Less than a week after Syracuse used a second-half surge to defeat Army, the Orange face their second-straight ranked opponent when No. 19 Hobart comes to the Carrier Dome on Friday night. Jamie Trimboli scored five goals in the SU win, taking over for Chase Scanlan as the feature point of the offense. But Hobart’s offense is the best in the country right now, averaging 23 goals per game.

Here’s who our beat writers think will win the 2020 Kraus-Simmons Trophy.

Mitchell Bannon (3-0)
Dome, sweet Dome
Syracuse 20, Hobart 12

For Syracuse’s seniors — Peter Dearth, Trimboli, Stephen Rehfuss, Drake Porter and co. — Friday’s game will be their last in the Carrier Dome, probably ever. And against Hobart, playing for the Kraus-Simmons Trophy, those veterans will put on a show. Syracuse scraped by in a comeback-win over the Black Knights last weekend, while the attack was held scoreless. Against a Hobart defense coming off 13 conceded goals against Colgate, SU’s attack will not accept another no-show. The Statesmen may provide an unexpected test for Syracuse’s bruised defense. After holding Army to just 7 goals, the Orange will go up against a Hobart attack averaging 23 per game (albeit against some of the country’s worst defenses). But the SU offense will close out the Dome in style — with a decisive win.

Andrew Crane (2-1)
Making a States-ment
Syracuse 19, Hobart 14

Theoretically, Syracuse is playing the best offense in the country on Friday. Hobart averages 23 goals per game, but that’s come against Canisius, Siena and Colgate. Not exactly cream of the crop opponents, but the Orange’s first two — where they poured in 38 goals against Colgate and Binghamton — weren’t either. We saw last week when Syracuse played Army that this offense can be contained, and the attacks can even be eliminated. I don’t expect the Statesmen to do the same, but this contest should be close for at least the three quarters. An inevitable goal barrage favors SU in the end, however, and don’t expect Scanlan, Rehfuss and Griffin Cook to be shut down for two consecutive games — giving the Orange their first 4-0 start since 2016.

Arabdho Majumder (3-0)
Kicking Ho-Butts
Syracuse 20, Hobart 15

It’ll be close. Head coach John Desko will be sweating going into the fourth quarter. But like against Army, Syracuse will find a way to win and go on a late run in the second half to stay undefeated. The Orange offense is unlikely to stay quiet two games in a row, especially against a similar defense to what they saw when hosting the Black Knights. Trimboli and Brendan Curry will likely be the main scoring pair again, and while the attack won’t stay point-less for a second consecutive game, it’s the midfielders that will again win this game for SU.

Published on February 28, 2020 at 11:44 am