Johns Hopkins cruised by the Syracuse Orange 11-7 in Baltimore, Maryland.
WHAT HAPPENED:
The Orange came out a bit sluggish in arguably the best rivalry in college lacrosse. Syracuse has won the last five meetings, but couldn’t extend that streak today. Hopkins jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the first half. After the Orange and the Blue Jays traded a few goals, Johns Hopkins went on a 4-0 run and took a 10-4 lead. Syracuse didn’t score for 20:00 but finally hit a couple meaningless goals in the fourth quarter.
» More SU lacrosse: College lacrosse needs a shot clock, now
» Orange edge St. John’s with late goal
WHAT IT MEANS: The Orange really struggled today. The team played hard but Johns Hopkins was just too much to handle. A continuing problem for Syracuse is face offs. Chris Daddio picked up just 6-of-13 and Ricky Buhr 1-of-5. Last week, when the Orange weren’t picking up face offs, coach Desko put in Brian Megill to take a few and he picked up 3-of-4. Today, Desko tried the same strategy, but it didn’t work as Megill went 0-for-2.
Another big problem for the Orange is the extra man unit. Today, Syracuse had 7 man up chances and scored on just 2 of them. When the Orange were trying to catch up in the second half, there were some key chances to score with a man up but they couldn’t capitalize.
Goal keeping has been a question mark all season. Matt Lerman got the start today, as expected, and only got two saves in the first half. Rather than putting in Lamolinara like he has done all season, coach Desko decided to stick with Lerman. He finished the game with 8 saves and gave up 11 goals. It wasn’t a spectacular performance for Lerman but Desko decided to stick with him, which is a good sign.
STAR GAZING: There weren’t many stars in the Orange line up today, but one that really shined was Derek Maltz. He got it done both inside and outside, scoring on cuts to the goal and on that rocket right handed shot he’s known for. He ended up with 3 goals, all in the first half. For Johns Hopkins, the star was Brandon Benn. He scored a career high 4 goals and also contributed with an assist.
WHAT’S NEXT: Syracuse will return home to play Providence on March 21 at 7 p.m. TV: TWCS/SNY.