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Syracuse allowed its most goals in a season-opener under head coach John Desko on Sunday against then-No. 13 Army. The last time the Orange allowed more goals in their first game of the season was a 22-21 win against Virginia in 1997.

Against Syracuse in the first half, the Black Knights only scored three goals after setting up in the half field. Of its eight total goals in that half, three came in transition, and two came from Brendan Nichtern while on the man-up. After the first quarter, Army’s average possession length increased from almost 23 seconds to over 45 in the following three quarters, according to Lacrosse Reference.

Army’s offensive base set was fairly straightforward and remained the same for nearly all of its possessions. The Black Knights showed patience, finding their man matched up against a short-stick defender and either attacking from the high wings or below the cage from the corner of the restraining box. Most of Army’s initiation came out of these two looks.

Here’s a look at what SU did well, and what went wrong defensively on Sunday:

Army attacked Dami Oladunmoye often, especially in the first half. He only gave up one goal to his man in the first 30 minutes despite being challenged on six defensive possessions. On that goal, the Black Knights utilized Nichtern as their screener to get Gunner Philipp a step on a wraparound.

That was the only time Oladunmoye was beaten on that screen, though. Typically, he danced around Nichtern, and the hedge by Brett Kennedy was enough to allow Oladunmoye to recover. Oladunmoye was arguably Syracuse’s best short-stick midfielder on Sunday, especially given his expanded workload. Army thought it could attack him successfully but strayed away from him in the second half when the offense really flourished.

Oladunmoye was beaten by Bobby Abshire late in the first half from the high wing. Oladunmoye tried to angle and push Abshire away from the middle of the field, but the Army junior midfielder used his strength and stayed on his feet to ring a shot off the pipe.

The end of this same possession begins to highlight the problem that Syracuse ran into in the second half when it began to slide harder and earlier. It also shows how the Black Knights began to adjust and hunt for more mismatches rather than just attacking the short-sticks.

Here, Nichtern begins to exert his influence.

He catches the ball, with Kennedy having to close him down, so he already has a slight advantage. Kennedy, though, is SU’s top cover man for a reason, and he only allowed Nichtern one goal one-on-one. He sticks with Nichtern as he split-dodges left. Brett Barlow (No. 41) can see the screen coming and reacts early, assuming that Kennedy will be held up. It’s the right play in a vacuum because Syracuse doesn’t want to let Nichtern have any room to shoot from that area.

Nichtern is smart. With Barlow now switched onto him, he takes time and goes behind the net to where he can play quarterback. This is where things start to fall apart for the Orange. Kennedy is left swiveling his head frantically, worried about the screen action behind the net and Nichtern coming around to score off it.

The Army players in front recognize that Nichtern will get space and begin cutting, with Kennedy distracted. Kennedy’s man, Abshire (No. 14), continues his cut to the crease and gets rewarded. Transfer Nick Hapney (No. 18) begins to go toward the crease but stops because his man, Army’s Aidan Byrnes (No. 19), wisely backs off the cut.

“I thought Brett did pretty good in one-on-one situations and, boy, as soon as we got switched off of him, he took advantage of that right away, and he went right to the goal,” Desko said.

Here’s Nichtern again creating space for himself by reacting to Kennedy’s slide. Kennedy is worried about Philipp again scoring on a wraparound, so he goes to help early. Nichtern repositions himself behind the net, with Kennedy now trapped on Philipp. Nick DiPietro (No. 44) ends up in no man’s land, not really helping in front or switching onto Nichtern behind. Nichtern waves off his teammates, comes out against Oladunmoye covering the post and stuffs it home.

The reason Syracuse struggled defensively so much on Sunday was because of the constant movement Army players made. They didn’t rely on individual mismatches to score, instead using mismatches as distractions to run other plays and open up shooters.

That’s why Army’s base set was so effective. Syracuse immediately worried about its short-stick defender getting beat and committed to early slides. That helped the Black Knights create confusion, and the Orange didn’t seem to have the communication needed to make the switches and early slides work.

Here, Grant Murphy and Oladunmoye don’t read the same switch. Oladunmoye doesn’t really need the help, as he doesn’t get hung up on the screen. That leaves No. 45, Nickolas Edinger, open and looking for a pass in front. Army ran multiple actions at once, too. Edinger could shoot but waited for the curl around the screen in front of the crease by Abshire, who then improvised a finish.

On this play, Army showed that same off-ball movement. Abshire couldn’t beat Peter Dearth (No. 9), so he threw it behind the cage to Edinger. Both Murphy (No. 90) and Landon Clary (No. 30) rotate to the same person. That leaves Philipp (No. 1) open to move from left hash mark to the right — off camera — and create space for a shot. OIadunmoye did a great job recognizing the danger and getting a stick on Philipp, but it was still a great look for the Black Knights.

Besides long-stick midfielders Jared Fernandez and Andrew Helmer, who respectively transferred and graduated, this is nearly the same group defensively that played last year. Army didn’t run any offense that was revolutionary on Sunday. It just executed at a very high level, with basic principles, and adjusted as the game went on. Syracuse, as Desko said, never managed to match those changes.

Published on February 22, 2021 at 10:04 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder