Binghamton midfielder Ben Kocis wound up for a shot from near the hashmarks on the right side of the field and launched it toward the net. The shot bounced at the very edge of the crease at the top of the circle and pelted Bearcats freshman attack Jake Nelson, who was standing several feet wide of the crease and behind the net, in the shin.

Nelson limped around the field as Binghamton got the ball back only to throw it away.

That was about as pretty as the Bearcats’s offense looked the entire game. Syracuse’s defense manhandled Binghamton, holding it without a shot on goal until midway through the second quarter when the score was already 4-0. The Bearcats had more turnovers (seven) than shots (five) in the first period.

The No. 8 Orange (8-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) ultimately beat Binghamton (4-8, 2-2 America East), 13-5, at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday night, but only one of the Bearcats’s goals came against SU’s starting goalie Evan Molloy.

Syracuse won’t play again until April 29 against North Carolina in the semifinals of the conference tournament in Kennesaw, Georgia.

“Sliding and recovering practice has been a focus of ours the last couple of weeks,” Syracuse defender Brandon Mullins said. “I thought we had a nice showing against UNC and it’s good to kind of see the momentum flowing into this game.”

Four days earlier, Syracuse held a fourth-ranked North Carolina offense that averaged 13.6 goals per game to just seven tallies.

It was a improved performance from a defense that had blown three fourth quarter leads in the five games beforehand — including a game against Duke in which the Orange failed to adjust to seven goals from Deemer Class, giving up goals in the fourth quarter.

“I think there’s been a real focus throughout the last few weeks on our team defense and our sliding and recovering,” head coach John Desko said, “and I thought it did really well.”

Syracuse defense consistently kept Binghamton’s shooters on the perimeter and away from the net. Any pass inside flew out of bounds or into an Orange player’s stick and any attempt at dodging resulted in a caused turnover or bad-angle, far away shot that had no chance of hitting the target.

SU outmatched Binghamton with its size and speed, defending with relative ease. There were times when Syracuse’s defense didn’t need to slide to help a defender, but did anyway just for practice, Desko said, adding that it went “pretty well.”

“I’m probably going to have to look at the film to see it exactly,” Binghamton head coach Scott Nelson said. “We have some pretty good dodgers in the midfield and they didn’t do a very good job tonight.”

Bearcats midfielder Zach Scaduto, who leads the team in goals and points and had 10 goals over the team’s last three games, didn’t score. He finished with two shots on goal, his lowest total of the season.

Kocis didn’t score for just the third time all season.

“We certainly had five or six, seven, eight possessions there where we could have made it a better game and we didn’t,” Nelson said, “so that was pretty disappointing.”

Binghamton’s lone goal against Molloy came with 8:25 left in the third quarter on a possession where the team shot wide three teams and repeatedly regrouped to run offensive plays.

Molloy exited in the third with just four saves to his name — one of which bounced over the net and never even grazed as piece of his equipment.

By holding UNC and Binghamton to just 12 goals combined, Syracuse’s defense has put together its best two-game stretch since the first two games of the season — wins over Siena and Albany.

“Hopefully it continues into the ACCs,” Mullins said.

Published on April 20, 2016 at 10:52 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus