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Stony Brook needed some special offensive plays Friday afternoon to find the net against Syracuse. Cory VanGinhoven used a pick play to get past Grant Murphy at the X and charged to the left side of the net. From deep, and nearly parallel to the net, he fired from a very narrow angle and beat Syracuse goalie Drake Porter to give Stony Brook its second goal of the game.

But the Seawolves couldn’t climb to double-digit goals in the Carrier Dome, and goals like VanGinhoven’s were hard to come by. There was little doubt for the Orange, who were in control for the better part of four quarters, that they’d win the matchup. 

Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s (3-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) 17-9 dominant win over Stony Brook (2-3, 0-1 America East):

Battle of the freshmen

On the first possession of the game, Owen Hiltz fired a shot that Stony Brook goalie Anthony Palma was able to get behind. With the ball heading back to the other end, Hiltz turned and tracked down Stony Brook midfielder David Miele-Estrella, trail-checking him and jarring the ball loose. The play on the ride led to a Stephen Rehfuss goal, the first of a three-goal run that Syracuse opened the game with.

But on the other end for the Seawolves, attack Dylan Pallonetti delivered, too. In the first quarter, he shook off Murphy’s check as he drove from the right sideline toward the middle. The redshirt freshman soaked up the contact and centered himself in front of the net, then fired into the top-right corner, past Porter, to put the Seawolves on the board.

Pallonetti frequently quarterbacked the Seawolves offense. He cut near the left pipe, shaking off his defender and picking out a cutting VanGinhoven for an easy goal. The effort pulled the Seawolves within one goal, down 5-4, but SU responded with a 9-0 run following the goal to command the game.

Pallonetti ended that run at the end of the third quarter with Stony Brook’s first goal in 20 minutes, going low to high on a powerful shot that found the top-right corner again on a man-up opportunity.

Syracuse’s freshmen answered when Hiltz ripped one from the 20-yard line. Palma got a piece of it, but the shot was powerful enough that it still found the back of the net.

Jakob Phaup returns to his usual ways

Against Vermont a week ago, Phaup won just 6-of-21 faceoffs, and the Orange lost the faceoff battle by 14. But against Stony Brook on Friday afternoon, Phaup returned. He won the first four consecutive faceoffs, and ensured that the Orange had control of possession for the majority of the game. 

When the Orange did lose possession, it was because of one of their 15 turnovers. Phaup appeared confident early on, and though his dominance diminished later, he finished with 16-of-25 faceoff wins.

In the first half, he won a faceoff and scrambled past multiple defenders to pick out Chase Scanlan. When he lost a second-quarter faceoff, the ball trickled right into Brett Kennedy’s stick, who charged downfield. Peter Dearth was there too, cleaning up ground balls when Phaup couldn’t cleanly recover a faceoff due to contact. 

When Phaup won another faceoff and scooped up the loose ball himself, he saw a gaping hole in the Stony Brook defense. The redshirt junior charged upfield, all the way to the 15-yard line, and notched a rare shot on goal — the first of his career. Palma denied Phaup his first career goal, though.

Syracuse’s midfield is unstoppable

Just days after Syracuse’s first midfield line was included on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List — the award given to the best collegiate lacrosse players in the country — the trio of Tucker Dordevic, Trimboli and Brendan Curry delivered. The three were involved in 10 of Syracuse’s total 17 goals.

In the first half, Dordevic — a righty — fired a left-handed shot that rattled off the crossbar, so powerful that it flew all the way back to midfield. Syracuse recovered the loose ball, and when Hiltz found Dordevic for a second chance, he lined up a right-handed shot and got the goal. 

Up five goals just minutes later, it looked like Dordevic was going to rip one again. His defender assumed so, leading Dordevic to duck underneath and charge toward the crease instead. The redshirt sophomore fired his shot into the ground for the easy goal. Dordevic finished with three goals. 

In the second half, Curry inverted, trickling at the X and waiting patiently for his fellow midfielder, Trimboli, to uncover. And when Trimboli finally did, Curry flipped it to him for a shot that found the right side of the net. Curry showed his explosiveness too, outrunning his defender when he charged from the right sideline and fired a shot on the run. He faked left and dodged right, firing home for his second goal of the night.

Trimboli was the quietest of the three but still finished with a goal and an assist.

Published on March 12, 2021 at 3:22 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16