VILLANOVA, Pa. – Starved of possession, each failed clear, dropped ball and just out-of-reach pass was crushing.

On a night when Syracuse otherwise epitomized efficiency with the ball, turnovers dropped the No. 4 Orange (5-2, 2-1 Big East) to an 11-10 road loss. The offense was far from wasteful but with the attack largely choked off by Villanova’s (2-5, 1-0) dominance on faceoffs, the mistakes were critical. The worst came out of the back.

“As a defense you’re getting a little tired, you start trying to make a play and sometimes trying to make a play makes a play for them,” defender Brian Megill said.

Never were those plays more critical than in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats mounted a comeback in a game they had never led. Despite a near-constant onslaught, the SU defense held steady and largely limited Villanova to shots from 12 yards out or more.

But the problems began when Syracuse tried to turn that defense into offense. Whether it was Dominic Lamolinara off a save or Drew Jenkins running the ball out, SU could not hold onto the ball when it needed it most.

“I think we just tried to do a little too much, too soon and too fast,” Megill said. “Typically we want to get out, we want to run and gun, we want to get up and down the field, but at crucial times we got to take our time, we got to relax.”

With the game tied 9-9 and the Orange having endured another minute-long spell of Villanova possession, Lamolinara chucked the ball out to Jenkins. The midfielder streaked down the left sideline where has was flattened by a high check from Max Hart.

As Jenkins fell at midfield, the ball slipped from his pocket and bounced out of bounds. The momentum shift was visible as Kevin O’Neil skipped up and cranked a shot from about 15 yards.

The turnovers shifted the game from one VU was chasing, to a contest the Wildcats were actively winning.

“We tried to previously talk to them about what we were going through and what to expect, and this was such – this is the best 1-5, now 2-5 team in the country,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said.

Still, SU endured another minute-long Wildcats spell in which the hosts got off three shots. Lamolinara saved the third, but only threw it to the 50-yard line where it bounced out of bounds before being scooped up and run at the Orange once more.

After the game, Desko cleared Lamolinara of defensive blame – he made 12 saves on 23 shots on goal – but couldn’t help but point to the very spot where Lamolinara’s clear attempts sputtered out.

“When we did have the ball we put it in the back of the net,” midfielder JoJo Marasco said.

The clumsiness of the defense’s transition tightened the screws on a prolific attack. The Orange’s historic strength of transition play was severely dampened, and instead of the confident circulation of the ball, waiting for Luke Cometti or Derek Maltz to prowl their way into open position, SU rushed.

After Megill took a ground ball off VU’s Will Casertano, he flipped it to Matt Pratt. The SU midfielder charged straight up the middle toward goal, but was sandwiched by two Villanova defenders and lost the ball.

Before Saturday, Syracuse was among the best in the nation in fewest turnovers per game. The Orange had coughed it up 12.2 times per game on average, but did so 17 times on Saturday.

Marasco and the Orange offense’s last turnover was no fault of their own. Trailing 11-10 with less than a minute left, Marasco dodged on John LoCascio toward the right hash, turned and found a window to pass to Cometti.

But the hurried pass just missed Cometti’s stick, Villanova recovered, and ran out the clock.

Said Marasco: “It’s tough when you don’t have the ball.”

Published on March 24, 2013 at 12:16 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_