SPECIALTY PROTECTION
WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE
Syracuse used 10 first-half goals to easily push aside the Georgetown Hoyas Saturday. The Orange had big days from goalie Peter Coluccini (15 acrobatic saves), midfielder Steven Brooks (4g), Dan Hardy (3g, 1a) and Matt Abbott (2g, 1a - and was all over the field). For Georgetown, despite no offensive rhythm, Jame Samperton and Brendan Cannon both notched two goals and one assist.
It's still early, but this game wasn't supposed to turn out this way. It was pretty much all Syracuse from start to finish. One of the big question marks for Syracuse was their play in the goal and their defense. Well, today, both took steps today towards earning some respect. Coluccini was strong in goal, making a bunch of acrobatic saves. Georgetown did manage 52 shots, but got just over half of those on cage with 24. The defense never let Georgetown get into a comfortable groove. While Georgetown did look sloppy at times, throwing balls away and generally not playing as if this game had any meaning offensively, SU didn't make it easy. Maybe this will silence the message board naysayers, at least for a little bit. Syracuse has to step right back up as Johns Hopkins travels upstate to battle next Saturday.
The offense of Syracuse didn't have too much trouble dictating what they wanted to do against the Georgetown defense. The scoring was relatively balanced with senior Steven Brooks stepping up with four goals, pretty much all of which were lazer shots that Georgetown goalie Miles Kass didn't have a chance on.
When asked about the differences between this week and last week, Syracuse coach John Desko was quick to point out that he didn't really think it was too much different. The Orange had trouble finding the net last week against Virginia, not in generating looks. They worked on that a lot at practice. They needed a big day and focus from goalie Peter Coluccini. They got it. He credited the increased intensity and focus of the week of practice for their success today.
For Georgetown, they don't have much time to breathe as they travel up I-95 on Wednesday to take on Delaware, a team that lost convincingly to Albany today. Wednesday should shed some more light on which team is for real and which is a pretender.
From Press Release...
Washington, D.C. – #12 Syracuse (2-2) jumped out to an early lead on #2 Georgetown (2-1) and never looked back, handing the Hoyas their first loss of the season, 14-9. Syracuse scored five gioals in each of the first two periods and the 14 tallies is they most it has had in one game this season. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Orange and avenged losses to the Hoyas in the past two seasons.
Junior midfielder Steven Brooks led the Orange offensive attack with a career-high four goals, three coming in the first half. Brook’s previous career-high was three goals, which he achieved twice last season. Sophomore attack Dan Hardy also had four points with three goals and an assist. Sophomore midfielder Matt Abbott recorded a career-best three points on two goals and one assist, both marks tied his personal bests for a game.
Sophomore goalkeeper Peter Coluccini recorded a season-best 15 saves. Junior defender Kyle Guadagnolo marked Georgetown’s most potent offensive threat, attack Andrew Baird, nearly the entire game, holding Georgetown’s second-leading scorer to just one goal. Senior midfielder Jon Jerome was 11-of-17 on face offs.
Brooks put the Orange on top quickly with a goal in the first two minutes of play, but Georgetown tied it up on a goal by attack Jake Samperton. Syracuse scored three goals in the span of three minutes as graduate student midfielder Greg Rommel, Abbott and Hardy each found the back of the cage, putting the Orange up 4-1. Sophomore midfielder Greg Niewieroski scored off a pass from sophomore midfielder Spencer Van Shaack with three minutes to go and Syracuse was ahead, 5-2, after the first period. The assist gave Van Shaack his first career point.
Georgetown scored the first two goals of the second period to pull within one, 5-4, but Brooks and sophomore attack Kenny Nims scored within 34 seconds of one another to maintain a three goal edge for the Orange. Ahead 7-5, the Orange scored three goals in the final 2:05 to take a 10-5 margin at the half. Syracuse’s final two goals came in the span of eight seconds. Brooks scored unassisted with 56 seconds to go. On the ensuing face off junior attack Mike Leveille raced to the cage and fed Hardy on the doorstep with a dazzling behind-the-back pass for the goal.
Syracuse was in control the entire second half, never letting Georgetown get any closer than three. Abbott scored the first goal of the second half to give Syracuse its biggest lead of the game, 11-5. After two goals by Georgetown, Leveille scored with 1:04 remaining in the period and the Orange led, 12-7, after three periods. The Hoyas had trailed by three with five minutes left in the game, but Hardy and Brooks capped their stellar performances with the final two goals of the contest. All eight of the goals in the second half were unassisted.
Syracuse hosts #5 Johns Hopkins Saturday, March 17, at 3:30 p.m.
| Scoring | |
|---|---|
| Jake Samperton | (2, 1) |
| Brendan Cannon | (2, 1) |
| Andrew Baird | (1, 0) |
| Garrett Wilson | (1, 0) |
| Scott Kocis | (1, 0) |
| Dan D'agnes | (1, 0) |
| Andrew Brancaccio | (1, 0) |
| Saves | |
|---|---|
| Miles Kass | 9 (0.391) |
| Current Record | |
|---|---|
| Georgetown | 2-1 |
