No. 2 Syracuse wasted no time rebounding from its first loss of the season, cruising past No. 9 Albany, 17-12, on Thursday evening at the Carrier Dome.
SU (8-1) outscored Albany (7-2) 4-1 in the second quarter to take an 8-5 lead into intermission, but the Orange truly broke it open with a run midway through the second half that put the game out of reach.
Kevin Rice’s goal with 4:23 left in the third quarter was part of a 4-0 run that culminated with a Nicky Galasso goal with 8:40 left in the fourth quarter. That gave SU a 16-8 lead, and Galasso would add an unassisted goal with 1:40 left for the final margin.
“Our game plan going in was to win faceoffs and be efficient offensively with the ball,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “Try to score and just make them play a lot of defense. I think we pretty much did that.”
It was a quick recovery for the Orange, who lost its No. 1 ranking and its first game of the season to Notre Dame in a double-overtime loss on Saturday.
Syracuse was led by Henry Schoonmaker’s five goals on seven attempts and Galasso, who tied a career-high with four goals.
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“When you hit a couple in you get in the zone,” Schoonmaker said. “I guess that’s what happened, once I hit a few in I kind of knew I might have some luck on shooting some long rage ones.”
SU also received another outstanding performance at the X from Ben Williams. The faceoff specialist won 24-of-27 while also collecting a career-high 15 ground balls.
“Ben did a great job and gave us all those opportunities,” Desko said. “Who knows what the score would be if there was 50-50 possession. We never know what we are going to see week to week.”
Reigning America East co-Player of the Week Lyle Thompson led the Great Danes with four goals and three assists.
“In my eyes,” Thompson said, “(Syracuse) is the best team in the country.”
Michelle Sagan contributed to this report.
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