VILLANOVA, Pa. — When Syracuse plays a complete game, it’s tough for any team to compete with it. The Orange’s offense was efficient all weekend at the Big East tournament, its defense smothering. Neither a top-five team, nor a top-20 team playing on its home turf ever seriously challenged SU.

It culminated with a defining period for a team with national title hopes — a near-flawless third in the Big East tournament championship against the Wildcats on Saturday.

“Our guys, really in the third quarter, kind of came alive,” SU head coach John Desko said.

The No. 3 Orange (13-3) outscored No. 19 VU 3-1 in the third frame, after scoring a goal with eight seconds left in the second, to put away a 13-9 win and claim its second straight Big East tournament title in front of 2,877 at Villanova Stadium in its final season in the conference. The win eliminates the Wildcats (7-8) from NCAA tournament contention and likely clinches the tournament’s top seed for Syracuse.

SU scored on nearly half of its shots in the third quarter, converted its only extra-man opportunity, held VU to just one goal, and won nearly half of the faceoffs — perhaps the greatest achievement for a unit that was rendered utterly inept the first time the two faced.

“This time of year you need everything to click for you, and that’s the difference,” Desko said. “If the man-down’s playing well that’s great — if the man-up’s playing well. Those are all stops at the defensive end, an extra goal at the offensive end. You need every bit you can.”

A goal from Scott Loy with eight seconds remaining in the first half set the tone for Syracuse’s impressive third quarter. Desko called a timeout and, as so often occurs after he has the chance to draw up a play, the Orange scored. The midfielder charged down the left side of the field and fired a shot just under the crossbar to give SU an 8-5 lead heading into halftime.

“I think anytime you score with under a minute it kind of fires up your team,” Loy said.

Fifty-nine seconds into the third, Derek Maltz put Syracuse on the board again. The attack set a pick for JoJo Marasco and rolled to the open space in the middle of the offense. Marasco, who had yet to record a point, tossed a pass to Maltz who cranked a shot from 12 yards out to stretch the Orange’s lead to 9-5.

SU waited nearly nine minutes before it got on the board again, but when it did the goals again came in rapid fire.

After a scramble on the right side of the cage, Maltz came away with a ground ball. He dished to Dylan Donahue, who found Loy cutting from the backside for an easy score with 5:53 left in the quarter.

“I really think we got the ball on the ground a lot; we didn’t finish plays,” Villanova long-stick midfielder John LoCascio said. “Broken plays led to goals for them.”

Less than a minute later, after a Chris Daddio faceoff win, VU defender Chris Piccirilli took an illegal body check.

It gave Syracuse its fourth extra-man opportunity of the game. The Wildcats use an unorthodox five-man rotation on its man-down and kept a defender glued to Maltz. The Orange rotated the ball quickly around the point waiting for the inevitable two-on-one. Marasco freed himself up on the right wing and ripped a sidearm shot low and underneath Villanova goaltender Reed Carlson for SU’s third man-up goal of the game and an 11-5 lead.

“When one works, they adjusted and we got somebody else open on the next play, and somebody else was open on the next play,” Desko said. “More patient. The man-up was more patient.”

The Wildcats embarked on a 4-0 run over the next seven minutes to cut Syracuse’s lead to two, but the Orange clamped down in the final nine to seal the Big East championship.

A goal from Donahue with 6:47 remaining eventually iced the game for SU, but it was a Wildcat scoreless drought of 19:36 and Syracuse’s four straight goals that dashed VU’s hopes.

Even an unnecessary roughness penalty against Brian Megill wouldn’t hinder the Orange. When SU’s star defender made his way to the sideline for a minute, Syracuse held just a two-goal lead. But just as the Orange has the past few weeks, it made the play when it mattered and headed into the NCAA tournament as the team to beat.

“It’s a great team win all around,” Megill said, “great team defense was played today, but we’ve got bigger things ahead of us on the horizon.”

Published on May 4, 2013 at 2:12 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2