Charlotte, NC – It was just what the lacrosse doctor ordered.
The Syracuse University lacrosse team found a cure, at least for one day, for the two major ailments that have plagued it this season. It won faceoffs and scored man-up goals. The result was a dominating 19-6 Big East victory over Rutgers on Saturday in the ESPNU Warrior Classic before a crowd of 6,230 here at American Legion Memorial Field.
“It was probably a perfect day for us,” said SU coach John Desko, who by later amended it to “almost perfect.”
Either way, it was impressive. A 12-goal run erased an early 2-1 Rutgers lead and had Syracuse reserves in by midway through the second quarter – a bonus considering the Orange is in the midst of playing five games in 15 days, a stretch that will continue at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hobart. The rout was ignited by junior close defender Brian Megill’s appearance at the faceoff X and true freshman Matt Walters’ inclusion on the man-up unit.
Megill, who had taken only nine faceoffs all season and had earlier called his work at the X “plan Z,” assumed the position Saturday and won eight of 12 draws to lead a group that won 17 of 26 overall (65.4 percent).
“Coach (Kevin) Donahue told me I was going to get the nod yesterday,” Megill said. “I was pretty jacked up. I was thinking about it all night, what move I would do first. I was able to find my comfort zone, and the wings did a great job boxing out for me.”
Megill’s work was critical in igniting the decisive run, as SU scored several of the goals in unsettled situations following faceoff wins. It was a dramatic departure from SU’s well-documented faceoff woes (46.1 percent) entering the game.
“It’s just such a different game for us when we can have possessions off the faceoff,” Desko said. “You could see it today. It just helped with our execution eliminated all that frustration of not having the ball.”
While Megill was winning draws, Walters was airing out his blistering right-handed shot on the man-up unit. The rookie debuted Tuesday at Cornell and looked intimidated. Saturday, he ripped home one man-up goal to even the score at 2 and assisted another one by on Collin Donahue.
“We’ve mixed the group up,” Desko said of the man-up makeover. “We’ve gotten Matt in there with opportunities to get his shot off. We get three good shooters and some good inside people and good feeders. It’s a good combination for us.”
The addition of Walters helped an SU man-up unit that was connecting on only 27.3 percent of its chances (12-for-44) at the start of the game score on its first three opportunities against the Scarlet Knights (5-8, 1-4).
“I felt more comfortable today because I had already played at Cornell and was more used to the game speed,” said Walters, who scored his first career points as a member of the Orange.
The performance of Megill and Walters was complemented by the inside effort of sophomore crease attackman Derek Maltz, who scored a career-high four goals in less than a half, and senior quarterback Tommy Palasek, who tied his career high with six points (3-3) and has now scored 19 in his last four games.
“It was great to see the offense really rolling in the first quarter,” said Maltz, who leads the team with 20 goals. “I did a pretty good job today, but I’m just going to keep working hard to get better every day.”
Maltz was plenty good Saturday doing an impersonation of Stephen Keogh, the crease magician he replaced in the off-season.
“They have different size and speed, but they both do a great job of keeping the defender on the opposite side of their body and keeping their stick high and strong and not being fazed by the slap check or the poke check,” Palasek said.
Maltz was unstoppable in traffic Saturday. He had plenty of company, as Syracuse scored more goals in one half than it had in an entire game in its previous 10 outings.
“A good day,” Desko said. “An almost perfect day for us.”
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