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Owen Seebold had just erased a 3-1 Hobart run in the early stages of the third quarter, as Syracuse led by two. On the next possession, Seebold found Mikey Berkman in front of Hobart’s net, but he was pressured.

As he tried to avoid the onrushing Dan Ryan, the ball fumbled out of Berkman’s stick and Hobart picked up the loose ball and successfully cleared it. The ball went to Ryan Archer along the right wing, who quickly lobbed the ball to the left side for Bobby Baltzer, who made it a one-goal game.

Losing possession on turnovers and penalties nearly cost the Orange their fourth consecutive loss in a back-and-forth Kraus-Simmons Trophy game. Syracuse (2-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) committed over 15 turnovers for the second consecutive game in its 18-16 win over Hobart (2-2), the second-most this season. The Orange also committed six penalties which led to five of the Statesman’s goals.

In its midweek loss to No. 12 Army, Syracuse committed its season-high in turnovers, its most in a single game since 2019. The Black Knights also capitalized on two of three man-up opportunities, including one at the beginning of the fourth quarter which saw Army take the lead for the final time.

Against Hobart, Syracuse matched that penalty total by halftime, and the Statesmen capitalized quickly on all three man-up chances. In the second half, Saam Olexo was called for holding, and Archer scored on an open lane to tie the game at six after Grant Murphy failed to slide over in time.

Six minutes later, as Tucker Dordevic scored to pull Syracuse ahead by one goal, Brandon Aviles committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which allowed Anthony Dattellas to score immediately on a low bouncing shot past Harrison Thompson to tie the game once again.

“With our aggressive style of play, we’re able to draw a lot of penalties and are able to capitalize on those,” Archer said. “We’ve got great guys, great shooters and smart players, and I think when we have that extra guy I think it’s an advantage.”

Among Syracuse’s five penalties were two faceoff violations from Jakob Phaup, once in the first quarter and the second in the fourth. They both led to Hobart goals that led to a momentum switch at opposite ends of the game — a game which saw five lead changes.

The first came early in the first quarter, as Phaup committed a faceoff violation that allowed Tommy Mott to score from the left wing to pull Hobart ahead 3-2. Then, with Syracuse up by three goals three minutes into the fourth quarter, Phaup put the Orange a man-down for the fifth time of the game.

“They have a lot of shooters all over the field,” Murphy said. “They like to run a lefty kind of waterfall play, and that’s something we don’t see a ton, where a team is dominant with lefties.”

Murphy said that Syracuse is still trying to figure out which man-down unit best suits it. Syracuse entered the game having allowed seven man-up goals, having only killed off 58.8% percent of them. It was also tied for 10th in caused turnovers per game.

Meanwhile, Hobart had scored five times on 11 man-up attempts, and on Sunday, Murphy believed that the Statesmen, who entered the game on the fringe of Inside Lacrosse’s rankings, put together a new man-up attack to exploit a penalty-heavy Orange side.

“It’s also early in the year and there’s less time to figure out what man-up plays are gonna get thrown at you,” Murphy said. “It’s a really big game for (the Statesmen) and they’re ready to throw something new at us.”

Still, Syracuse managed to win another Kraus-Simmons Trophy, but not at the expense of its season lows. Head coach Gary Gait said the win could be meaningful enough to put the Orange on track to handle a schedule full of ranked opponents.

“It is what it is,” Gait said. “When you hoist up the trophy, all that matters is that it says Syracuse on it.”

Published on March 6, 2022 at 8:29 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu