A week after a come-from-behind triple overtime victory over then-No. 9 Army, No. 12 Syracuse (2-1) will hit the road for the first time all season when it takes on Atlantic Coast Conference rival No. 4 Virginia (4-0) on Sunday at Klockner Stadium. UVA is off to a hot start and boasts one of the most dominant offenses in the league. Meanwhile, Syracuse’s defense has been its strong suit all year long. Here’s what to know about the Cavaliers ahead of Sunday’s contest.

All-time series: Syracuse leads, 17-16

Last time they played: Last season, Virginia took an early lead before ending the first half on a 4-0 run behind three straight goals from attack Michael Kraus. The second half started similarly to the one before it, with UVA taking a five-goal lead. But SU stormed back on a 6-1 run to tie it, including a man-down goal from Nate Solomon during the third quarter. The rest of the game went back-and-forth before Sergio Salcido sniped the game-winner with 15 seconds left, giving the Orange a 14-13 win in its third of seven-straight one-goal games. Both Solomon and Matt Lane finished with hat tricks while Kraus put up four goals for the Cavaliers.

The Virginia Report: The Cavaliers boast a fast-paced offense that has dominated in its first four games. In its worst games offensively, Virginia scored 13 goals. SU has scored more than 11 just once. UVA’s offense is led by sophomore Kraus and freshman Ian Laviano, who lead the team with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Kraus lit up the Orange last year and, after starting the year slowly, has 14 points in the last two games.

“In the last two games, he has certainly played to the level that he needs to,” UVA head coach Lars Tiffany said. “He knew that he was going to have to be better this year because he’s no longer a surprise first-year attackman.”

Defensively, UVA features a few new pieces including freshman walk-on Kyle Kology, who is second on the team with six caused turnovers. He only trails senior Scott Hooper, who will guard Syracuse’s top attack on Sunday. Virginia’s defense surrenders a lot of goals, ranking No. 51 in scoring defense and giving up 11.75 goals per game. Tiffany opted to No. 1 goalie and Top 10 incoming recruit Alex Rode in the third game of the season and says the starting job can change on a week-to-week basis.

An especially new look for Virginia is at the faceoff X, where sophomore transfer Justin Schwenk takes the majority of faceoffs. Since coming from Monmouth, he has dominated for UVA, winning two-thirds of his faceoffs. In an area where Tiffany said UVA needed to improve in this year, Schwenk has provided just that.

“(Schwenk) has really changed this team. A year ago, Virginia might score or their opponent might score and they might not get the ball back right away,” SU head coach John Desko said. “This year, they’re getting the ball back after they score and it’s a very potent offense … It lets them play fast.”

How Syracuse beats Virginia: Syracuse’s biggest struggle has been its slow starts. Outside of the season opener, where SU manhandled Binghamton, the Orange has been outscored 10-2 in the first half of games. Much of that has come from struggles at the faceoff X. To combat a hot team like Virginia, faceoffs will be crucial and SU will rely on sophomore faceoff specialist Danny Varello to bounce back and show the potential seen in glimpses during last year.

With possession comes more time for the offense to work — something that has not come often — and an opportunity for Syracuse’s defense to get some much-needed rest. It has been worked hard the past two games and even kept the Orange in the game over the last two weeks — it held Albany to just four first-half goals and helped SU comeback against Army. Led by preseason All-American Nick Mellen, Syracuse’s defense will have its hands full stopping a dominant Virginia attack. The Orange defense will need to keep up its recent strong performance and there’s no sign of slowing down — even without Tyson Bomberry and Andrew Helmer, SU held Army to just four second-half goals and forced multiple turnovers in its triple-overtime win.

Numbers to know:

4 — Kraus scored four goals against Syracuse as a freshman and will likely be UVA’s top threat on offense yet again.

15.5 — Virginia ranks No. 4 in the country in scoring offense, pouring in 15.5 goals per game. SU has only given up more than 10 goals once in its first three games.

7 — Virginia has won 64.5 percent of its faceoffs in 2018, which ranks seventh in the country.

3 — Syracuse will play its third Top 10 team on Sunday. The Orange is slated to play six Top 10 teams in 2018.

15 — Unlike last year’s team, Syracuse’s offense does not run through two main threats. Fifteen players to date have scored a goal for the Orange.

Player to watch: Justin Schwenk, faceoff specialist, No. 36

Last year, both Syracuse and Virginia struggled at times at the faceoff X, finishing 24th and 25th in faceoff percentage, respectively. With the graduation of faceoff specialist Jason Murphy, Virginia brought in Justin Schwenk as a transfer from Monmouth, where he was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rookie of the year. And so far he’s been dominant, winning 66.7 of faceoffs with two goals. In a season where Syracuse has struggled at the faceoff X against top competition, Schwenk is in prime position to dominate and lead UVA to its first ACC victory.

Published on March 3, 2018 at 2:22 pm

Contact Charlie: csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco