#8 Syracuse's Hot Start Leads to Dominant Win Over Binghamton

Wednesday, April 20

Syracuse, NY

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

8-4

Binghamton

4-8

Binghamton

Syracuse

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

#8 Syracuse's Hot Start Leads to Dominant Win Over Binghamton

4/20/2016 9:53:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

The No. 8 Syracuse men's lacrosse team (8-4, 2-2 ACC) showed no signs of fatigue in its third game in nine days, as 'Cuse jumped all over Binghamton (4-8, 2-2 America East) early, and cruised to a 13-5 win in its final test before the ACC Tournament.

Syracuse shut out the Bearcats through the first half and tallied nine goals before halftime, putting the game out of reach before the teams went to the locker room.

Nick Mariano led the way with his third-straight game with at least three goals, netting four in Wednesday's win, while Dylan Donahue and Tim Barber each chipped in three points each.

Brandon Mullins headlined a defensive effort that led Syracuse to its 37th-straight win when holding its opponent to less than 10 goals, as the senior caused four turnovers and collected four ground balls. Ben Williams won 12-of-15 faceoffs and netted his first goal of the season in the win as well.

"Well after four games in 14 days and three games in nine days, we did what we wanted to do early," said head coach John Desko. "We wanted to get the lead early and try to get some of the other guys in the game. We didn't talk about getting the other guys in the game during the week but we wanted to come out focused and try to jump on them early in the game. I think as the game went on we showed that there was a touch of fatigue, a couple mental errors and turnovers, but all-in-all we got some other people in the game and it was a good win for us. We're looking forward to having a little bit of time off before the ACC Tournament."

Mariano got the Orange going early, scooping up a Donahue miss in front of the cage to extend his team lead in goals, which reached 29 at the end of the night.

Barber helped Syracuse extend its lead to two just over a minute later, curling around the goal and beating Binghamton goalie Tanner Cosens to the top right of the net.

Cosens tallied 14 saves in the loss, while Evan Molloy allowed just one goal in his 38 minutes of action stopping four shots. Warren Hill then made three saves after replacing Molloy, allowing just one goal in his 15 minutes of action.

After trading possessions with the Binghamton, Jordan Evans got involved in the action, finding the back of the net from ten yards out on a pass from Donahue. With just 14 seconds to go in the quarter, after a seven-minute scoreless drought from both sides, Mariano added to his early point total, scoring for the second time of the day to give the Orange a 4-0 lead that would hold to the end of the quarter.

Both defenses started the second frame strong, each holding the opposition scoreless for the first 10:43 of the period. However, the scoreless streak was snapped as Matt Lane ripped a shot over Cosens's stick from the top of the key on an assist from Mariano.

One minute later, with 3:12 to go in the half, Sergio Salcido buried a low shot on a pass from Barber. The Orange stayed hot, pushing the lead to seven just six seconds later. Williams took it to the house himself after winning the faceoff out the front, scoring his first goal of the season on his sixth faceoff win of the day.

With 1:43 to play in the second, Donahue extended the nation's longest goal-scoring streak to 37 games, tapping in a pass from Jordan Evans on the crease to give Syracuse an 8-0 lead.

As time wound down and the Orange held on to their longest opponent scoring drought of the season, Donahue found the back of the net again, sending the Bearcats into the halftime locker-room trailing 9-0. It's the first time Syracuse has held an opponent scoreless for the first half since doing so against Hobart last season.

Opening the second half, Salcido converted for the second time of the night, giving the Orange a double-digit lead with 12:06 to go in the third.

The Bearcats finally got on the board 6:35 into the second half, with Matthew Kaser receiving a pass from Sean Gilroy and sneaking it past Evan Molloy to narrow the gap to nine.

The goal started a small run for Binghamton, who net their second straight with 3:39 left to play in the third. This time, it was Gilroy who scored, off a pass from Liam Reaume, cutting the Orange lead to 10-2.

Mariano broke the run with 14 seconds to go in the period, picking up his seventh hat trick of the season to push Syracuse's lead back to nine.
Mariano pushed his point total to five to start the final quarter, as Salcido found him with a pass, wide open on the crease.

Nick Piroli put his name on the box score with 9:10 to go in the game, catching a pass from Nate Solomon before beating the Binghamton for his first goal since the season opener, after missing a large portion of the season due to injury.

The Bearcats fought until the end, scoring three goals late in the contest, including one from Sean Gilroy while the Orange were three-men down due to penalties.

Next, Syracuse will face North Carolina in the ACC Semifinal on Friday, April 29 in Kennesaw, Georgia. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU, with time still yet to be determined.

GAME NOTES: With his four caused turnovers today, Brandon Mullins now is just one caused turnover shy of tying Matt Harris for second-most all time in program history, with 68 … Dylan Donahue extended his goals streak to 37 games and his points streak to 51 games, both of which lead the nation … Ben Williams moved to fifth all-time in Syracuse history with 426 faceoff wins in his career. He's just seven shy of moving into fourth and 11 shy of third … Williams also now trails Paul Gait by three ground balls for eighth all-time at SU … Dylan Donahue moved into sole possession of 14th on the all-time points list at Syracuse, passing Paul Gait. He's now one point shy of tying Mike Levielle for 13th with 215 … Donahue also passed Stephen Keough to take over ninth on Syracuse's all-time goal scoring list, with 135 in his career. He's two shy of Ryan Powell for eighth.