss said.

Against Duke, the Orange trailed 13-11 at the start of the final frame. Despite losing 5-of-6 faceoffs in that period, they managed to take a 14-13 lead at one point before succumbing to the Blue Devils 15-14.

SU couldn’t repeat that feat when hosting Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish won all five faceoffs in the final quarter, and Syracuse, managing just three possessions the whole period, remained scoreless. It was the Orange’s first scoreless quarter this season. 

“It’s obviously hard,” Rehfuss said of not having many possessions. “It’s no excuse. We could still have scored a little bit more.”

Halfway through Syracuse’s ACC schedule, its performances at the faceoff X have been crucial to its results. Against Virginia, Phaup’s dominance in winning two-thirds of the draws sparked the Orange’s largest win over the Cavaliers ever. In the two ACC losses since, SU won a combined 17-of-64 faceoffs.

Even against unranked Vermont, losing 24-10 at the X allowed the Catamounts to slow down the pace of the game and stay close throughout, eventually losing 17-13. 

Kennedy emphasized on Saturday that faceoffs weren’t the only facet lacking for SU — the Orange were “slow” on their feet after the first quarter. But losing draws and the ground-ball battle by as much as they did against Notre Dame leaked into every other part of SU’s game. It’ll likely continue to do so for the rest of the season.

Published on April 3, 2021 at 5:37 pm

Contact Arabdho: [email protected] | @aromajumder