VILLANOVA, Pa. – What most opponents use to try and foil Syracuse, the Orange turned on Villanova late in Saturday night’s game.

It was a bit of a role reversal for Syracuse. The team is used to trying to up the tempo, rush opponents and open up the game. But with the Wildcates inching closer to a lead, and besieging Dominic Lamolinara’s goal after every faceoff and Orange turnover, Syracuse switched to a zone.

“They didn’t have great answers against the zone today,” SU head coach John Desko said. “Not that we use it that much, but it was a way of slowing them down and trying to change the tempo.”

With nine seconds remaining in the third quarter, Syracuse fell into the zone. The momentum proved too much as Nick Doherty hammered past Lamolinara to cap a four-goal third period for Villanova.

But in the fourth quarter as Orange legs grew increasingly tired from near-constant defending, the move paid off. Syracuse, which generally prefers to dominate with its physicality in one-one-one matchups, got out of chasing the smaller, quicker VU attackers.

So the Wildcats were resigned to the perimeter, ripping hopeful shot after hopeful shot. The Wildcats ultimately won, scoring a pair of late goals from close angles, but what could’ve been a landslide run was held to three goals from 13 shots in the fourth quarter.

Instead of outrunning the Orange behind the cage, Villanova could only score through quick passes and cuts between pockets of the zone. It’s how Jack Rice tied the score with 2:51 remaining.

The zone could not stop VU’s faceoff dominance, though, and with the defense not yet set – Brian Megill was pressed into faceoff duty – the Wildcats scored the game-winner seven seconds later.

“It seemed like they were scoring, they were scoring fairly easily because we were playing so much defense,” Desko said. “Our guys were getting – a couple of our (short-stick midfielders) had been out there a long time were getting a little bit tired.”

Published on March 24, 2013 at 12:53 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_