Syracuse midfielder Josh Coffman started the game's scoring off at the 13:21
mark in the first quarter when he put an unassisted low righty bouncer
by Schroeder, giving the Orangemen an early 1-0 edge.
Georgetown moved the ball down the right side of the box, banged it from
back-left to Andy Flick, who was sitting back right just below goal-line extended,
who then immediately fed the crease to a cutting Scott Urick. Urick one-timed
the feed from Flick to tie it up at 1-1.
Syracuse midfielder Matt Caione split to his left from the top of the box
and, as he set his left to shoot, his defender shoved him down the lane. The shove
forced Caione's lefty shot way low of where he was aiming and it actually helped
when the ball wound up skipping off the wet grass right over
Schroeder's left shoulder into the back of the net, 2-1 Syracuse.
Georgetown's second goal of the game showed what the Hoyas offensive theme of
the day would be. At the 9:56 mark of the first quarter Hoyas attackman Peter
Velepec dodged from the right wing to his right, and while driving towards the goal he
whipped a feed into Urick, who caught it and finished righty, 2-2.
Powell worked the right pipe and drew a Georgetown slide. As the slide came, Powell
dished the ball across the crease to Banks, who quicksticked it into what seemed
to be an empty net. Schroeder came diving across from the right pipe to stuff the
Banks shot at the doorstep. Another 'Cuse shot was saved by Shroeder, but the rebound
wasn't contained and Springer was able to pick it up and finish it,
giving Syracuse a 3-2 edge on the Hoyas. Georgetown's Peter Velepec beat his
man underneath from the right wing, and with the help of a slow Syracuse slide took the
ball from the groundfloor to top floor in the upper left, 3-3. Syracuse's
Coffman drove righty from up top, drew a slide from the crease, and dumped the ball
down to Darcengelo, who was trailing his sliding defenseman. Darcengelo took
Coffman's feed and put it by Schroeder to give 'Cuse the lead back at 4-3.
A stingy Orangemen ride led to Powell out-groundballing a Georgetown defenseman
on the bench sideline. As Powell picked up the groundball it appeared as if he
missed an open Springer on the crease, but Powell looked past Springer to Darcengelo
on the backside who finished low, near-pipe on an unset Schroeder, 5-3 Syracuse.
With 7 seconds left in the first quarter Steve Dusseau drove the left
pipe from behind, inside rolled his man and somehow squeezed one by Mulligan,
who was hugging the pipe. Syracuse won the face-off and pushed the ball quickly to
Springer, who rocketed one upper right by Schroeder. The only problem is that the
refs ruled that the shot came after time had expired, leaving us with Syracuse up
by one 5-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Powell started driving the right pipe from behind. Georgetown defenseman
Roger Colbert locked up with him and started to drive him out at goal line extended, and as
Powell is forced away from the goal he flicked an around-the-back shot which pings the
lower right pipe. Georgetown's defense is called for a slash on the loose ball
after Powell's pipe. Caione got a cross field pass from Powell and
stuck a lefty jumpshot off stick-side to put Syracuse up by two 6-4 at the 12:34
mark in the second quarter.
After a Georgetown timeout, the Hoyas came out in a 5-man zone and shut
off the crease man. Syracuse recognized the 5-man zone and set up their zone
offense. Powell caught the ball up top on the zone, dodged through the point man and finished low. Powell single-handly beat the Hoya zone and put the
Orangemen up by three 7-4 with 5:32 left in the second quarter.
Andy Flick answered right back for Georgetown as he put an unassisted goal by
Mulligan less than 45 seconds after Powell's goal, 7-5 Syracuse.
On Syracuse's next possession, Springer worked the ball down the right side of
the box to Powell at X. Powell redirected Springer's pass over the top
of the goal to a slashing Tim Byrnes, who only had to flip the ball into a open
net to put 'Cuse up 8-5.
Georgetown midfielder Mike Hammer worked the lower left wing and and force
fed the ball to Urick, who was cutting righty, and the coach's son finished righty to make it 8-6 at
the 3:24 mark of second quarter.
Hammer spotted up on the right side of the field and force fed the ball to Urick on the
crease, who finished the play lefty to cut it to 8-7 Syracuse. This lefty
goal by Urick was his 143rd career goal, making him the all-time leading goal
scorer for the Georgetown Hoyas.
If anyone is looking for a great example of a textbook dip-and-dunk check out
Syracuse's ninth goal of the game. Powell inside rolled his man out on the right wing
and found himself pretty much wide open on the crease when no Hoya slid to him.
Powell proceeded to make Schroeder look helpless when he dropped low and finished top shelf. That closed out the first half scoring for both teams, and as they headed into the
lockerooms at halftime, Syracuse led Georgetown 9-7.
Another tough Syracuse ride led to a loose groundball on the wet grass,
which led to another unsettled situation for the dangerous Syracuse offense.
Darcengelo found an open Coffman in the top right corner of the box who finished
high to high into the upper left corner, 10-7 Syracuse.
On the following face-off Georgetown grabbed the groundball and worked it
down the left side of the field in a broken-up fastbreak situation. Flick got the
ball and fed it across the crease to Velepec, who rolled away from his defender,
turned the corner and finished low on the near pipe, 10-8 Syracuse.
Georgetown's Velepec got a step on Orangemen defenseman Billy St. George a
little below the left goal-line extended and drove to his left. He
snuck one into the upper left corner, bringing the Hoyas within one of
Syracuse at 10-9 midway through the third quarter.
Georgetown pulled even with the Orangemen as Steve Dusseau got loose around
the top right of the box and bounced one by Mulligan, tying the game up at 10 with a
little over two minutes left in the third quarter.
As soon as Georgetown's offense was able to notch the game up at 10, the Orangemen
offense woke up with only their second goal of the third quarter. Syracuse pushed
the ball forward to set up a fastbreak situation in which Springer grabbed the point
pass, threw a righty around-the-back pass down the right side to Liam Banks, and Banks finished off the break to put 'Cuse back up 11-10 with less than two minutes left in the third.
Dusseau struck again for Georgetown as he iso'd from the lower right wing and
beat his man underneath to put a diving righty shot by Mulligan. Mulligan felt
that Dusseau was in the crease, but the refs felt otherwise, leaving the game tied up
11-11 at the end of the third quarter and a lot of fans starting to believe that a Cuse-UVA final may not be set in stone.
Syracuse got on the board first in the final quarter when Darcengelo fed the
ball across the crease from the right goal-line extended to Springer. Springer
left his feet to catch the ball and before landing, he finished lefty, 12-11 Syracuse.
Matt Caione caught a pass from Springer at the top center of the box
and, without hesitation, found a wide open Tom Hardy on the crease.
Hardy caught it, turned, and finished on the cusp on the crease for his first goal
of the day. It put Syracuse on top by two at 13-11.
With a longpole on his hands, Powell rolled
back righty and somehow got a slow shot off. It found its way right between
Schroeder's five-hole, 14-11 Syracuse. With 4:28 left in the fourth
the Hoyas had still not scored. Springer took a Coffman feed and flat out roped
one into the upper left from the righty shooting spot to give the Orangemen a four
goal lead at 15-11. Urick tried to rally the troops as he finsihed off another
goal on the day at the 3:37 mark of the fourth to put the Hoyas back within three
at 15-12. After Velepec missed an around-the back shot on the following face-off,
Scott Doyle found Velepec for some redemption when he fired a lefty shot low and away
into the lower left corner, bringing the Hoyas to within two at 15-13 with 2:57 left
in the fourth. Urick's and Velepec's two quick goals gave the Hoyas a little life in a game which seemed
as if it was more-or-less over. Schroeder made a great kick save on a Powell
attempt, but couldn't control the rebound which Powell picked up and dumped over a fallen Schroeder, 16-13 Syracuse. Syracuse came out of their own timeout ready
for the two-minute pressure by the Hoyas. After Schroeder came out of the goal
the Orangemen pushed the ball and Powell found an open Springer cutting down the
crease. Springer threw the ball in with a little over a minute to go to put
Syracuse up 17-13. In a game that looke like it might be affected by the wet field conditions and constant rain, it was quite the contrary. A lot of offense by both squads, a little defense and two somewhat solid goalie performances. There was not a whole lot either Mulligan or Schroeder could do with the shots that were constantly unloaded on them by the opposing offenses. The Ornagemen/Hoyas two battles this year(the last game of the regular season and today's quarter-final) may be a spark of a new rivalry which we used to only see on the Big East hardwood. The Orangemen are heading down to Maryland for another Final Four weekend on Memorial Day just like everyone expected, with the Hoyas heading home after giving the top team in the nation a serious run for their money here at Rutgers.
Post-Game Quotes:
Winning Syracuse Coach Desko on his team's performance in the second half today against Georgetown, "Things kind of started to go our way at the right time in the game."
"When the other teams are pressuring us it is nice to know we can get the ball into Ryan's stick."
Georgetown Coach Urick on his team's play against Syracuse:
"I was really impressed with the effort our kids gave. We had some self-inflicted wounds that we couldn't overcome and you can't do that against a team like Syracuse."
Syracuse vs. Georgetown
| Current Record | |
|---|
| Syracuse | 13-1 |
| Current Record | |
|---|
| Georgetown | 12-3 |
SPECIALTY PROTECTION
WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE
