Syracuse head coach John Desko talked about the upcoming season at SU’s media day on Monday. The Orange went 13-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play last season, making a run to the NCAA quarterfinals where it lost to Johns Hopkins, 16-15.

In addition to losing two of its top three offensive players in Randy Staats and Kevin Rice, SU lost five other starters. That includes its whole first-line midfield — Hakeem Lecky, Henry Schoonmaker and Nicky Galasso — defender Sean Young and goalie Bobby Wardwell.

Syracuse starts its regular season on Feb. 13 in the Carrier Dome against Siena at 1 p.m.

Here are three takeaways from Desko’s press conference.

Warren Hill will be Syracuse’s starting goalie

Hill beat out junior Evan Molloy for the starting goalie job, Desko said on Monday. After the Orange’s alumni game on Oct. 10, Desko said the goalie competition was wide open as SU looked for a replacement for Wardwell. Hill, a senior, started in the alumni game and Molloy subbed in for him later.

Prior to the 2015 season, Hill, transferred from Onondaga Community College. He played in just six games as a junior last year for a total of 86:42 while making 20 saves and allowing 19 goals. Desko said Hill had to adjust to the Division-I level last season, which he’s now ready for.

He had to learn how to handle better shooters, while also being the verbal “quarterback” on the defensive end, Desko said. Hill also played for the Iroquois Nationals in the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, which were played in Syracuse in Septempber.

“Warren has come in and really kind of taken over,” Desko said. “He’s a different goalie than he was a year ago so we’re excited about his play.”

“Coming out of the fall, Warren’s the starter. Evan did a good job. I think going into the fall, we thought we had a pretty good battle going on,” Desko said, “… but right now, Warren has the edge.”

Freshman defender Nick Mellen can defend smaller, quicker attacks

Desko cited Nick Mellen right away when asked which freshmen had a chance to contribute from the start of the season. Mellen attended nearby West Genesee (New York) High School and was ranked as the ninth best recruit in the country by Inside Lacrosse. He started for SU in the alumni game alongside returning defenders Brandon Mullins and Jay McDermott.

Though Mellen is just 5 feet 9 inches and 177 pounds, Desko said he has good footwork that allows him to stick with faster, smaller attacks. Last year, North Carolina’s Jimmy Bitter (5-9, 175 pounds) and Joey Sankey (5-5, 160), Notre Dame’s Matt Kavanaugh (5-8, 170), as well as Syracuse’s Kevin Rice (5-10, 177) and Dylan Donahue  (5-9, 173) gave defenses problems.

But Mellen has the ability to stick with smaller, quick players.

“Nick Mellen has done a really good job coming in. Great feet, just a very good athlete. Really quick,” Desko said. “… A lot of Division-I defensemen are 6-1 (through 6-4) and had a little problem covering some of these smaller guys. Nick is probably 5-10-ish with great feet to match players like that.”

Syracuse has flexibility at faceoff X

After a procedure ended his chance of playing a full fall season, face-off specialist Ben Williams is now “full go,” Desko said on Monday. Last season Williams won 67.4 percent of the faceoffs, an improvement over Chris Daddio, who had taken faceoffs for SU in the four seasons prior. Daddio won just 48.7 percent of the faceoffs he took in his four years with the Orange.

Cal Paduda, who worked at the faceoff X while Williams recovered, is “right behind” him, Desko said. Williams worked on shooting on the run during the offseason so he could potentially stay on the field during the run of play.

Last season, Williams took 380 of SU’s 441 faceoffs. Paduda, though, could give the junior face-off specialist a rest from the physically grueling position.

“We’re toying with using Ben a little bit more offensively and defensively because he isn’t just that traditional face-off guy that doesn’t run very well, is not athletic,” Desko said. “Ben is very athletic, he’s got good speed. He can shoot the ball on the run. He’s been working on that quite a bit in the offseason.”

“… Maybe keep their guy on the field a little bit if he wins the faceoff offensively … We think we have a nice 1-2 punch there and it gives us the ability, like I said, to do some other things that maybe other teams don’t do with their face-off guys.”

Williams scored in the first two games against Siena and Cornell last season and then scored against Duke in the Carrier Dome. He also assisted on a goal against the Big Red.

Published on January 11, 2016 at 7:13 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds