#2 Syracuse put up more points than they have all season to defeat the #5 Georgetown Hoyas 19-9 on Harbin Field in Washington, DC with 3,218 on hand. The Georgetown defense broke-down completely except for a valiant effort by goalie Scott Schroeder but he simply faced too many shots. The 5’10” 160 pound freshman Mike Powell was impressive with a goal and four assists despite being on the receiving end of a few crushing blows from Georgetown defender Rodger Colbert. He was covered most of the game by Brant Gresham which surprised Powell, “I thought I’d grab Colbert or [Kyle] Sweeney. He [Gresham] is a great player. I’ve never played against a back-checker. He let’s you go then gets you. I had some trouble today.”

It was evident that both teams were excited to play, as there was a double violation on the opening face-off by the wings. Syracuse won the re-do and got their first goal 27 seconds into play when Powell found Mike Springer who ripped off a shot. The Orangemen quickly scored again when 6’3” Spencer Wright from San Diego, CA caught a pass from Powell and dumped above Schroeder’s stick. Powell said after the game that he thought those first two goals hurt Georgetown’s intensity a little bit. Georgetown won the next face and moved the ball quickly to Henehan to Sharpe who scored. Syracuse took advantage of a turnover in the midfield as Josh Coffman picked up the loose ball and moved it to Springer who stuck it high. The Cuse did have plenty of opportunities to increase their lead but Schroeder was all over the ball allowing his team to hang around. The Hoyas made the score 3-2 on an extra-man opportunity with 48 seconds left in the quarter after a slash call on Powell. Steve Dusseau had the goal on a pass from Trevor Walker.

Brian Solliday opened up the scoring in the second quarter for Cuse. He drove left and shot left for the unassisted goal. Scott Doyle took his short stick defender Brett Walther and ripped off a lefty crank to make the score 4-3. The teams traded another pair of goals next. Powell picked up a loose ball off a Georgetown clear and hit Coffman open on the crease. Coffman threw about six fakes to make Schroeder dance before putting it in. Georgetown answered 30 seconds later as they won the face off a push call and Staab ripped a shot from 10 yards out. Syracuse reeled off five goals at the end of the second quarter to open the game up. Chris Cercy picked up his own face-off and went straight to goal. He had tried it before and it hadn’t worked. Powell fed Coffman from behind the crease for the next goal. The Springer put a tough shot in on the crease after catching a pass from Wright. With about 4 minutes to play Colbert drilled Powell who remained on the ground for a few seconds before popping up. Head Coach John Desko was all over the officials and it apparently paid off because with 50 seconds left in the quarter, Colbert laid another vicious hit on Powell but this one was called illegal. Brian Nee made the most of the opportunity with a score. On the following face-off Cercy pushed through once again and went to goal to put Cuse up 10-4 at half. Cercy was showing shades of his Hopkins performance in the Final Four last year.

Syracuse once again got the scoring started with Wright shooting stick-side low. Mike Henehan answer for the Hoyas off a feed from Tom Tamberrino. Tamberrino was all over the field, “Tommy Tamberrino played hard the whole game today,” said Coach Urick. Syracuse got two more, first Wright unassisted again then Springer 13 seconds later unassisted when he dodged from the wing after Cercy won the face-off following the Wright goal. Dusseau scored in the final minute by taking his defender to goal and scoring on a bounce shot. The Cuse quickly answered when Pat Hogan picked up a ground ball on the ensuing face-off and got it to Powell who put it behind-his-back.

The fourth quarter was much of the same. Wright got his fourth of the game in front of the goal off a pass from Solliday. Sharpe answered for the Hoyas on a nice low-to-high shot. Dusseau made it two in a row for GU when he bumped his defender then stepped back and let one rip. Syracuse answered with two of his own first with Wright who returned the favor to Solliday who put it inside the right pipe. Then Brian Nee dodged from behind for his second of the game. Senior Keith Baker got his sixth goal of the season unassisted with 3:28 to play. Syracuse poured it on with two more to end the game.

Cercy had a big game with face-offs and he explained his two goals, “At the start of the game they were tying me up a little so I tried to come out front and create some transition and make them respect the fast break. They weren’t sliding to me and rightfully so because we have three all-americans on attack.” Coach Urick had high praise for Syracuse, “They are playing very well right now, as well as any team I’ve seen.” Urick also talked about a change in the team’s attitude, “We need to play with a greater sense of urgency. It’s win or watch right now.” Coach Desko spoke of his team’s scoring, “I am happy with our offensive output. We did a good job dodging and going to goal.” Desko was able to find some fault in his team’s game, “I was not happy with our clearing. They did a good job riding us but we didn’t do a good job clearing it. Hopefully we’ll have a few weeks to work on that.” Attackman Mike Hammer left the game for Georgetown in the first quarter with an apparent concussion but Urick expects him back.

Both teams wait for tomorrow and the fate the selection committee has decided for them. Syracuse should get a free ride to the quarters while the Hoyas could face a very tough road with no real quality wins.

Georgetown vs. Syracuse

Georgetown

9

Scoring
Steve Dusseau	(3, 0)
Mike Henehan	(1, 2)
Keith Baker	(1, 1)
Jaime Sharpe	(2, 0)
Trevor Walker	(0, 1)
Tom Tamberrino	(0, 1)
Doug Staab	(1, 0)
Scott Doyle	(1, 0)

Saves
Scott Schroeder	20 (0.513)

Current Record
Georgetown	11-2

Syracuse

19

Scoring
Spencer Wright	(4, 2)
Mike Powell	(1, 4)
Michael Springer	(4, 0)
Brian Solliday	(2, 2)
Josh Coffman	(2, 1)
Brian Nee	(2, 0)
Pat Kennedy	(1, 1)
Chris Cercy	(2, 0)
Mike Smith	(1, 0)
Pat Hogan	(0, 1)
David Snyder	(0, 1)

Saves
Rob Mulligan	11 (0.579)
Alex Mummolo	2 (0.667)

Current Record
Syracuse	11-2