BALTIMORE — Growing up, Dominic Lamolinara went to Johns Hopkins games at Homewood Field his whole life.

On Saturday, he turned in one of his best games of the year on that very field.

“This is the mecca of lacrosse,” Lamolinara said, “so I think getting out there today was big for me.”

In front of his family members, the senior goalie logged 11 saves and anchored the solid Syracuse defense in the No. 10 Orange’s 12-10 toppling of the No. 3 Blue Jays on Saturday. He spent all 60 minutes of game time in between the pipes and further solidified his case to be the full-time goalie.

Against St. John’s last Saturday, Lamolinara logged 12 saves and allowed four goals in 45 minutes before giving way to junior Bobby Wardwell — which he had done in each of Syracuse’s five games going into Saturday.

But after Lamolinara’s stopped five shots in a strong first half, SU head coach John Desko had to send the Maryland native back out to the cage for the second half and keep Wardwell on the sideline.

“I thought he saw the ball really well in the first half and that was the reason we were able to hold them to three goals,” Desko said. “We kept him in there because he was seeing it and it’s tough to put another goalie in the second half of a game like this.”

The Orange’s tough zone defense allowed minimal entry, forcing Johns Hopkins to shoot often from the outside — and Lamolinara appeared to have no issues tracking shots in the bright daylight.

He even pulled off a save on an uncontested shot from the doorstep in the third quarter, and throughout the game he showed improvement on fielding low shots — an area in which he struggled against Virginia on March 1.

“Dom had a great game and made some big stops for us when we needed some,” long-stick midfielder Matt Harris said.

He recorded five saves in the third quarter Saturday and with just a one-goal lead early in the fourth quarter, denied a Bronson Kelly shot to preserve the Orange’s chance at an upset and a snapped losing streak.

“It just gave me a lot of motivation on that aspect,” Lamolinara said. “Hopkins was our big spring break preparation week, so I’m glad we came out with the win.”

Published on March 15, 2014 at 11:27 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb