With a man advantage, Nickolas Edinger sat alone by Syracuse goalie Drake Porter’s left post. He received the feed while turning and faked a high shot in one motion. Porter didn’t bite, but on Edinger’s second high feint, Porter began lifting his stick. The Army midfielder immediately tried to stuff the ball low, but Porter kicked his leg out to make the stop.

The Black Knights had multiple one-on-one opportunities against Porter on Sunday afternoon, but only once did they beat him. Growing up in Canada, Porter said he faced a lot of great inside finishers because of the heavy box lacrosse influences. 

“I grew up, it was rare I get a shot outside 10 yards in youth lacrosse,” Porter said. “So it’s something that I think is a strength of mine.” 

While Syracuse’s (3-0) offense sputtered to a two-goal first half, Porter kept the Orange’s deficit manageable. His 10 saves in the first 30 minutes limited Army (3-2) to a three-goal lead that was quickly erased by Jamie Trimboli to start the third quarter. As SU compiled a 7-2 run to close the game, Porter added another eight saves. His new career-high 18 stops in the Orange’s 9-7 win was the most by any Syracuse goalie since John Galloway against then-No. 2 Virginia in 2010.

“Credit to my guys, I think practicing so hard paid off because no one got tired and we kinda kept fighting,” Porter said. “And the shots I was seeing … I was able to make those saves.”

Syracuse turned the ball over four times in the first quarter, gave up 12 shots and went down a man three times. Going into the quarter break though, the Black Knights had scored just two goals.

Shots from outside 10 yards didn’t trouble Porter early in the game. On Army’s first man-up chance, Jacob Morin fired sidearm from Porter’s left, but he held on. When Brendan Nichtern, the Black Knights leading scorer from a year ago, found space in the middle for a shot, Porter turned it away and scooped up the ground ball from just outside the crease.

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Army finally broke Porter’s shutout nearly eight-and-a-half minutes into the game when Miles Silva went above Porter’s shoulder in front of the cage. That became a trouble spot for the Canadian goalie, as Morin beat him in the same spot to put Army up 3-1 in the second quarter. But despite SU’s inability to solve Black Knights’ goalie Wyatt Schupler on the other end, the Orange trailed only 5-2 going into halftime.

“I think after a while they were probably thinking about their shots a little bit because he’d made so many great saves,” SU head coach John Desko said.

After Trimboli’s first goal of the second half cut the lead to two, Army stopped Syracuse’s next offensive possession and successfully cleared. Sean O’Brien, who scored in the first half, caught a pass from behind the net and snapped a quick shot. Porter bounced the save up and held onto the ball.

Thirty-nine seconds later, Trimboli was giving a triumphant shout to Syracuse supporters. Army led by just a goal. On the Black Knights next offensive possession, Porter stole possession again and found Brett Kennedy with open field ahead of him. While Army still scrambled to match up, Trimboli dodged and scored again.

In the first half, it was the Orange that didn’t string together multi-shot possessions. When shots came at Porter — like Matt Manown’s eight minutes into the game — the ball ricocheted off Porter’s stick and into the netting behind the endzone for a reset. In the second half, those sunk into the mesh on Porter’s stick, and SU capitalized on the increased possession time.

“I don’t have a lot of problems with our takes in the second half, we never repossessed it afterwards,” Army head coach Joe Alberici said. “Keeper made some great saves, and then that was it, and we were back playing some D.”

In Syracuse’s first two games a humming offense rifled 38 goals, and the Orange weren’t reliant on Porter to keep them in games. Porter finished the Binghamton game with 11 saves, but they didn’t stand out because the Bearcats had just 15 shots on goal.

Against Colgate the week prior, Porter helped SU solidify a six-goal lead in the second quarter by contributing 12 saves. But again, when the Raiders made a run, it was the offense that responded with one of its own. The vaunted number of playmakers on that side of the ball for Syracuse filled the stat sheet.

Army came to the Dome with a suffocating defense that took away the Orange playmakers, though. None of SU’s three top attacks earned a point. The top midfield line, with two players on the Tewaaraton Award watch list, struggled until Trimboli exploited the holes within the Black Knights defense to start the third quarter.

“We knew the offense would heat up so we weren’t too afraid,” Porter said.

SU’s goal-scorers just needed time and insurance. And on a day when Syracuse’s offense struggled to do its job, Porter gave them both.

Published on February 23, 2020 at 6:58 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder