Down two with 9:14 to play, untested Ryan Palasek replaced Sean Young.

Both defenders are underclassmen, but Palasek had yet to play meaningful minutes. Young had started the last six games. But needing to pressure Rutgers as Syracuse chased the game, head coach John Desko called on the inexperienced Palasek.

The change facilitated SU’s seven-goal fourth quarter, holding Rutgers to one goal and sending the Orange offense barreling toward Kris Alleyne’s goal.

“He’s a little bit of an old-school defender in this day and age of not making mistakes and closing the gate and not creating offense,” Desko said, “he gets in there and really gets in on his attackman’s hands and he was able to put the ball down on the ground which we needed at that point in time. I thought that he kind of gave us a defensive spark.”

On his first play he forced a turnover from Anthony Terranova. And with the game tied with less than two minutes left, Palasek checked the stick out of Scott Bieda’s hand, setting up Syracuse’s last half-field possession.

“Palasek coming in there, he’s a solid defenseman,” Syracuse attack JoJo Marasco said. “He’s young, but he made a great play and we get the ball and go down and score, so it’s great team unity. These guys are just showing why we can be a top-five team.”

Palasek’s substitution was part of a wider late-game defensive adjustment matching Syracuse’s short-stick defensive midfielders against RU’s attacking midfielders and denying clearing midfielders. Desko said it’s where most of SU’s offense was generated.

Eight of Rutgers’ 21 turnovers came in the fourth quarter.

Said Desko: “We had to create those turnovers or we were going to lose the game.”

Published on April 13, 2013 at 7:04 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_