No. 7 Syracuse (1-1) was trounced by No. 4 Albany (1-0) 15-3 on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. Last season, the Orange trailed Albany 6-1 early and climbed back for a 10-9 victory. This game was different. As the game carried on, Albany’s lead grew and a 7-1 third quarter for the Great Danes ultimately put the game out of reach for the Orange.

Here are three takeaways from the Syracuse loss.

Killer quarter

Entering the second half, Syracuse trailed 4-1. To that point, the Orange defense had kept Syracuse in the game. SU goalkeeper Dom Madonna had nine saves headed into the break, and Albany stud attacks Tehoka Nanticoke and Connor Fields had combined for two points. In the third quarter, everything changed.

Just more than a minute into the frame, Nanticoke backed down SU defender Tyson Bomberry and spun toward the cage. Before he fell into the crease, toe-tapping his feet, Nanticoke tomahawked a goal over Madonna. It was Nanticoke’s second goal of the day. He scored three more in the quarter.

His compatriot Fields found nylon for the first time in the third quarter. It came from his off hand as Mellen denied Fields his left hand, as he had much of the game. Fields took what was given, rolled back to his right, jumped in the air and scored. The goal pushed Albany’s lead to seven.

When the quarter finally ended, Albany had outscored Syracuse 7-1 in the 15-minute period.

X-Factor

After going 15-of-17 a week ago against Binghamton, sophomore Danny Varello struggled at the faceoff X against Albany’s TD Ierlan. The Great Danes’ faceoff specialist, who won 70 percent of his draws in 2017, went a perfect 4-for-4 in the first quarter.

When Varello couldn’t find the answer, Syracuse looked to senior midfielder Seth DeLisle, but found similar results. Ierlan often beat SU clean to the clamp of the ball and popped it up to himself. That led to fast-break opportunities, one of which Ierlan scored on unassisted from the X.

Other times Syracuse false started, handing Albany a free possession. When the Orange contested the clamp, it often lost the ground-ball battle. The Great Danes frequently scooped the ball and used its defense to start its possessions.

Albany finished 17-of-22 on faceoffs.

No open Fields

Connor Fields finished last season as the top point scorer in the country, averaging more three goals and three assists per game in 2017. On Saturday, the speedster was largely held at bay by redshirt sophomore defender Nick Mellen.

Mellen blanketed Fields, who finished with two goals and two assists, for much of the game. Mellen fought through multiple picks to stay with Fields and deny him open scoring opportunities.

Two of Fields’ points came off loose ball plays where the Orange was not in a set defense. When in normal defense, Mellen pestered Fields knocking the ball out of his stick on several occasions and deflecting his passes. In the end, Fields finished with the same number of points as he had last season against SU, but it didn’t matter.

Published on February 17, 2018 at 4:33 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44